Romans 7:3

Translations

Modern

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.

Traditional

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.

Literal

So then, of the husband being alive, if she becomes unto another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if the husband should die, she is free from the law, so as not for her to be an adulteress, having become unto another man.

Latin

Igitur, vivente viro, vocabitur adultera si fuerit cum alio viro: si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, liberata est a lege viri, ut non sit adultera si fuerit cum alio viro.

Original

Greek

English

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.

Notes

Romans 7:2–3

These verses are not an allegory, in which every part of the story has a separate theological meaning. Paul uses a simple illustration to make two main points:

Death can free a person from the law.
Ending one relationship can allow a person to start a new one.

Paul applies this example in 7:4.

Theme notes and profiles

Paul (Saul) Biblical Law The Law and the Spirit The Limitations of Law The Old Realm and the New

Related verses

Exodus 20:14
You shall not commit adultery.
Matthew 5:32
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Mark 10:6–12
However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
Deuteronomy 22:22–24
If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
John 8:3–5
The scribes and Pharisees, however, brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before them
1 Timothy 5:11–14
But refuse to enroll younger widows. For when their passions draw them away from Christ, they will want to marry,
Leviticus 20:10
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
Ruth 2:13
“My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.”
Numbers 5:13–31
…by sleeping with another man, and it is concealed from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she was not caught in the act),
1 Samuel 25:39–42
On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the LORD has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.

Romans 7:3

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