Rom 8:1-4 is usually connected to the previous discussion in Chapter 7 particularly to 7:6 where Paul declares freedom from the Law. Verbal and thematic connection is discerned between these two sections (Schreiner, 1998:398). Before engaging with 8:1-4, it is important to address 7:6 first. Paul declares that Jesus followers are discharged and dead to that which held them in bondage so that they might serve in the Spirit and not in the letter. The focus of the discussion here is on the question of 7:4, “you have died to the Law through the body of Christ” which relates to “dead to that which held us captive.”
Who is the person that died? The general explanation is that death changes the position of a person with respect to the law (Schreiner, 1998:349; Nygren, 1949:270; Murray, 1959:241–243; Cranfield, 1975:335; Käsemann, 1980:187; Dunn, 1988a:361; Fitzmyer, 1993:187). Some interpret the wife as a believer but the husband as the Law (Bruce, 1985:137). Others argue that the wife is a true self whereas the husband is the old person (Sanday & Headlam, 1902:172), therefore, the Law condemned the old self (Hafemann, 1995:177; Longenecker, 1991:232). The role of the Law is not negatively expressed in 7:1-2 rather it is respected. It administers marriage to avoid adultery. It also continues with the risen Christ or another man who is contrary to the old person. The law of marriage, that is, faithfulness to the new person is intact in the life of the Spirit.
The person who died should be the old person. The concept of death in Christ as a separation introduced in 6:2-4 particularly 6:6 speaks of the death of the old person through the death of Christ. Death and sin lost their dominion because the old person was crucified with Christ. This immediate context evinces that Paul must have a similar image when he uses death of the followers of Christ in 7:4. It is the death of the old self (the husband) through the death of Christ, not through the church, that brought freedom from the Law. If this is granted, and death is a due reward of sin according to the standard of the Law, therefore it appears that the Law executed the old person which is sin, in the flesh (7:5) and freed the
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wife from condemnation (8:1). In the words of Hafeman (1995:179) “The Law as ‘letter’, the fixed declaration of God’s will, when it encounters the life in the flesh of those who are apart from Christ, condemns and kills as God’s declared punishment for sin.”
Rom 8:1 declares that Jesus followers are free from condemnation because they are freed from the dominion of sin (Murray, 1959:274–275; Gundry, 1985:31–32). Rom 8:2-4 begins with γὰρ offering reasons for 8:1 – the Law of the Spirit of life freed them from the Law of sin and death. But the meaning of νόμος continues to be debated. The metaphorical reading (the principle of the power of sin or simply power) rejects the literal reading (the Mosaic Law) (Meyer, 1884:41; Sanday & Headlam, 1902:190; Murray, 1959:276; Cranfield, 1975:375–376; Ziesler, 1989:202; Moo, 1991:505–507; Fitzmyer, 1993:483; Fee, 1994:522; Thielman, 1994:201; Byrne, 1996:242). It argues that nowhere in the letter is the Law rendered freedom from sin and it contradicts what Paul said in Chapter 7.
Snodgrass (1995:172) rejects the metaphorical reading for its unwarranted move from 8:2, the Law as power of sin, to a different meaning in 8:3. Instead the Law of sin and the Law of death refer to the Old Testament Law as “commandeered by sin to effect death” (Snodgrass, 1995:172; so also Schreiner, 1998:400). Rom 8:6 confirms that the Spirit produces life. In 8:2 ὁ γὰρ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ιησοῦ announces the Law is in the realm of the Spirit that gives life. This is probably parallel to 7:14 and the Law of sin and death might as well be parallel to 7:5 and 7:13 respectively. Snodgrass (1995:173) argues that the genitive must receive the emphasis and the Law is still playing the role. Verse 3 also starts with γάρ and seems to be briefly summarising the relationship of the Law and sin discussed in chapter 7. Paul claims that the Law could not produce righteousness due to the flesh (8:3) (this parallels to 7:10). Rom 8:3 implies that the Law was expected to produce life and righteousness but God accomplished what the Law was expected to do. Hence, it seems that now in Christ the Law has taken its rightful location to produce freedom and life in the life of Jesus followers (8:2).
Rom 8:4 begins with ἵνα, introducing the purpose of God’s saving action and freedom through the Law of the Spirit for the fulfilment of the requirement of the Law. The forensic reading argues that the believers’ obedience to the Law is not in view here (Calvin, 1960:160; Käsemann, 1980:218; Moo, 1991:514–517; Fitzmyer, 1993:487–488). The adduced argument for the view is that πληρωθῇ is passive and it is God who fulfills in Christ’s believers not the believers fulfilling the Law. Further, ἐν ἡμῖν evinces God’s act of saving on the cross of Christ forensically fulfilling the just demand of the
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Law, that is, Christ’s vicarious death satisfied the Law’s demand of condemnation of the sinner therefore sinners are now accepted before God, free of guilt.
Granted that God is the one who is working, it can also be argued that 8:4 is about Jesus followers’ obedience to the requirement of the Law. Paul uses the present participle περιπατοῦσιν describing the kind of persons that fulfill the Law; namely those who are walking according to the Spirit. Paul does not simply state it but describes it by negation “not according to the flesh.” Paul does not say that the requirement of the Law will be fulfilled in those who believe in Christ but in those “who do not walk according to the flesh.” The negative alternative must be emphasised because there is a possibility of walking according to the flesh and avoiding it is the responsibility of those who believe in Christ. Those who walk according to the flesh are the enemies of God because they do not subject themselves to the Law of God (8:7). Hostility to God, in other words, not to be able to subject oneself to God’s Law, conversely, by implication obedience to the Law, is pleasing God (8:8). Walking according to the Spirit therefore is believers’ obedience to the Law.
The phrase τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου (8:4) is singular and the plural is used in 2:26. The singular is understood differently: the law of love based on 13:8-10, all other Laws except circumcision, Sabbath, food laws (Sanders, 1983:100,102), all the moral Laws (Cranfield, 1975:384) and prohibition of coveting (Ziesler, 1989:78–79). There is no significant difference among these positions. But the phrase refers to all righteous acts that the Law puts as a demand. This can be adduced by Paul’s use of the terms δικαιόω (3:4) and ἀδικία in several places in the letter: 1:18, 20; 2:8; 3:5; 6:13; and 9:14. δικαιόω refers to something morally right or to be right (LN 88:16) and ἀδικία is living against God’s truth. Of significance, is that 1:18 reveals that it is breaking the first commandment of the Decalogue (1:19-23) which results in all wickedness (1:20) and it is against τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ θεοῦ (1:32). Disobeying the truth (2:8) is obeying wickedness. But the truth is in the Law (2:20) and Jewish disobedience to it is called unrighteousness (wickedness) in 3:5. Jesus followers are called not to present their body to ἀδικία (6:13) and to avoid all ἀκαθαρσία and ἀνομία (uncleanness and lawlessness). In the face of all this evidence, τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου must be taken as Jesus followers obeying the Law’s demand, not least because both the Law and the believers are in the realm of the Spirit.
2.3.2.3.5 Section summary and conclusion
In chapter 2:12-16, it is argued that Gentile Jesus followers can keep the Law because it is written in their hearts but in 2:25-29 Paul argues that both believing Jews and Gentiles can keep the Law because their
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hearts are transformed by the works of the Spirit. In 3:27 and 31, Paul argues that the believing community established the Law through faith in Jesus. Hence, the topical analysis under the Law reveals that one can obey the Law. The Law and the Gospel are not antithesis but synthesis, if not synergetic. The Law and the Gospel are conflated under the realm of the Spirit in a sin-freed community of faith. Disobedience to the Law dishonours God but obedience to the Law which pleases and honours God is the characteristic of those who walk in the Spirit.