Romans 7:3

3 So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries 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 Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

2 For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

3 So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

4 Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

5 For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.