Chapter
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Verse

Romans 7:4

ESV Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
NIV 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.
NASB Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in regard to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
CSB Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.
NLT So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.
KJV 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.
NKJV Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

What does Romans 7:4 mean?

Paul brings home the point to which he has been building in this chapter. He has written that one who has died is no longer bound by the law, just as a woman whose husband has died is no longer bound by that marriage. She is free to marry a new husband.

Paul now writes that Christians are the ones who have died, freeing us from our responsibility to the law of Moses. What does this mean? God counts us as being so closely identified with Christ that His physical death on the cross amounts to the death of our old, spiritual selves (Romans 6:6). Paul said repeatedly in the previous chapter that our death "with Christ" has freed us from slavery to sin (Romans 6:2, 18). Now he adds that our death with Christ was also a death "to the law."

Since we died in this way, our former responsibility to the law is broken and we are free to belong to someone else. Specifically, Christians now belong to Christ, the one who has been raised from the dead.

The verse ends with a statement about the point of our new identity in Christ. Now we exist to bear fruit for God. This death to law and resurrection to Christ has created for us a new purpose. Our lives contribute to God's harvest of useful "fruit." The following verses speak more about this fruit.
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