Romans 7:6

Delivered. Gr. katarged (see on ch. 3:3). The word is used in ch. 7:2 to describe the loosing of the wife from the law of her husband. “Delivered from the law” is equivalent to not being “under the law,” for the meaning of which see on ch. 6:14.

That being dead. Textual evidence attests (cf. p. 10) the following reading of the passage: “having died [to that] wherein we were held.” The reading of the KJV is found in the Textus Receptus (see Vol. V, p. 142) but not in any manuscript. This reading has seemed to give support to the idea that under the gospel the law is dead. Paul is simply restating the means by which we are discharged from the law. It is accomplished by the death of the old sinful man (v. 4), in the same way as the death of the husband gave freedom to the wife (v. 2). When our old man is crucified with Christ (ch. 6:6), we ourselves, like the wife in the figure, die to the law (ch. 7:4), which formerly exercised oppressive dominion over us because of the unhappy union between ourselves and our old sinful nature (see on ch. 6:14).

That we should serve. Or, “so that we serve.” The clause may be understood as expressing either purpose (cf. v. 4) or result (cf. ch. 6:22).

In newness of spirit. Believers who have died to sin and risen to newness of life (ch. 6:2, 4) now render a service that is new and spiritual. Their obedience to God’s law is no longer legalistic and mechanical, as if righteousness consisted merely of compliance with a set of external rules of conduct, without any reference to the condition of the heart. Through union with the risen Saviour believers have learned a new way of true, heartfelt, spiritual obedience. Such service and worship is possible only to those who have been born again of the Holy Spirit and live under His influence. Paul explains this further in ch. 8.

In the oldness of the letter. Literally, “in oldness of letter.” This describes the legalistic obedience of those who attempt to secure salvation by works of law. Such was the service of the Pharisees, who were careful to “pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin” but at the same time omitted the “weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (see on Matt. 23:23). These “weightier matters” were matters of the heart and spirit. Service “in oldness of letter” can lead only to sin and death (Rom. 7:5). But the gospel brings God’s offer to make men capable of spiritual service from the heart. To be born again of the Holy Spirit means the creation of a clean heart and the renewal of a right spirit (see Ps. 51:10), so that from henceforth the believer no longer serves God from a sense of legal bondage and fear, but in a new spirit of freedom and love (see John 4:23; 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6).