Woman Bound to Her Husband by the Law Romans 7:2

Paul the apostle asked the people in Rome, “Know you not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?”, and in chapter seven and verse two of Romans, Paul employs the example of how, “the woman...is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives” where we read:

For the woman which has an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives;

but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

The verse begins, “For the woman which has an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives;” Paul began with the word, “for” which means “even as, indeed, no doubt, seeing then, verily and therefore” “the woman” which means “the female human being” “which has an husband” or “who is married and in subjection to a man” “is bound” or “put under obligation and fastened and thrown into chains” “by the law” which means “through the rule producing a state approved of God” “to her husband” or “to the man the woman is married and subject to” “so long as” or “for the length of time” “he lives” which means “her husband has life, is active and full of vigor”. Paul referred to how “the law of God” has a woman “under obligation” to be married to her “husband” until he dies.

The verse goes on to say, “but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.” Paul continued with the word, “but” which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be written takes precedence over what was just stated “if the husband” which means “at what point the man who is married to the woman” “be dead” or “dies”, “she is loosed” which means “the married woman is rendered idle, unemployed, inactive and inoperative” “from the law” which means “separated, away and apart from the rule producing a state approved of God” “of her husband” or “pertaining to the man to whom she was married”. Paul shared how “the law” of marriage no longer applies to the wife when her husband dies.

When we think through these words of Paul, we see how he used the example of the law which binds wives to their husbands for a lifetime to describe the way “God's law” has “dominion over” people as long as they live. Jesus Christ came to “fulfill the law” (see Matthew 5:17), and when He did, the “grace of God” came to man. According to the law, a woman is to continued to be married to her husband until he dies, and until the time when the “law” of God was fulfilled, people were to live “subject to it's rule” as well. Jesus made access for every person, whether under or not under “the law of God”, to have a relationship with Him, and now all that is required is to “believe in, trust in, rely upon and cling to” Jesus Christ for God's abundant grace has been poured out upon mankind.

Next time we see Paul tell his readers, “if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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