Thomas Aquinas Commentary Romans 7:1-6

"Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth? For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband. So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, [even] to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter." — Romans 7:1-6 (ASV)

After showing that we are set free from sin through the grace of Christ, the Apostle now shows that through the same grace we are freed from slavery to the law.

In this regard, he does two things:

1. He states his proposition.
2. He excludes an objection, with the words what shall we say, then (Romans 7:7).

Regarding the first point, he does two things:

1. He shows that through the grace of Christ we are freed from the slavery of the law.
2. He shows that this liberation is useful, with the words that we may bring forth fruit to God.

Regarding the first of these, he does three things:

1. He makes a statement from which he argues to his proposition.
2. He clarifies it, with the words for the woman who has a husband.
3. He concludes, with the words therefore, my brethren.

The statement he makes is presented as something they already know. Hence he says, do you not know, brethren? as if to say, “You should not be ignorant of this.” As the Apostle also writes, But if any man does not know, he will not be known (1 Corinthians 14:38).

The reason they should not be ignorant is shown when he adds, for I speak to those who know the law.

But since the Romans were Gentiles and ignorant of the law of Moses, it seems that what is said here does not apply to them. Therefore, some have explained this as referring to the natural law, of which the Gentiles were not ignorant, as he said earlier: when the gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves (Romans 2:14).

According to this view, the phrase that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives refers to the natural law within a person. This law “lives” as long as natural reason functions effectively, but it “dies” when natural reason succumbs to the passions: they have broken the everlasting covenant (Isaiah 24:5), that is, the covenant of the natural law.

However, this interpretation does not seem to agree with the Apostle’s intention, as he always has the law of Moses in mind when he speaks of “the law” without any modifying qualifications.

Therefore, it is better to say that the believers in Rome were not only Gentiles; there were many Jews among them. For instance, it says that Paul found in Corinth a certain Jew named Aquila, who had recently arrived from Italy, and Priscilla his wife, because Claudius had expelled all the Jews from Rome (Acts 18:2).

Thus, the law is binding on a person as long as he lives. For the law was given to direct a person in this life, as it says in the Psalm: he will instruct him in the way that he should choose (Psalms 25:12). Therefore, the obligation of the law is dissolved by death.

Next, he clarifies what he said with an example from the law of marriage, using the words for the woman who has a husband. He does two things:

1. He gives the example.
2. He clarifies it with a sign, using the words therefore, while.

Regarding the example, he first states how the obligation endures during life. He says, for the woman who has a husband (that is, who is under the power of a man) is bound by the law. This is from the divine law, which says, your husband shall rule over you (Genesis 3:16). She is bound to the law that obligates her to live with her husband: what God has joined together, let no man put asunder (Matthew 19:6).

This indissolubility of marriage is especially significant because it is a sacrament of the indissoluble union of Christ and the Church, or of the Word and human nature in the person of Christ: this is a great mystery, and I take it to mean Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:32).

Second, he shows how the obligation is dissolved by death, saying, but if her husband dies, she is loosed from the law of her husband; that is, she is released from the law of marriage that bound her to him.

For since, as Augustine says in his book On Marriage and Concupiscence, marriage is a good for mortals, its obligation does not extend beyond this mortal life. For this reason, in the resurrection, when life will be immortal, they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Matthew 22:30).

From this it is clear that if a person were to die and be restored to life, as Lazarus was, the one who had been his wife is no longer his wife, unless he marries her again.

Against this, one might raise the objection from what is stated in Hebrews: women received their dead by resurrection (Hebrews 11:35). But one should realize that these women received back not their husbands but their sons, as did the woman in 1 Kings 17 through Elijah, and another in 2 Kings 4 through Elisha.

The case is different with sacraments that imprint a character, which is a consecration of the immortal soul. Every consecration endures as long as the consecrated thing lasts, as is clear in the consecration of a church or an altar. Therefore, if a baptized, confirmed, or ordained person were to die and rise again, he would not have to repeat these sacraments.

Then he clarifies his meaning with a sign, using the words therefore, while her husband. First, regarding the obligation of marriage that continues for the wife while her husband lives, the sign is that she will be called an adulteress, if she be with another man while her husband lives. This means if she joins another man as his wife: if a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, would not she be polluted and contaminated? (Jeremiah 3:1).

Second, he provides a sign that the obligation of marriage is dissolved by death, saying, but if her husband dies, she is delivered from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, if she be with another man. This means she is not an adulteress if she is carnally united to another man, particularly if she has married him: if the husband dies... she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:39).

This shows that second, third, or even fourth marriages are lawful in themselves, and not merely by dispensation, as Chrysostom seems to suggest when he says that just as Moses permitted a bill of divorce, so the Apostle permitted second marriages.

For if the marriage law is dissolved by death, there is no reason why the survivor may not marry again. The Apostle says, a bishop should be married only once (1 Timothy 3:2), not because second marriages are illicit, but because of the sacramental sign: for a bishop represents Christ, who is the one spouse of the one Church.

Then, with the words therefore, my brethren, he draws his main conclusion: you also have died to the law, by the body of Christ. This means that by becoming members of the body of Christ—dying and being buried with him, as stated earlier—you have died to the law. The obligation of the law ceases in you, so that you may belong to another, namely, Christ, in whom you have received a new life by rising with him. Therefore, you are bound not by the law of your former life but by the law of this new life.

This application might seem awkward. In the preceding example, the husband died and the woman was free to remarry, but here, the one released from the law is said to die.

However, if we consider it another way, there is a parallel. Since marriage is between two people, it makes no difference which one dies; in either case, the law of marriage is removed by death. Therefore, the obligation of the old law ceases by virtue of the death by which we die with Christ.

Then he shows the usefulness of this liberation with the words that we may bear fruit. In this regard, he does three things:

1. First, he mentions the benefit: that we may bear fruit to God. For if we have been made members of Christ and abide in him, we can bear fruit—that is, good works—for the honor of God: as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine (John 15:4).
2. Second, with the words for when we were in the flesh, he shows that this fruit was impeded when we were under the slavery of the law. To be “in the flesh” means to be subject to sinful desires, as he says elsewhere, But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit (Romans 8:9). Our sinful passions, which were provoked by the law, were at work in our members, moving them to sin: what causes wars and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions? (James 4:1). And this was in order to bear fruit for death, meaning to produce the fruit of death: sin when it is full-grown brings forth death (James 1:15).
3. Third, with the words but now we are loosed, he shows that this benefit is acquired by those freed from slavery to the law. He says we are now loosed from the law of death by the grace of Christ. This refers to the law of Moses, which is called “the law of death” either because it killed violators without mercy , or, better, because it provided the occasion for spiritual death: for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).

He continues that this is the law in which we were detained, like servants held captive: before faith came we were confined under the law (Galatians 3:23). We have been freed so that we should serve in newness of spirit—that is, renewed in spirit by the grace of Christ: a new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you (Ezekiel 36:26). We are to serve not in the oldness of the letter, meaning not according to the old law, or not according to the old written code of sin that the letter of the law could not remove: I have grown weak in the midst of all my foes (Psalms 6:7).