Romans 7:3 · Bible study
Romans 7:3 Commentary: Marriage, Death, and Freedom from the Law
Greek · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Paul’s marriage analogy illustrates how death dissolves the law’s claim, freeing believers to be joined to Christ without condemnation.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Death dissolves the law’s bond, freeing the believer to be joined to Christ without condemnation.
- Key words: chrēmatisei (will be called), a deliberate, public designation; eleuthera (free), fully released from the law’s claim.
- Main debate: Whether “free from the law” means freedom from all law (antinomianism) or freedom from the Mosaic law as a covenant of works.
- Theological theme: Union with Christ in his death breaks the old relationship to the law and enables a new, fruitful marriage to the risen Christ.
- Best use: Preached to show believers that their salvation rests on a finished death, not on law-keeping, and that their freedom is for love and obedience in the Spirit.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
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, even if she marries another man.
WEB World English Bible 2000
So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
KJV King James Version 1769
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.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
so, then, the husband being alive, an adulteress she shall be called if she may become another man's; and if the husband may die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, having become another man's.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
so then, the husband being alive, she shall be called an adulteress if she be to another man; but if the husband should die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, though she be to another man.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Therefore, whilst her husband liveth, she shall be called an adulteress, if she be with another man: but if her husband be dead, she is delivered from the law of her husband: so that she is not an adulteress, if she be with another man.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Así que, viviendo el marido, se llamará adúltera si fuere de otro varón; mas si su marido muriere, es libre de la ley; de tal manera que no será adúltera si fuere de otro marido.
Ou seja, enquanto o marido viver, ela será chamada de adúltera, se for de outro homem; mas depois de morto o marido, ela está livre da Lei, de maneira que não será adúltera se for de outro homem.
Si donc, du vivant de son mari, elle devient la femme d’ un autre homme, elle sera appelée adultère; mais si le mari meurt, elle est affranchie de la loi, de sorte qu’ elle n’ est point adultère en devenant la femme d’ un autre.
Wo sie nun eines andern Mannes wird, solange der Mann lebt, wird sie eine Ehebrecherin geheißen; so aber der Mann stirbt, ist sie frei vom Gesetz, daß sie nicht eine Ehebrecherin ist, wo sie eines andern Mannes wird.
Daarom dan, indien zij eens anderen mans wordt, terwijl de man leeft, zo zal zij een overspeelster genaamd worden; maar indien de man gestorven is, zo is zij vrij van de wet, alzo dat zij geen overspeelster is, als zij eens anderen mans wordt.
Ond’è che se mentre vive il marito ella passa ad un altro uomo, sarà chiamata adultera; ma se il marito muore, ella è libera di fronte a quella legge; in guisa che non è adultera se divien moglie d’un altro uomo.
Przetoż tedy, póki mąż żyje, będzie zwana cudzołożnicą, jeźliby żoną inszego męża została; a jeźliby mąż jej umarł, wolna jest od zakonu onego, aby nie była cudzołożnicą, choćby się inszego męża żoną stała.
Посему, если при живом муже выйдет за другого, называется прелюбодейцею; если же умрет муж, она свободна от закона, и не будет прелюбодейцею, выйдя за другого мужа.
所以 丈夫 活著，她若歸於 別人，便叫 淫婦； 丈夫 若 死了，她就 脫離了 丈夫的 律法， 雖然歸於 別人，也不 是 淫婦。
So if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will get the name of one who is untrue to her husband: but if the husband is dead, she is free from the law, so that she is not untrue, even if she takes another man.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Koine Greek)
New Testament · Koine Greek · Romans 7:3
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that Paul’s marriage analogy in Romans 7:3 serves one clear purpose: to show how death breaks the binding power of a law. As Adam Clarke and Matthew Henry note, the law of marriage holds only while both parties live; death dissolves the bond completely. Barnes and Gill confirm that a wife remarries without adultery only after her husband dies. The same principle, Paul argues, applies to believers and the Mosaic law. Through union with Christ in his death (Romans 6:3, 4), Christians have died to the law and are free to belong to another, the risen Christ. The Greek verb for “she will be called” (chrēmatisei) carries weight: it implies a public, official designation, as the Cambridge Bible observes. Paul is not describing a private opinion but a legal and social reality. Both Jewish and Gentile readers would recognize that a widow’s remarriage was not adultery; the figure makes the same point about the law and the believer.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Literal marriage analogy: The plain reading of the text treats marriage and death as factual examples; the point is that legal bonds end at death.
- Allegorical reading (husband as law): Some commentators (e.g., Lange) see the husband as a figure for the Mosaic law itself, arguing that the marriage represents Israel’s covenantal bond with the law.
- Focus on freedom from condemnation: Reformed and Protestant traditions stress that ‘free from the law’ means no longer under its curse, while the law remains a guide.
What is clear: It is not in dispute that death dissolves the legal bond of marriage in Paul’s analogy, and that believers through union with Christ’s death are freed from the law’s claim to be joined to the risen Christ for fruitfulness.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of the marriage analogy | All traditions see it as an illustration of how death ends the law's authority over a person, applied to believers' relationship to the Mosaic law. | Some emphasize it as a straightforward legal analogy (Barnes, Gill); others see it as an allegory where the husband represents the law or the flesh (Lange's tradition). Both agree the main point is freedom for a new union with Christ. |
| Meaning of 'free from the law' | Christians across traditions affirm that believers are no longer under the law as a means of justification or condemnation (Romans 8:1). | Catholic tradition holds that Christians are free from the ceremonial and judicial aspects of the Mosaic law but are still under its moral precepts as interpreted by the Church. Protestant traditions often stress freedom from the law's curse and power to provoke sin, while still seeing the law as a guide for holiness. Some Pentecostal traditions emphasize freedom from legalistic observance to walk in the Spirit. |
| Does this passage permit remarriage after death? | The passage itself is not primarily about marriage ethics, and all traditions recognize that death dissolves the marriage bond (1 Corinthians 7:39). | Gill explicitly uses the verse to argue that second marriages are lawful. Some traditions discourage remarriage for widows in ministry contexts (1 Timothy 5:9), but this is seen as a separate issue. The historical witness of the early church generally allowed remarriage after death, though some ascetic writers praised celibacy. |
| The identity of 'the law' in Romans 7:3 | In context, 'the law' refers specifically to the Mosaic law that governed Jewish life, including its moral and ceremonial aspects. | Some commentators (Cambridge, Poole) take 'the law' here to be the law of marriage (i.e., the legal bond between husband and wife). Others (Matthew Henry, Gill) see it as the whole Mosaic covenant, which believers have died to through Christ. Both readings point to the same theological conclusion: the old bond is broken. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Paul writes to a mixed congregation in Rome, Jewish Christians steeped in the Torah and Gentile believers familiar with Roman legal customs. Both groups would understand the force of his marriage illustration. Under Jewish law (Deuteronomy 22:22) and Roman law, a married woman was bound to her husband as long as he lived. Remarriage while the husband lived was adultery, a capital offense in the Old Testament (Leviticus 20:10). But after the husband’s death, the woman was free to remarry without any moral or legal stain.
The surrounding passage (Romans 7:1, 6) develops Paul’s argument that believers are no longer under the law’s dominion. In chapter 6 he showed freedom from sin; now he shows freedom from the law itself, not as a license to sin, but as a release from a system that condemns and provokes sin. The “law of the husband” (verse 2) is a deliberate echo of the Mosaic law’s claim over the Jewish people. Paul uses a familiar domestic scenario to make a theological point: just as death severs a marriage contract, the believer’s death with Christ severs the law’s jurisdiction.
Some interpreters (notably Poole) note that the illustration does not endorse remarriage after divorce for any cause; it merely borrows the principle of death ending obligation. The focus is not on marriage ethics but on the believer’s new relationship with Christ. Paul’s language “free from the law” (literally apostou nomou, “from the law”) echoes the complete release a widow experiences, no longer bound to the former husband’s authority. That freedom is the foundation for the “new life of the Spirit” (verse 6).
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants in Romans 7:3. The wording is consistent across the major manuscript families. The main Greek verb chrēmatisei appears in all early witnesses, and the phrase “free from the law” is stable. The discussion in the commentaries focuses on interpretation rather than text-critical issues.
Reception History
Romans 7:3 has been central in Christian discussions about the law’s role in the believer’s life. Early church fathers like Augustine used it to argue that grace does not abolish the law’s moral demands but frees believers from its condemning power. The Reformation saw Luther and Calvin citing the verse extensively to defend justification by faith apart from works of the law. In later centuries, the passage was woven into debates about antinomianism (the idea that freedom from law means no moral obligation) versus the necessity of obedience. The verse also appears in pastoral literature on remarriage after the death of a spouse, though most commentators caution that Paul’s main concern is not marriage but the believer’s new union with Christ. Within the Wesleyan tradition, Adam Clarke read the verse as depicting total release from the Mosaic economy to embrace the gospel freely.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The law binds only while a person lives (vv. 1, 3). Paul assumes a universal moral principle: obligations end at death. The law’s claim on us is not eternal, it has an expiration date.
- Death brings freedom, not rebellion (v. 3). The widow is not an adulteress; she is free. The believer does not break the law, they die to it through Christ. Freedom from the law is a gift, not a theft.
- Freedom is for a new union, not isolation (v. 4). The goal is not lawlessness but marriage to the risen Christ. That union produces fruit for God, the very fruit the law demanded but could not produce.
Five-point outline
- The analogy, A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives (v. 2). Remarriage during his life is adultery.
- The complication, Death changes everything. Once the husband dies, the woman is free; remarriage is not adultery (v. 3).
- The application, Believers “were made dead to the law through the body of Christ” (v. 4). Death ended the law’s claim.
- The new union, They are now joined to the risen Christ, to bear fruit for God (v. 4). The purpose is fruitfulness, not anarchy.
- The old and new, In the flesh, the law provoked sin and produced death (v. 5). Now, having died and been released, believers serve in newness of the Spirit (v. 6).
Illustration hooks
- Release from a contract. A person signs a lease for an apartment. As long as the lease is active, they owe rent and follow the rules. But if the lease legally ends (through death of the landlord or term expiration), they are free to sign a new agreement. The old lease no longer binds them.
- Widow’s remarriage. A widow in a small town remembers the good and hard years with her late husband. When she remarries, no one calls her disloyal. The community celebrates the new union because the old one genuinely ended. Death made her free.
- Alumni of a strict school. A student hated the strict dress code and curfew. After graduation, he no longer follows those rules. He did not break them, he finished his time. Now he chooses a new way of living because the old authority ended.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does being “free from the law” mean we can ignore the Ten Commandments?
- If the law is holy and good (as Romans 7:7 says), why would we want to be free from it?
- How is being married to Christ different from just trying harder to obey rules?
Leading a Discussion
Paul uses a marriage analogy to show that death breaks the bond of law. For believers, that death is Christ’s, and our union with him. This passage helps us understand why trying to earn salvation by keeping the law is like a married person committing adultery: it violates the new relationship we have with Christ. As you discuss this, let the focus stay on the freedom and fruitfulness that come from being joined to the risen Lord.
Discussion questions
- Read Romans 7:1, 3. What do you think Paul’s readers would have understood about marriage and death that made this illustration so powerful?
- In verse 3, Paul says the woman is “free from the law” after her husband dies. What does the phrase “free from the law” mean in your own words? How is it different from being free to do whatever you want?
- Look at verse 4. Paul says believers were “made dead to the law through the body of Christ.” How does Christ’s death break the law’s claim on us?
- The purpose of being joined to Christ is “that we might produce fruit to God.” What kind of fruit do you think Paul has in mind? (Compare with Romans 6:22, Galatians 5:22, 23.)
- Some Christians worry that freedom from the law leads to sin. Does this passage address that concern? Why or why not?
- Verse 6 says we now “serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.” What is the difference between serving God out of obligation (the letter) and serving out of a new Spirit-empowered life?
- How does knowing you are “free from the law” affect the way you approach God in prayer, worship, and daily obedience?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Exodus 20:14 | “You shall not commit adultery. |
| Leviticus 20:10 | “‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. |
| Numbers 5:13 | and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act; |
| Numbers 5:31 | The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’” |
| Deuteronomy 22:22 | If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel. |
| Deuteronomy 22:24 | then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones; the lady, because she didn’t cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you. |
| Ruth 2:13 | Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not as one of your servants.” |
| I Samuel 25:39 | When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. Yahweh has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke emphasizes that leaving the old law for the Gospel is not disloyalty to God, because God Himself decreed that the law of ordinances would end. Just as death frees a woman to remarry, the law's expiration frees believers to embrace Christ without guilt.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes notes that the Greek word behind "she shall be called" usually refers to a divine oracle or revelation. But here it carries a simpler meaning: she will simply be regarded or commonly called by that name, not formally declared.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator points out that the Greek verb for "called" implies a deliberate conferral of a title, as in Acts 11:26. "That law" refers specifically to the husband's law. The word "married" here and in the next verse simply means "be" or "become," leaving the lawfulness of the union unspecified.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note emphasizes that the marriage bond is only binding while both spouses live. Once death intervenes, the woman is completely free from that law, so marrying again is not adultery but a lawful new union.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill stresses that only a husband's death fully removes the charge of adultery from a woman's remarriage. While the husband lives, remarriage carries that stigma except in specific circumstances. But once he dies, she is free to marry again, and second marriages are lawful and without reproach.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange stresses that believers' death to the law is not a natural end but a violent death incurred through Christ's crucified body. This dissolves the old marriage bond to the law, freeing them to unite with the risen Christ and bear fruit for God in the newness of the Spirit rather than the oldness of the letter.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry highlights a double deliverance: believers are freed not only from the law's curse and condemnation for sin but also from its power to stir up and provoke the sin that lives within them. This twofold release, secured through Christ's death, is why sin should no longer reign.
Vincent's Word Studies Evangelical 1887
Vincent draws attention to the Greek word used here, noting it is the same verb found in Acts 11:26 where the disciples were first called Christians. This choice of word implies more than a human label; it suggests a divine or authoritative designation.