4 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.
Verses four through six conclude the argument from verses one to three.
4 Therefore,
Paul now introduced in verse four an inference from verses one through three. We find the central proposition of the argument of the first six verses in this verse.
my brethren,
Paul spoke to Christians with the illustration of verses one through three.
you also have become dead [put to death] to the law
The phrase “have become dead” is something God did (passive voice). He did it decisively at a point in the past (aorist indicative). God by an act of His own released believers from penalty of the law by death. Christians cannot do this to themselves.
There is a finality in death. God made a final break with the law for the believer. This is not a break from righteousness in the law but from the curse of the law. The law does not die but the believer dies to the law. The law ceased to have a claim on the believer before God. The law has no further claim on the believer because God put to death the law as a claimant.
through the body of Christ,
God put believers to death through the cross of Christ. Christ’s death for sin becomes our death to the sin issue.
that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead,
Christians are free to be married to Christ. Because of the death of Christ, people are free to join Christ’s family. Christians are no longer answerable to the law but to Christ. We are one with the one who was raised from the dead.
that we should bear fruit to God.
It is inevitable that those who become Christians bear fruit as a result of their salvation. Fruit is the manifestation of the life of a tree or plant. Christians will produce character and conduct that show they are truly believers. A person cannot become a Christian and not be affected by who Christ is and what He did. Fruit here is spiritual production from the Holy Spirit.
PRINCIPLE:
Those who see themselves as having died with Christ and now joined to a risen Christ bring forth fruit that God requires.
APPLICATION:
It is important for the believer to view himself as in Christ rather than in Adam. If we see ourselves as dead, buried, and risen with Christ, we will produce fruit. This is a dynamic that morality by law cannot achieve. There is an inevitability of fruit production by the Spirit when a person becomes a Christian.
