Romans 7:3

3 Therefore as a result, if she belongs to another man [while] her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress [if she] belongs to another man.

Romans 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 7:3

So then if while her husband liveth
True indeed it is, that whilst her husband is alive, if

she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress;
she will be noted and accounted of as such everybody, except in the above mentioned cases:

but if her husband be dead;
then there can be no exception to her marriage:

she is free from the law;
of marriage, by which she was before bound:

so that she is no adulteress;
nor will any reckon her such; she is clear from any such imputation:

though she be married to another man;
hence it appears that second marriages are lawful.

Romans 7:3 In-Context

1 Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is master of a person for as long a time [as] he lives?

2 For the married woman is bound by law to [her] husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband.

3 Therefore as a result, if she belongs to another man [while] her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress [if she] belongs to another man.

4 So then, my brothers, you also were brought to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

5 For when we were in the flesh, sinful desires were working through the law in our members, to bear fruit for death.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[while]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("is living") which is understood as temporal
• [b]. *Here "[if]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("belongs") which is understood as conditional