It is one thing for a believer to understand that their identification with Jesus Christ means that he/she died to sin (Rom. 6:2) and to count or reckon that to be true (Rom. 6:11). However, it is something else for the believer to deal with the sin nature that remains within and its efforts to express itself in their thoughts and actions. This is the internal conflict in sanctification that every believer faces.  

(Rom. 7:1-3)

Verses 1-6 relate to (Rom. 6:14), the intervening verses (Rom. 6:15-23) being a digression raised by the question in (Rom. 6:15). The statement that a believer identified with Jesus Christ in His death is no longer “under Law.” (6:14) should not have surprised Paul’s readers because they were men know the Law. This statement should not be restricted to Jewish believers in the Church at Rome, because Gentiles also knew the principle that the Law has authority (Kyrieuei, “rules as lord”, cf. 6:9, 14)over a man only as long as he lives. moreover, it is the self-evident truth, which Paul then illustrated by marriage. A woman is bound (perfect/tense, “has been bound and stands bound”)to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies (in Greek, a third-class condition indicating a real possibility), she is released (perfect/tense, “has been and stands discharged”) from the law of marriage (literally, “from the law of the man”). She is bound to him by marriage as his wife, while he lives, and obviously, his death frees her from that marriage.

Then Paul continued the illustration, pointing out that if a wife marries (literally, “if she comes to”) another man while her husband is still alive, she is called (future tense, “shall be publicly known as”) an adulteress. Conversely, on the death of her husband, she is free from that marriage (7;2). Therefore, she is not an adulteress if she marries (literally, “even though she comes to”) another man. The point is that a widow who remarries is not guilty of adultery.

(ROM. 7:4-6)

In these verses, Paul applied his illustration of marriage to a believer and the Law. He said, “You also died” (literally, “you were put to death,” as was true of Jesus) to the Law. Also, just as a believer “died to sin” (6:2), and so is “set free from sin” (6:18, 22), so he also died to the Law and is separated and set free from it (6:14, Gal:2:19). Therefore, as a wife is no longer married to her husband when he dies, so a Christian is no longer under the Law. The separation was through the body of Christ, that is, because of Christ’s death on the cross.

As a result, Christians belong to another, to Him who raised from the dead (Rom. 6:4, 9). The God/man Jesus Christ! Moreover, believers are united to Him as His bride (Eph. 5:25). God’s purpose in all this is in order that we might bear fruit to God (Rom. 6:22, Gal. 5:22-23, Phil. 1:11). Only a person who is spiritually alive can bear spiritual fruit, that is, holy living (John. 15:4-5). A person who is married to Christ can bear spiritual progeny (offspring, descendants, or the product of reproduction). The apostle Paul moved from the second-person plural (you) to the first-person plural (we), including himself with his readers.  

The apostle continued, For when we were controlled by the sinful nature (literal, “For when we were in the flesh; sarx often means sin nature; Rom. 7:18, 25) the sinful passions aroused by the Law were at work in our bodies. Describing a believer before he was saved (Rom. 6:19). The Law, by its prohibitions, aroused sinful passions, as explained in (7:7-13). In that sense, unsaved Gentiles were “under” the Law. Consequently, their progeny was not “fruit to God” (vs. 4) but fruit for death. Sin, Paul repeatedly affirmed, leads to death (Rom. 5:15, 17, 21, 6:16, 21, 23, 7:10-11, 13, 8:2, 6, 10,  13).

But now, being identified with Christ, believers are dead to the Law. Like a widow released from marital obligations, so believers are released from the Law and its arousal to sin. The purpose of this release “from the Law” is so that they may serve (a better rendering is “be slaves, in 6:6, 16, 17-18, 20, 22) in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. The word “Spirit” may be “spirit” (lowercase “s”) to contrast with the written document, the Law. The thought then is that believers do not live by the “oldness” of the Law but by the “newness” of a regenerated spirit. Or “Spirit” may refer to the Holy Spirit, the Source of new life (note, comments on “the Spirit” and “the letter,” 2 Cor. 3:6).        

Note:

1. Death to the Law: Just as the Law of marriage applies only while a person lives, believers have died to the Law’s dominion (condemnation) through their union with Christ.
2. Freedom from Legalism: The goal of this release is not lawlessness, but freedom from the bondage of the Law, which previously only revealed sin and provoked sinful passion.
3. Union with Christ: Believers are now “married” to Christ-He who was raised from the dead, enabling them to produce fruit for God.
4. Service in the Spirit: The new life is characterized by serving in the “newness of the Spirit” rather than the “oldness of the letter” (legalistic obedience).
5. Deliverance from the Flesh: While in the “flesh”, the Law stirred up sinful passions that resulted in death, but through Christ, believers are freed to live in victory!
6. The central message is a transition from a legal relationship with God to a loving, empowering relationship with Him through the Spirit.