Romans 7:3

3 Therefore she shall be called adulteress, if she be with another man, while the husband liveth [Therefore living the man, she shall be called adulteress, if she be with another man]; but if her husband is dead [forsooth if her husband be dead], she is delivered from the law of the husband, that she be not adulteress, if she be with 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 Brethren, whether ye know not; for I speak to men that know the law; for the law hath lordship in a man, as long time as he liveth?
2 For that woman that is under an husband, is bound to the law, while the husband liveth; but if her husband is dead, she is delivered from the law of the husband [soothly if her husband be dead, she is delivered, or unbound, from the law of the husband].
3 Therefore she shall be called adulteress, if she be with another man, while the husband liveth [Therefore living the man, she shall be called adulteress, if she be with another man]; but if her husband is dead [forsooth if her husband be dead], she is delivered from the law of the husband, that she be not adulteress, if she be with another man.
4 And so, my brethren, ye be made dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye be of another, that rose again from death, that ye bear fruit to God. [+Therefore, my brethren, and ye be made dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye be another's, that rose from dead, that we bear fruit to God.]
5 For when we were in flesh, passions of sins, that were by the law, wrought in our members, to bear fruit to death.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.