Yes — a husband's death releases his wife from the legal obligations of the marriage, and she is no longer bound by the law that kept them united.
Romans 7 says a wife is 'bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth,' but if the husband is dead, she is 'loosed from the law of her husband.' Les Feldick teaches that death is where the law's dominion ends, just as civil government can no longer tax a dead person. The wife is therefore free to remarry without being called an adulteress.
Romans 7:1-3 — These verses directly explain that the law binds a wife to her husband while he lives and releases her when he dies.
Romans 7:1-3 sets out the principle clearly. The law has dominion over a person as long as he lives. In the same way, '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.' While her husband lives, if she 'be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress.' But once the husband is dead, Scripture says 'she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.' The Bible's own statement is that death ends the wife's legal obligation to her husband.
Les Feldick explains that Paul is not limiting this to the Mosaic law; he is talking about 'law as it governs society.' Just as American constitutional law controls citizens until they die, and then loses all control—the government cannot tax a dead person—death is the only way to sever certain legal obligations. Applying this to marriage, Les says God's original plan from the Garden of Eden was 'one man married for life to one woman,' but if death interrupts the marriage, the surviving spouse is free to remarry. Les also uses Paul's analogy that believers are 'become dead to the law by the body of Christ' so that they are married to another, even Christ. The marriage relationship is the picture Paul uses to show how death ends one bond and makes a new union possible.
Les Feldick points out that Paul 'is not just talking about the Mosaic law here, he's talking about law as it governs society.' He illustrates with American government and the Constitution: that law controls us 'till we die,' but 'the moment we die, the American government loses all control. They can't tax you, they can't do anything to a dead person.' In the same way, death severs legal obligations such as a bank's ability to foreclose on a mortgage. The principle Paul uses is a general legal principle: the law has dominion over a person as long as he lives.
No. While her husband is living, she is bound by law to him; if she marries another man she 'shall be called an adulteress.' Paul says the release comes through the husband's death: 'if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.' Les Feldick confirms this from 1 Corinthians 7, noting that God's original plan was one man for one woman for life, but 'if death interrupted it... then they were free to remarry.' In this Romans 7 passage, death—not divorce—is what Paul presents as the release from the legal bond.
Les Feldick connects the marriage illustration to the believer's relationship with the law and Christ. In Romans 7:4 Paul writes, '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.' Les says that 'as soon as we become a child of God, we are literally unioned with Christ, just like a husband and wife in the marriage relationship.' Just as a wife is released from her husband by death, believers are released from the law by being in the body of Christ, and are now joined to the risen Christ.
Law's Dominion Ends at Death
Les teaches that the law controls a person only as long as he lives; death ends all legal claims, using the American government and bank foreclosure as examples.
Death Interrupts Marriage and Permits Remarriage
Les explains that God's original design is one man for one woman for life, but if death interrupts a marriage, the surviving spouse is free to remarry.
What Does "Church" Really Mean? Acts 2 & Ekklesia Explained
Therefore, in Ephesians 5, "...therefore, as the church," that is again the body, "...is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." But now, don't lose the connotation. Husbands, we are to have the same attitude toward our wife that Christ has to the church.
Your Body Is the Temple of the Holy Spirit — 1 Corinthians 6:19
Get that? Ephesians 5 and verse 22. Look at that analogy..... "...for the husband is the head of the wife like a slave master over his slaves." What we find here, is again a comparison that's established by the Abrahamites of the church. is the head of the Church.
What the Bible Really Says About Marriage — 1 Corinthians 7 Explained
It's under probably different circumstances than most of us are confronted with, and yet as our society is crumbling, and as we are falling more and more into the same kind of a social fabric that Corinth was, this chapter 7 is probably more appropriate than most of us would like to admit.
What the Bible Really Says About Marriage — 1 Corinthians 7 Explained
And so unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband, and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to the husband. And let the husband, by the same token, not put away his wife. Verse 12. But to the rest I speak, not the Lord.
Dead to the Law and Married to Christ
Les uses Paul's analogy to show that believers, by Christ's death, are dead to the law and united with the risen Christ as a wife is united to her husband.
What Does the Bible Say About Deception? Jacob, Esau, and the Stolen Blessing.
But these people back here before Moses, they lived pretty much their everyday life according to the laws of Hammurabi. And Hammurabi also definitely laid down the law that he who murdered had to have his life taken, and they weren't going to fool around for four or five years of appeals and so on and so forth. You know what she says here? In one day.
Romans 7:1: 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?
This is the foundational statement that the law's authority over a person lasts only as long as that person lives.
Romans 7:2: 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.
This directly answers the question: a wife's legal bond and obligation to her husband ends at his death.
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.
This shows the practical result: after her husband's death, a wife may marry another man without being an adulteress.
Romans 7:4: 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.
Paul applies the death-releases-from-law principle to believers, using it to picture their new union with Christ.
In the passage Paul uses, the binding law remains in force as long as the husband lives. When he dies, the wife is 'loosed from the law of her husband' (Romans 7:2). Les Feldick extends this to all human law: death severs the relationship the law had over a person.
Yes. Romans 7:3 says if her husband is dead, 'she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.' Les Feldick says that when death interrupts a marriage, the surviving spouse is free to remarry.
Les was using the civil law as an illustration. A living person is under the government's jurisdiction, but at death the government loses all control—it cannot tax the dead person. The same point is made in Romans 7: death is what ends the law's dominion and legal claims.
Watch the Teaching: Dead to the Law, Married to Christ — What Romans 7 Really Means