Romans 7:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Romans 7:3
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
a particle denoting an inference more or less decisive… · conjunction
then
οὖνoun
G3767
(adverbially) certainly · conjunction
if
ἐὰνean
G1437
a conditional particle · conditional particle
while
ζῶντοςzōntos
G2198
to live (literally or figuratively) · verb — present active participle, genitive singular masculine
husband
ἀνδρὸςandros
G435
a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — genitive singular masculine
liveth
ζάωzáō
G2198
to live (literally or figuratively)
married
γένηταιgenētai
G1096
to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent subjunctive, 3rd person singular
to
ἀνδρὶandri
G435
a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — dative singular masculine
another
ἑτέρῳ·heterō
G2087
(an- · adjective — dative singular masculine
man
ἀνήρ,anēr
G435
a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — nominative singular masculine
called
χρηματίσει,chrēmatisei
G5537
to utter an oracle (compare the original sense of G5530… · verb — future active indicative, 3rd person singular
adulteress
μοιχαλὶςmoichalis
G3428
an adulteress (literally or figuratively) · adjective — nominative singular feminine
but
δὲde
G1161
but · conjunction
if
ἐὰνean
G1437
a conditional particle · conditional particle
husband
ἀνδρὶandri
G435
a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — dative singular masculine
dead
ἀποθάνῃapothanē
G599
to die off (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
is
ἐστίestí
G2076
he (she or it) is
free
ἐλευθέραeleuthera
G1658
unrestrained (to go at pleasure) · adjective — nominative singular feminine
from
ἀπὸapo
G575
"off · preposition
law
νόμουnomou
G3551
law (through the idea of prescriptive usage) · noun — genitive singular masculine
that
τοῦtou
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — genitive singular masculine
she
αὐτὴνautēn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular feminine
is
εἶναιeinai
G1511
to exist · verb — present active infinitive
no
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
adulteress
μοιχαλίδαmoichalida
G3428
an adulteress (literally or figuratively) · adjective — accusative singular feminine
married
γενομένηνgenomenēn
G1096
to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent participle, accusative singular feminine
to
ἀνήρanḗr
G435
a man (properly as an individual male)
another
ἑτέρῳ.¶heterō
G2087
(an- · adjective — dative singular masculine
man
ἀνήρanḗr
G435
a man (properly as an individual male)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Matthew 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoev…
Mark 10:6-12 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
Leviticus 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and…
Deuteronomy 22:22-24 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the…
John 8:3-5 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
1 Timothy 5:11-14 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
Numbers 5:13-31 And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Romans 7:1-6
Among other arguments used in the foregoing chapter to persuade us against sin, and to holiness, this was one (Rom 7:14), that we are not under the law; and this argument is here further insisted upon and explained (Rom 7:6): We are delivered from the law. What is meant by this? And how is it an argument why sin should not reign over us, and why we should walk in newness of life? 1. We are delivered from the power of the law which curses and condemns us for the sin committed by us. The sentence of the law against us is vacated and reversed, by the death of Christ, to all true believers. The law saith, The soul that sins shall die; but we are delivered from the law. The Lord has taken away th…
So then, if, while her husband liveth - The object of the apostle's similitude is to show that each party is equally bound to the other; but that the death of either dissolves the engagement.
So - she is no adulteress, though she be married to another - And do not imagine that this change would argue any disloyalty in you to your Maker; for, as he has determined that this law of ordinances shall cease, you are no more bound to it than a woman is to a deceased husband, and are as free to receive the Gospel of Christ as a woman in such circumstances would be to remarry.
John Gill on 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.
The Church Fathers
As long as her husband is alive, a woman must live according to his will alone, but once he is dead and she is married to another man, she should no longer live in the manner of her former husband.
And for this reason he says: "Therefore, while her husband lives, she will be called an adulteress if she be with another man," so as to show that the soul of a man too, if it has now come to Christ and has been joined to Christ as to a second husband, must in no way have the oldness of the letter — which is as it were the former husband — living in it, lest perchance, if it should have him living within it, she become an adulteress, having been so joined to the second that the former was still alive to her. This is what he said above under another figure, that one must first die and thus be buried together with Christ.
For just as a woman is freed by the death of her husband from the law of her husband but not from the law of nature, so also they will be set free by the grace of God from the law by which they were held captive, so that it will be dead for them and they will not be adulterers by being joined to Christianity. For if the law lives in them they are adulterers and have no right to be called Christians, since they will be subject to punishment. Nor will he who is joined to the gospel after the death of the law and later returns to the law be an adulterer to the law but to the gospel. For when the law's authority ceases, it is said to be dead.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Marriage — Was instituted in Paradise when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:18-24). Here we have its original charter, which was confirmed by our Lord, as the basis on which all regulations are to be framed (Matt.…
Marriage · Indissoluble during the joint lives of the parties — Indissoluble during the joint lives of the parties
Widow · Marriage of, authorized — Marriage of, authorized
Widows · Were released from all obligation to former husbands — Were released from all obligation to former husbands
Wives · Duties of, to their husbands: To remain with them for life — Duties of, to their husbands: To remain with them for life
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Romans 7:1-4
Romans 7:1-4
1. 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?
1. Num ignoratis fratres (scientibus enim Legem loquor) quod Lex dominatur homini quamdiu vivit?
2. 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.
2. Nam viro subjecta mulier, viventi viro alligata est per Legem; quod si mortuus fuerit vir, soluta est a Lege viri.
3. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so tha…
These verses are not an allegory, in which every element of the story has a theological counterpart. Paul simply cites an illustration to make two basic points: Death can release a person from obligation to the law, and freedom from one relationship can allow a person to establish a new one. Paul applies the illustration in 7:4.
