Romans 7:2
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This page isn't yet indexed by search engines.
What's easy to miss is that the phrase "bound by the law" doesn't just mean she's obligated, but that she's legally under the authority of her husband until death dissolves that connection. When the husband dies, she's not just free, she's "cancelled" from that specific marital law, meaning its claim over her is nullified.
Paul is explaining that our relationship with the law has changed through Christ. He uses the familiar concept of marriage to show that just as death dissolves a marriage, Christ's death and resurrection has released believers from the binding authority of the law, making them free to be united with Christ. This release from the law's dominion is crucial for living a life that bears fruit for God.
Why does Paul bring up marriage and death to talk about our relationship with the Law? It’s a powerful illustration that cuts to the heart of how freedom is achieved.
Paul uses a well-understood, everyday concept – marriage – to explain a complex theological truth. He states that just as a wife is legally bound to her husband while he is alive, believers are bound by the Law. However, the crucial point is that death breaks this bond.
The Law's Authority
The Law has authority over us as long as we live. This means its commands, its requirements, and its judgments have power over us while we are alive under its jurisdiction.
Death as Release
But, Paul explains, when the husband dies, the wife is legally released from the marriage bond. Her obligation to that specific husband is dissolved. This isn't about the wife dying, but about the husband's death severing the tie. This highlights that a termination event—death—is the only way to escape the Law's binding authority.
If death releases us from the old bond, what’s next? Paul doesn't leave us in limbo; he points us toward a new, life-giving union.
While the immediate verse focuses on release through death, the purpose of this release is immediately made clear in the following verses. It’s not simply about being free from an old obligation, but about being free for a new relationship.
The Purpose of Release
The death of the husband isn't an end in itself for the wife; it opens the door for her to be married to another. Similarly, our release from the Law isn't just about escaping its condemnation. It’s about preparing us to be joined to Christ.
Union with Christ
Paul will go on to explain that we have died to the Law through the body of Christ, so that we might belong to Him, who was raised from the dead. This new union with the resurrected Christ is the ultimate goal, enabling us to 'bear fruit to God.' It's a shift from a relationship based on rigid obligation to one based on life and love.
Understand the original words
gynē · Greek Noun
A term used for a woman joined to a man in a covenant of marriage. Biblically, it symbolizes the sacred, exclusive, and lifelong union intended to reflect the relationship between God and His people.
deō · Greek Verb
A state of being legally or morally obligated to a person or requirement. It denotes being held fast or restricted by a covenantal or legal constraint.
katargeō · Greek Verb
To be set free from a legal obligation, bond, or debt. It signifies the termination of a previous requirement due to a change in circumstances or authority.
This passage directly echoes the principle Paul states here in Romans, explicitly saying a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives but is free to remarry if he dies, reinforcing the analogy of legal bonds being dissolved by death.
Galatians 3:28This verse speaks about the dissolution of identity-based divisions in Christ ('neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free'), which parallels the idea in Romans 7:2 that certain binding relationships (like marriage and the law's dominion) are nullified or superseded in Christ.
Romans 7:4This verse is the direct application of the marriage analogy introduced in Romans 7:2, explaining that believers have 'died to the law' through Christ's body, just as a wife is freed from her husband's law by his death, so they can be joined to Christ.
Matthew 5:31-32Jesus discusses the permanence of marriage and the exceptions allowed for divorce, touching upon the legal bond between husband and wife that Paul uses as an illustration for the believer's relationship with the law.
barnesRomans 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."
For the woman - This verse is a specific illustration of the general principle in Romans 7:1 , that death dissolves those connections and relations which make law binding in life. It is a simple illustration; and if this had been kept in mind, it would have saved much of the perplexity which has been felt by many commen…
vincentRomans 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."
That hath a husband (ὕπανδρος)Lit., under or subject to a husband. The illustration is selected to bring forward the union with Christ after the release from the law, as analogous to a new marriage (Romans 7:4).Is loosed (κατήργηται)Rev., discharged. See on Romans 3:3, Lit., she has been brought to nought as respects…
What's easy to miss is that the phrase "bound by the law" doesn't just mean she's obligated, but that she's legally under the authority of her husband until death dissolves that connection. When the husband dies, she's not just free, she's "cancelled" from that specific marital law, meaning its claim over her is nullified.
Paul is explaining that our relationship with the law has changed through Christ. He uses the familiar concept of marriage to show that just as death dissolves a marriage, Christ's death and resurrection has released believers from the binding authority of the law, making them free to be united with Christ. This release from the law's dominion is crucial for living a life that bears fruit for God.
Paul is explaining that our relationship with the law has changed through Christ. He uses the familiar concept of marriage to show that just as death dissolves a marriage, Christ's death and resurrection has released believers from the binding authority of the law, making them free to be united with Christ. This release from the law's dominion is crucial for living a life that bears fruit for God.
Get the original Greek and Hebrew, verse-by-verse context, and related passages inside the app.
Ask a follow-up
Ask Sola things like:
Live chat about Romans 7:2 is available in the Sola app.
"For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage." — What's easy to miss is that the phrase "bound by the law" doesn't just mean she's obligated, but that she's legally under the authority of her husband until death dissolves that connection. When th…
