Romans 7:1-3
Back to The Bible's Difficult Scriptures Explained!
“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? 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. So then if, while her husband lives, 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.”
Some refer to Romans 7:1-3, attempting to demonstrate that every marriage in every culture, and no matter its circumstances, is bound until death. Of course, this is true—when God has bound a couple.
This is not a difficult verse to understand. Recognize that Paul qualifies to whom he is speaking—“brethren”—the converted Romans—stating, in effect, “What I’m about to say to you is said to people who know the Law, who understand the truth, who have God’s Spirit—who are true Christians.”
As with the woman at the well (recall this account in John 4:7-26, explained earlier), and the beheading of John the Baptist (this account in Matt. 14:1-4 was also explained earlier), people take Romans 7:1-25 out of context. Some forget the all-important qualifier, “For I speak to them that know the law.”
Let’s understand how God identifies those who are under judgment and those who are not. Notice what James wrote: “To him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17)—and also what Paul recorded in Hebrews: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins” (Heb 10:26). These passages, coupled with “judgment must begin at the house of God” (I Pet. 4:17), qualify Romans 7:1-25. However, Paul actually qualifies it again by using the terms “brethren” and “them that know the law.”
Therefore, this passage has no application to, nor does it reference, those who do not know either God’s truth or His laws of marriage. God is not entering into the marriages of this world. Suggested reading:
• Understanding Divorce and Remarriage