Rom 7:1

“Add to this the fact that the apostle, with regard to widows and the unmarried, advises them to remain permanently in that state, when he says, "But I desire all to persevere in (imitation of) my example: " but touching marrying "in the Lord," he no longer advises, but plainly bids. Therefore in this case especially, if we do not obey, we run a risk, because one may with more impunity neglect an "advice" than an "order; "in that the former springs from counsel, and is proposed to the will (for acceptance or rejection): the other descends from authority, and is bound to necessity. In the former case, to disregard appears liberty, in the latter, contumacy.”

“This is similar to what Paul says later on [in verse 14]: "We know that the law is spiritual." It was not only Paul who knew that the law was spiritual but these people too, who had been taught by it and who were spiritual themselves.… Before the coming of Christ there were many Jews who grew in spiritual knowledge and saw God's glory, e.g., Isaiah, of whom John testifies when he says: "Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke of him."”

“Since then he had said, we are "dead to sin," he here shows that not sin only, but also the Law, hath no dominion over them. But if the Law hath none, much less hath sin: and to render his language palatable, he uses a human example to make this plain by. And he seems to be stating one point, but he sets down at once two arguments for his proposition. One, that when a husband is dead, the woman is no longer subject to her husband, and there is nothing to prevent her becoming the wife of another man: and the other, that in the present case it is not the husband only that is dead but the wife also. So that one may enjoy liberty in two ways. Now if when the husband is dead, she is freed from his power, when the woman is shown to be dead also, she is much more at liberty. For if the one event frees her from his power, much more does the concurrence of both. As he is about to proceed then to a proof of these points, he starts with an encomium of the hearers, in these words, "Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the Law, that is, I am saying a thing that is quite agreed upon, and clear, and to men too that know all these things accurately, "How that the Law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?" He does not say, husband or wife, but "man," which name is common to either creature; "For he that is dead," he says, "is freed from sin." The Law then is given for the living, but to the dead it ceaseth to be ordained. Do you observe how he sets forth a twofold freedom?”

“Having left moral teaching, he returns to dogmatic teaching and proves that his listeners should no longer remain under the law. The law, he says, as you yourselves know, has authority over a person as long as the person remains alive; for it does not extend to the dead. So you too, he says, have died to the law, and therefore it no longer had authority over you.”

“After showing that we are set free from sin through the grace of Christ, the Apostle now shows that through the same grace we are freed from slavery to the law. In regard to this he does two things: first, he states his proposition; second, he excludes an objection, at what shall we say, then (Rom 7:7). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he shows that through the grace of Christ we are freed from the slavery of the law; second, that this liberation is useful, at that we may bring forth fruit to God. In regard to the first he does three things: first, he makes a statement from which he argues to his proposition; second, he clarifies it, at for the woman who has a husband; third, he concludes, at therefore, my brethren. The statement he makes is presented as something known to them. Hence he says, do you not know, brethren? As if to say: you should not be ignorant of this. But if any man does not know, he will not be known (1 Cor 14:38). The reason they should not be ignorant of it is shown when he says, for I speak to those who know the law. But since the Romans were gentiles and ignorant of the law of Moses, it seems that what is said here does not apply to them. Therefore, some explained this as referring to the natural law, of which the gentiles were not ignorant, as he said earlier: when the gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves (Rom 2:14). Hence it is added: that the law has dominion over a man, i.e., the natural law, as long as he lives, i.e., the law in man. And it lives as long as natural reason functions efficaciously in a person; but it dies, as long as natural reason succumbs to the passions: they have broken the everlasting covenant (Isa 24:5), i.e., of the natural law. But this interpretation does not seem to agree with the intention of the Apostle who always has in mind the law of Moses, when he speaks of the law with no modifying qualifications. Therefore, it is better to say that the Roman believers were not only gentiles; there were many Jews among them. Hence it says that Paul found at Corinth a certain Jew named Aquila, who had recently arrived from Italy, and Priscilla his wife, because Claudius had expelled all the Jews from Rome (Acts 18:2). Therefore, the law is binding on a person as long as he lives. For the law was given to direct man in the way of this life, as it says in the Psalm: he will instruct him in the way that he should choose (Ps 25:12). Therefore, the obligation of the law is dissolved by death.”