The Law - Romans 7:1-14

When Paul was explaining baptism to the people, he likened being buried in the waters of baptism like dying and being buried, and being raised out of the water to signify that we “walk in the newness of life.” This is a pretty straight forward way to expand understanding of the scriptures, and Paul takes it one step further and uses death to help his audience understand the difference between the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul says “the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth.” The IM says “Paul used a marriage metaphor to explain that Israel was once bound to the law of Moses, as a wife is bound to her husband.” These statements seem pretty degrading to the woman, but I would contest that a man is legally bound to his wife during their marriage as long as she is alive as well.
If a wife “be married to another man” while she is already married, “she shall be called an adulteress.” This is like when Israel would forsake or warp the law of Moses so that they could do things that were contrary to the law. This was a huge problem for the Israelites, so it makes sense that Paul would mention it here.
Once the husband dies, the woman is no longer bound to him, and “she is loosed from the law of her husband,” meaning that she is then free to marry another. Likewise, the IM says that once “the law is fulfilled, Israel should be bound – or ‘married’ – to Jesus Christ.” The IM continues by quoting Elder Bruce R. McConkie as comparing marriage commitments, saying, “so with Israel and the law. As long as the law lived, and was therefore in force, Israel was married to it and required to obey its provisions… But now the law is fulfilled; it no longer lives; it has become dead in Christ; and Israel is married to another, even to Christ, whose gospel law must now be obeyed.”
The concept of giving up significant portions of the Law of Moses for the Gospel of Jesus Christ was difficult for many people to accept, and the IM says, “some devout Jews had accused Paul of speaking blasphemously against the law of Moses.” How was Paul supposed to explain to people devout to their religion that changes were necessary for salvation?
Paul makes an interesting comparison saying, “that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” I really like the concept of the “letter of the law” vs. the “spirit of the law,” and it sounds like Paul is asking them to look past what the law said “literally” and try to understand what the law was for “spiritually.”
There are several verses that go back and forth about the law and sin and life and death, and honestly I don’t really understand it very much. The IM does a good job of explaining it saying, “Paul clarified his position by explaining that the law of Moses was good, but it had limitations. The law taught that sin was- ‘for by the law is the knowledge of sin’- and therefore the law was holy. But the law could not overcome the effects of the Fall, which makes mankind ‘carnal, sold under sin,’ and the law alone could not correct the problem of human weakness or provide means for people to be transformed by the Spirit. For that, we need the grace made available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
The Law is good because it teaches us right from wrong and gives us a guideline to use when living our lives, so for the good that it does in our lives, the law is holy. But the piece of paper and the words that constitutes the law does not give the people the opportunity to be saved by the law. Performing ordinances or making promises or obeying rules is only beneficial to us spiritually if the actions and covenants are back by godly power and the payment of sins in a way that we can not do for ourselves.