Paul wrote, “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?” (Romans 7:1).
In this section of Romans, Paul showed that Jewish Christians had to be dead to the Law, for until they were, they would sin if they disobeyed any of its precepts. This is the nature of any law. The apostle illustrated this principle by that which he called “the law of the husband.” He said, “For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to her husband while he liveth; but if the husband die she is discharged from the law of the husband. So therefore 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.”
This principle was given assuming that neither husband nor wife had been unfaithful to the other, and that if the wife had been freed from the law of the husband by her husband’s death (or adultery), she could be joined to a second man providing that man was free to marry. Paul was making a point regarding the dominion of the Law.
Paul then proceeded to his second point: “Wherefore, my brethren, ye are made dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him that was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit uno God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring fruit unto death. But now that we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in the newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:4-6).
A man expresses ignorance should he deny that Jewish brethren had died to some law and thus had been freed from the dominion of it. The language is too specific, too clear to misunderstand that Jewish Christians had been freed from the Law. The apostle has said, “I speak to men who know the law” (Rm. 7:1); “Ye were made dead to the law by the body of Christ” (Romans 7:4) and “we have been discharged from the law” (Romans 7:6).
Then, the apostle moved to his next point, to identify precisely what law Jewish Christians had been made dead to and freed from. He asked, “What shall we say then, is the law sin? God forbid” (Romans 7:7). He had not changed from discussing one law to the discussion of another. He still was speaking of the Law these Jewish Christians knew (7:1), had died to (7:4), and had been discharged from (7:6). His question was, “Is the law sin? God forbid.” Then he added, “Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law; for I had known coveting except the law had said, ‘Thou shalt not covet’” (Romans 7:7). Paul has made his point. The law which said, “Thou shalt not covet” was the law which Jewish Christians knew, were dead to, and had been discharged from: the ten commandments which were the foundation of “The Law of Moses.”
It is a grave mistake to seek to divide Moses’s Law into moral law and ceremonial law, and then to insist it was of the ceremonial law which Paul wrote, not the moral law (or the ten commandments). The whole system was abrogated by Jesus when He died and was “nailed the law to the cross” (Colossians 2:10). He “broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile” and He “abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances” (Ephesians 2:14-15). Finally, He “blotted out the bond that was against us, which was contrary to us” (Colossians 2:11).
Someone might respond, “Okay then, it’s all right to covet, steal, kill, and commit adultery.” Of course, it is not. To make such a statement is to ignore that the gospel of Christ forbids all these things. The principle found in every one of the ten commandments are included in the gospel of Christ — except one, the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” God chose that His people observe the first day of the week as His day of worship, to remember that it was on that day that God raised His Son from the dead and thus “begat us again unto a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3-4), freeing all men from keeping the Sabbath Day (Colossians 2:16).
You will never read where it is specifically stated that early Christians met on the Sabbath Day to observe the Lord’s Supper which He commanded was to be kept in His memory. You will read where early Christians did do this in His memory on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).
There is no area to dispute: The law which Jewish Christians knew, had died to, and were discharged from was the entire law Moses gave — including the ten commandments. Paul unquestioningly showed this in Romans 7.
Now, turn to Galatians 5:1-5 and read a serious and grave warning from the apostle to those who would teach and believe otherwise.
Jim McDonald