Romans 7:1

Know ye not? Literally, “or are you ignorant?” (see on ch. 6:3). The “or” suggests an alternative. Paul says, in effect, “Either you admit the truth of my assertion that your death to sin [ch. 6:11] means that you are no longer under law [ch. 6:14], or else you must be ignorant of the nature of law, with which I had assumed you were well familiar.” He presents another illustration to show how the transition from law to grace is effected and what the results of this change should be. Chapter 7 is based upon his fundamental statement, “Ye are not under the law, but under grace” (ch. 6:14). To explain this, he has already referred to baptism and to the relationship between slaves and their masters. Now he draws an illustration from the law of marriage.

Know the law. Literally, “know law.” The absence of the article “the” before “law” suggests that Paul is referring to the principle of law in general (see on ch. 2:12). His point is simply that the law cannot prosecute or punish a man after he is dead, but the context of this chapter, however, it later becomes apparent that Paul is thinking especially of the law of the OT (see ch. 7:7).

Hath dominion. Paul has previously personified “death” and “sin” as “having dominion,” or “ruling,” over a sinner (chs. 5:14, 17; 6:12). To Paul, being under the dominion of law is equivalent to being under the dominion of sin (see on ch. 6:14). The reason for this is that law merely reveals the standard of right. It cannot remove the guilt or the dominion of sin. It requires complete obedience to its precepts, but offers the sinner no enabling power for obedience. Grace, on the other hand, does the things that law is powerless to perform. It both cancels the guilt of sin and imparts power to overcome it. Thus Paul regards being under law as being under sin, and dying to law as the equivalent of dying to sin. His purpose in this chapter is to emphasize that, because of sin and the weakness of sinful flesh (ch. 8:3), law is wholly incapable of bringing salvation to the sinner.

Man. Gr. anthropos, “mankind” in general (see Matt. 8:20; Mark 2:27; etc.), or a person of either sex (see Matt. 15:11; John 3:4; 16:21; etc.). The word for “man” as distinguished from the word for “woman” is aner (Mark 10:2; Luke 1:27; etc.).

He liveth. It is possible to translate the Greek “it lives,” thus meaning, “as long as the law is in force.” However, “he lives” is the more natural rendering and more appropriate to the context. Paul is preparing to apply to the law the principle that law can press its claim against a man only as long as he lives.