In Romans 7:1-6, Paul gives a famous illustration of a wife who re-marries after the death of her first husband. A number of traditional commentators saw this illustration as an allegory in which the first husband is the “old nature”, and the wife who re-marries is the believer’s soul or “true self” who, freed from the Mosaic law, is subsequently united with Christ. More recent commentators tend to reject the allegorical approach and to regard Paul’s illustration as having the more limited remit of demonstrating a single principle, namely that “death severs relationship to the law”.

In this article, I attempt to defend the traditional interpretation partly by considering the internal structure of Romans 7:1-6 as well as by a consideration of the surrounding passages in Romans Chs. 6-8. I hope you will find the article interesting, and look forward to all comments and criticisms!

The article is in Word document format and can be accessed by clicking on the link below:

Categories: Chiastic and Other Structures, Romans, Uncategorized

Tags: allegory, Augustine, Beza, Christ, husband and wife, illustration, Law, Melanchthon, New Testament, Romans, Romans 7:1-6, Sin