In Romans 7:3, why is a widow not an adulteress when she remarries?
The law that bound the woman to her husband terminates at his death. Death settles all previous demands, freeing her from the civil law that made them husband and wife. Since that law no longer applies, she is free to marry another man without being called an adulteress.
Les explains that it is not the husband's dominion as such, but the law of the land under which they were married that determines how they treat community property and other matters. When the husband dies, the woman is as free as a bird; she is no longer under any of the previous demands of that husband because he is dead. Death settles it. In verse 3, if while the husband lives she marries another, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband is dead, she is free from that law that kept those two people together—the law of the land that made them husband and wife. She is free from that civil law, so she is no adulteress though she be married to another man. Verse 4 is the key to the whole concept, and Les is laying an illustration that since the law of the land has kept husband and wife together and lays out how they handle property and wealth, there are laws stipulating how this is done.
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.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
More Questions
In Romans 7:3, when is a remarried wife considered an adulteress?
Romans 7:3 says that a wife who marries another man while her husband is living is an adulteress, but if her husband has died she is no adulteress when she marries another.
What law is Paul referring to in Romans 7:2-3 when he says a wife is bound to her husband?
The 'law' Paul is talking about in Romans 7:2-3 is the civil law of the land that made the two people husband and wife, not the husband's authority as such.
What does Romans 7:4 say about being dead to the law and married to another?
In Romans 7:4 believers are become dead to the law by the Body of Christ so that they should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that they should bring forth fruit unto God.
In Romans 7, is a wife bound to her husband or to the law of the land under which they married?
In Romans 7's marriage illustration, what binds the wife is not her husband's dominion as such, but the law of the land under which they married; that law determines how they treat their community property and how they do other things.
What is 'the law' that binds a wife to her husband in Romans 7?
In Paul's Romans 7 marriage illustration, 'the law' that binds a wife to her husband is not the husband's dominion as such but the law of the land under which they were married.