Bible Strands
Romans 7:3
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Roman believers to advance a legal analogy, using a marital example to illustrate binding and release.
The words — ζῶντος (zōntos) means “while living,” and μοιχαλὶς (moichalis) translates literally to “adulteress.”
The thread — The adultery prohibition appears in Exodus 20:14, Jesus’ teaching on divorce and adultery in Matthew 5:32, and the creation ordinance in Mark 10:6.
Why it lands — The text states that a woman remains bound to her husband while he lives and is released only upon his death, establishing a legal principle before Paul applies it to believers dying to the law. The passage requires the reader to recognize that legal obligations end only with death, preparing them to understand their new union with Christ.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 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 However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 22:22 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 The scribes and Pharisees, however, brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before them
- 1 Timothy 5:11 But refuse to enroll younger widows. For when their passions draw them away from Christ, they will want to marry,
- Numbers 5:13 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),
- 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.”
- 1 Samuel 25:39 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.