Romans 7:3
So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
Truth to Learn
We are no longer bound to obey the Law just as a woman is no longer bound to her marriage vows when her husband dies.
Behind the Words
The word translated “adulteress” is moichalis, which means “a woman who is unfaithful to her husband.” In other words, it means “a married woman who engages in sexual activity with anyone other than her husband.”
The words “marries” and “married” do not actually appear in the Greek text. The first part of this verse literally reads, “so, then, the husband being alive, an adulteress she shall be called if she should become another man’s.” In the culture of the first century, a woman was a man’s property very much like a slave was his property. That’s not the way our society views it, however, so the translators paraphrased the text at this point to make the verse more understandable to us.
Meaning Explained
God does not approve of divorce any more than He approves of stealing or coveting. He never intended for divorce to happen because marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ and His church. He has told us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. In other words, He will never divorce us. However, let me ease the mind of those of you who are divorced. God does forgive divorce just as He forgives any sin. Divorce does not make you any less a Christian than a brother or sister who has committed any other sin, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Now, having said that, let me repeat that God does not approve of divorce. So the metaphor that the Apostle Paul is using here is a picture of how God feels about the relationship between a man and a woman and about the relationship between Christ and the church. Paul says that if a woman is divorced from her husband and remarries, she is committing adultery. We need to take notice, however, that Paul is not teaching about divorce in this passage. He is teaching about being bound by the law just as a woman is bound to her husband until one of them dies.
Back in Romans 6:6, 7 Paul introduced the idea that before we were saved, we were under bondage to our sin nature (our old man). And, he told us that our sin nature was crucified with Christ when we were saved. He now uses the metaphor of marriage to show that when our sin nature was crucified, we became free to join ourselves to another, that is, to Christ.
That’s what Paul is referencing when he says, if a woman’s husband dies she is no longer bound by the marriage obligation and she is free to remarry. Death breaks the legal bond in a marriage and death breaks the bond that the Law had on us. Therefore, since we died to sin and the Law when we were saved, we are no longer under the obligation to obey the Law.
Application
There are numerous churches today that add so many rules and laws above and beyond what is taught in Scripture that the members become enslaved to the church. That’s not the way that God intended it. Thanks be to God for making us free!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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