Verses¶
Primary Verses — Paul's "Under the Law" / "Delivered from the Law"¶
Romans 6:14-15¶
"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."
Context (Romans 6:1-23): Paul's argument about dying to sin. The chapter begins: "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid." The purpose of "not under the law" is stated: "sin shall NOT have dominion over you." This is followed immediately by: "shall we sin? God forbid." The chapter concludes: "the wages of sin is death."
Romans 7:1-6¶
"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?" "For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband." "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." "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."
Context: Marriage analogy — death releases from a binding relationship. "Delivered from the law" immediately followed by: "Is the law sin? God forbid" (7:7). The same chapter affirms: "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (7:12), "the law is spiritual" (7:14), "I delight in the law of God" (7:22).
Romans 3:19-20, 31¶
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."
Context (Romans 3:1-31): Paul's argument that all have sinned. "Under the law" here means within the law's jurisdiction for the purpose of accountability/guilt. Ends with emphatic: "we establish the law" — using histemi (G2476).
1 Corinthians 9:20-21¶
"And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;" "To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law."
Context: Paul's evangelistic flexibility. He distinguishes: "under the law" (hypo nomon) as a relational/covenantal status, not a moral category. He himself is "not without law to God" (ouk anomos theou) but "under the law to Christ" (ennomos Christou). Paul denies he is lawless (anomos) toward God.
Galatians 3:23-25¶
"But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." "But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."
Context (Galatians 3:1-29): The law as paidagogos (tutor/guardian). "Under the law" = in the custodial/pedagogical role of the law before Christ. Greek: phroureo (guarded) + sugkleio (shut up/enclosed) — custodial language.
Galatians 4:4-5, 21¶
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law," "To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?"
Context (Galatians 4:1-31): Heir-as-child analogy. "Under the law" paralleled with "under tutors and governors" (4:2) and "in bondage under the elements of the world" (4:3). "Desire to be under the law" addressed to Galatians returning to law-keeping for justification.
Galatians 5:18¶
"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law."
Context (Galatians 5:13-26): Immediately preceded by "all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (5:14). Followed by fruit of the Spirit list (5:22-23): "against such there is no law." The Spirit-led life fulfills the law's demands.
Galatians 3:10, 13¶
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."
Context: "Under the curse" — the law's penalty for failure. Christ redeems FROM the curse, not FROM the law itself. The curse is the consequence of breaking the law, not the law itself.
Primary Verses — Jesus's Law-Permanence Passages¶
Matthew 5:17-20¶
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Context: Sermon on the Mount. Jesus anticipates the charge that he destroys the law. Uses kataluo (G2647) — same word as physical demolition of buildings (Mat 24:2, 26:61). Pleroo (G4137) — same word used throughout Matthew for prophetic fulfillment ("that it might be fulfilled").
Luke 16:16-17¶
"The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."
Context: Immediately after v.16 (which could suggest law ended with John), v.17 asserts the law's permanence exceeds the cosmos. The juxtaposition is significant.
Matthew 22:37-40¶
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Matthew 23:23¶
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."
Matthew 19:17¶
"And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
Paul's Law-Affirmation Passages¶
Romans 7:12, 14, 22¶
"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man."
Romans 8:1-4, 7¶
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:" "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
Romans 13:8-10¶
"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
1 Corinthians 7:19¶
"Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God."
Galatians 5:14¶
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Galatians 2:18-19¶
"For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor." "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God."
Note on Gal 2:18: Paul uses kataluo (G2647) — the same word Jesus uses in Mat 5:17. Paul says "if I build again what I kataluo'd" — referring to the law-keeping-for-justification system he previously relied on. This is Paul using kataluo for the dissolution of a system, not the law itself.
Cross-Testament Parallels¶
Concept Context Results¶
Romans 6:14 (author scope): Paul's same-author usage links SIN + LAW + GRACE. Key parallels: - Rom 5:20: "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" - Rom 3:20: "by the law is the knowledge of sin" - 1 Cor 15:56: "the strength of sin is the law" - Gal 2:21: "if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" - Gal 5:4: "justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace"
Matthew 5:17 (author scope): Matthew's same-book usage links LAW + PROPHET + FULFILLMENT. Key: Matthew uses pleroo 16+ times, overwhelmingly for prophetic fulfillment (Mat 1:22, 2:15, 2:17, 2:23, 4:14, 8:17, 12:17, 13:14, 13:35, 21:4, 26:54, 26:56, 27:9, 27:35). This is Matthew's characteristic usage of pleroo.
Romans 3:31 (author scope): Paul links FAITH + LAW. Key parallels: - Rom 10:4: "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" - Gal 3:23-24: law as schoolmaster unto Christ - Rom 9:32: "they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law"
Galatians 3:23 (author scope): Paul links FAITH + LAW in custodial/temporal framework. Key: - Gal 3:24: "schoolmaster unto Christ" - Gal 4:4-5: "made under the law, to redeem them under the law" - Gal 4:21: "ye that desire to be under the law"