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Romans 7:3
ESV Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
NIV So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
NASB So then, if while her husband is alive she gives herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she gives herself to another man.
CSB So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress.
NLT So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.
KJV 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.
NKJV So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.

What does Romans 7:3 mean?

Earlier, the book of Romans mentioned that salvation in Christ involves a kind of spiritual "death." The prior context was in turning from sin, and instead choosing to be alive in Christ. Here, Paul is explaining how this same idea means freedom from the obligations of the law. This verse concludes an idea begun in the previous verse. It is an illustration of Paul's point that someone who has died is no longer bound to follow the law of Moses.

To show this, he points to the "law of marriage" that binds two people together. Paul has written that a married woman is released from this law if her husband dies. Now he repeats this idea, adding that if a woman lives with another man while she is still married, she will be known as an adulteress. If her husband dies, however, the law no longer holds her. She is free to marry another man.

Paul will again state, in the following verse, that Christians have died in a spiritual sense, freeing us from our spiritual obligation to the law.
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