Bible Strands
Romans 7:1
Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul addresses Jewish believers ("brothers who know the law") while transitioning from his previous discussion of grace to a legal illustration. He establishes a foundational principle about jurisdiction immediately before introducing a marriage analogy in Romans 7:2.
The words — The noun νόμον (nomon) translates literally as "law" and denotes the binding legal code under discussion. The verb ἀγνοεῖτε (agnoeite) means "are you ignorant," functioning as a rhetorical prompt to confirm their existing knowledge of legal principles.
The thread — The text states that law's authority ends at death, a principle Paul explicitly applies to marriage in Romans 7:2 and to spiritual release in Romans 7:6. This jurisdictional limit parallels the believer's union with Christ's death in Romans 6:3 and the transition from law to grace in Romans 6:14.
Why it lands — The text asserts that legal authority operates only while a person lives, requiring the reader to accept death as the terminus of binding jurisdiction. The reader must apply this rule to recognize that spiritual death, not mere moral effort, terminates the law's condemnation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Cross-references
- Romans 6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
- Romans 7:6 But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
- Romans 6:3 Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
- Proverbs 6:23 For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,
- Romans 10:1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation.
- Romans 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,
- Galatians 4:21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says?
- Romans 2:17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;
- 1 Corinthians 9:8 Do I say this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?
- Romans 1:13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.