From which “law” have we been released? To some, the answer might seem obvious: Jews followed Moses, but Christians follow Christ. But to others the question of law seems more difficult. They acknowledge the way the prophets and Jesus spoke of the law’s enduring value. In an effort to keep at least part of the law, they split the law of Moses into two parts: the Moral Law and the Ceremonial Law. They want Romans 7, when it says, “we are released from the law,” to mean we are released from that part of the law having to do with ceremonies, rituals and sacrifices. They argue that the better parts of the law are not included when Romans 7 speaks of “the law.” They think that Paul did not have the Ten Commandments in mind when he said, “we are released from the law.” Otherwise he would be saying in effect, “we have been released from the Ten Commandments.”
When questions such as this arise, we remember to be careful in handling Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15). If we may create our own meanings for words then we can make the Bible say whatever we wish, and miss the point of what God is saying. One of the ways to be fair with Scripture is to see what the context—the surrounding passage—has to say. When Paul said, “the law,” was he thinking of the Ten Commandments as included in that law? The context answers positively. We have noticed that Romans 7:6 says, “we are released from the law.” Now look at the way “the law” is used in the next verse. The last part of verse 7 says, “For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’.”
Here Romans quotes from “the law.” Which law said, “You shall not covet”? As you know, “You shall not covet” is one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:17). Hence “the law” from which we have been released is the law that has the Ten Commandments.
The Bible itself never hints at dividing the law into two parts. But, for the sake of discussion, suppose there was a way to divide Moral Law from Ceremonial Law. In that case, into which category would you place “You shall not covet”? Would that command seem to be moral, as compared with ceremonial? Obviously it is moral, and not in any way ritualistic. Yet Romans 7 quotes what is obviously moral in identifying the law to which we have died and from which we have been released.