Romans 7:3

Rom 7:3. Χρηματίσει) viz. εἁυτὴν, she will come under the appellation of an adulteress, and that too by the power of the law. She shall bring upon herself the name of an adulteress.—εἂν γένηται ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ, LXX. Deu 24:2.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:3. Ἄρα οὖν] See on Rom_5:18.

χρηματίσει] she shall (formally) bear the name. See Act_11:26; Plut. Mor. 148 D; Polyb. v. 27, 2, 5, xxx. 2, 4. The future corresponds to the following: ἐὰν γένηται ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ] if she shall have become joined to another husband (as wife). Comp Deu_24:2; Rth_1:12; Jdg_14:20; Eze_16:8; Eze_23:4. It is not a Hebraism; see Kypke, II. p. 170; Kühner, II. 1, p. 384.

ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου] from the law, so far, that is, as it binds the wife to the husband. From that bond she is now released, Rom_7:2.

τοῦ μὴ εἶναι κ.τ.λ[1532]] Not a more precise definition (Th. Schott); nor yet a consequence (as usually rendered), which is never correct, not even in Act_7:19 (see Fritzsche, a[1533] Matth. p. 845 ff.); but rather: in order that she be not an adulteress. That is the purpose, involved in the divine legal ordinance, of her freedom from the law.

[1532] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[1533] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:3

Rom_7:3 is an amplification and confirmation of what is said in Rom_7:2 : That a woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives, is plain, because she is called an adulteress if she marries another man while her husband lives. And that she is free from that law when he dies, is plain, because she is in that case no adulteress, though she be married to another man. She shall be called, χρηματίσει authoritatively and solemnly declared to be. Χρηματίζειν (from χρῆμα) is literally to transact business, and specially the business of the state, to give decisions, or decrees; and specially in the New Testament, to utter divine responses, oracula edere, divinitus admonere; see Mat_2:12, Mat_2:22; Luk_2:26; Act_10:22; Heb_8:5; Heb_11:7. Compare Rom_11:4.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, she shall be an adulteress, by the consent and judgment of all men.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

she be married--"joined." So Rom 7:4.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. So then, if, while her husband liveth] The object of the apostle's similitude is to show that each party is equally bound to the other; but that the death of either dissolves the engagement.

So - she is no adulteress, though she be married to another] And do not imagine that this change would argue any disloyalty in you to your Maker; for, as he has determined that this law of ordinances shall cease, you are no more bound to it than a woman is to a deceased husband, and are as free to receive the Gospel of Christ as a woman in such circumstances would be to remarry.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. she shall be called] The Gr. verb indicates a deliberate “calling;” the winning of a title. Same word as Act_11:26.

that law] Lit. the law; i.e. of her husband.

married] Lit., in this ver. and 4, the verb is merely be, or become: if she be [joined] to another husband—lawfully or not.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So then if while her husband liveth,.... True indeed it is, that whilst her husband is alive, if

she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; she will be noted and accounted of as such everybody, except in the above mentioned cases:

but if her husband be dead; then there can be no exception to her marriage:

she is free from the law; of marriage, by which she was before bound:

so that she is no adulteress; nor will any reckon her such; she is clear from any such imputation:

though she be married to another man; hence it appears that second marriages are lawful.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3 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.

Ver. 3. So then if] The sects then are out that say today, that if they have husbands and wives that will not turn saints, that is, sects, they may leave them, and marry others.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So then if ... - compare Mat 5:32.

She shall be called - She will be. The word used here χρηματίσει chrēmatisei is often used to denote being called by an oracle or by divine revelation. But it is here employed in the simple sense of being commonly called, or of being so regarded.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ye also are become dead to the law; i.e. ye are taken off from all hopes of justification by it, and from your confidence in obedience to it, Gal 2:19. The opposition seems to require that he should have said, the law is dead to us; but these two phrases are much the same.

Question. What law does he mean?

Answer. Not only the ceremonial, but the moral law, for in that he instances, Rom 7:7. The moral law is in force still; Christ came to confirm, and not to destroy it; but believers are freed from the malediction, from the rigid exaction, and from the irritation thereof. Of this last he speaks, Rom 7:8,9, and from it we are freed but in part.

By the body of Christ; i.e. by the sacrifice of Christ’s body upon the cross; thereby he delivered us from the law, in the sense before mentioned.

Fruit unto God; i.e. fruits of holiness and good works, to the glory and praise of God.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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 . [If such freedom is accorded to the survivor, an equal liberty must be accorded to the deceased. But this liberty can not be enjoyed by him unless, by some means, he be raised from the dead.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. χρηματίσει, Act 11:26 only = will be called; cf. Wetst.

γένηται ἀνδρί. Cf. Lev 22:12; Rth 1:12 f.

τοῦ μὴ εἶναι. Cf. Rom 6:6 note.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3.] And accordingly (ἄρα οὖν, ‘from the same consideration, it follows that’) while her husband lives she shall be called (see ref.—and on this use of the future, as declaring what shall follow on a condition being fulfilled, Winer, edn. 6, § 40. 6) an adulteress, if she attach herself to (become the wife of) another man: but if her husband die, she is free from the law (τοῦ ἀνδρός), so that (it matters little whether τοῦ μή is the result or the purpose: it is better always to keep the latter in view, and to regard the result in such sentences as for the moment spoken of as the purpose to which its constituents contributed) she is not an adulteress, though she have attached herself to another man.

So far all is clear. But when we come to the application of the example, this must carefully be borne in mind, as tending to clear up all the confusion which has here been found by Commentators:—that the Apostle is insisting on the fact, that death dissolves legal obligation: but he is not drawing an exact parallel between the persons in his example, and the persons in his application. The comparison might be thus made in terms common to both: (1) Death has dissolved the legal obligation between man and wife: therefore the wife is at liberty to be married to another:—(2) Death has dissolved the legal obligation between the law and us: therefore we are at liberty to be married to another. So far the comparison is strict. Further it will not hold: for in the example, the liberated person is the survivor,—in the thing treated, the liberated person is the dead person. And so far from this being an oversight or an inaccuracy, it is no more than that to which, more or less, all comparisons are liable; and no more can be required of them than that they should fit, in the kernel and intent of the similitude. If it be required here to apply the example further, there is no difficulty nor inconsistency in saying (as Chrys. al.) that our first Husband was the Law, and our second is Christ; but then it must be carefully borne in mind, that we are freed, not by the law having died to us, (which matter here is not treated,) but by our having died to the law. It is not necessary with Calv. and Tholuck, to suppose that in ver. 4 there is an euphemistic inversion, ‘we are dead to the law,’ instead of ‘the law is dead to us;’ indeed such a supposition would, from what is said above, much weaken the argument, which rests on our being slain with Christ, and so freed from the law.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. χρηματίσει. The meanings of χρηματίζειν ramify in two directions. The fundamental idea is that of ‘transacting business’ or ‘managing affairs.’ Hence we get on the one hand, from the notion of doing business under a certain name, from Polybius onwards (1) ‘to bear a name or title’ (χρηματίζει βασιλεύς Polyb. V. Lev_2); and so simply, as here, ‘to be called or styled’ (Act 11:26 ἐγένετο … χρηματίσαι πρῶτον ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τοὺς μαθητὰς Χριστιανούς); and on the other hand (2) from the notion of ‘having dealings with,’ ‘giving audience to’ a person, in a special sense, of the ‘answers, communications, revelations,’ given by an oracle or by God. So six times in LXX of Jerem., Joseph. Antiq., Plutarch, &c. From this sense we get pass. ‘to be warned or admonished’ by God (Mat 2:12, Mat 2:22; Act 10:22; Heb 8:5; Heb 11:7). Hence also subst. χρηματισμός, ‘a Divine or oracular response,’ 2 Macc. 2:4; Rom 11:4. Burton (M. and T. § 69) calls the fut. here a ‘gnomic future’ as stating ‘what will customarily happen when occasion offers.’

τοῦ μὴ εἶναι = ὥστε μὴ εἶναι: the stress is thrown back upon ἐλευθέρα, ‘so as not to be,’ ‘causing her not to be,’—not ‘so that she is.’ According to Burton τοῦ μή here denotes ‘conceived result’; but see the note on ὥστε δουλεύειν in ver. 6 below.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

She shall be called [χρηματισει] . See on Act 11:26.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 3. “So then if, while the husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if the husband be dead, she is freed from the law, that she may not be an adulteress, though she be married to another man.”

This verse is not a needless repetition of Rom 7:2. It serves to draw from the legal prescription explained in Rom 7:2 the conclusion which the apostle has to demonstrate—the legitimacy of a second union in the case supposed. What would be a crime during the husband’s lifetime, becomes legitimate when he is dead.

The term χρηματίζειν strictly signifies to do business, and hence: to bear the name of the profession to which one is devoted. To this day a large number of our family names are names of some trade. Comp. also Act 11:26.

The expression: freed from the law, is defined by the context: it bears special reference to the law on the rule of marriage. But the expression is designedly kept up in all its generality to prepare for the absolute application of it to believers, which the apostle is about to make.

That she may not be an adulteress (if she marries again): the law was really intended to reserve for her such liberty.

Augustine, Beza, and Olshausen have attempted another explanation, according to which Rom 7:2-3 are not the development, but the allegorical application of the maxim of Rom 7:1. In its clearest form it is as follows, as it seems to me: The woman bound by the law to her living husband is the human soul subjected by the law to the dominion of sin (the first husband). The latter, sin, dying (through faith in Christ crucified), the soul is set free from his power, and enjoys the liberty of entering into union with Christ risen (the new husband). But this explanation would carry us back to the idea of the preceding passage (emancipation from sin), whereas Rom 7:6 shows clearly that Paul means to speak here of emancipation from the law. Then the relation between Rom 7:1-2 would require to be expressed, not by for, but by so (οὕτω), or so that (ὥστε). Finally, the ὥστε, so that, of Rom 7:4 shows it is not till then that the moral application begins.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.