“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. — Death ἐν τῷ σώματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ (en tō sōmati tou Christou, "in the body of Christ"—through baptismal union) dissolves the law's claim; believers now "belong to" (γίνομαι, ginomai) the Risen Christ. The goal is κάρπος (karpos, "fruit for God")—ethical and spiritual productivity flowing from new covenant union, not external legal constraint.
Church Fathers on Romans 7:4
“For the woman which has an husband is bound by the Law to her husband, so long as he lives: but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the Law of her husband. So then, if while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she is called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.” He keeps continually upon this point, and that with great exactness, since he feels quite sure…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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