“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.”
So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry another man without being called an adulteress. — The hypothetical presses the point: infidelity while the husband lives violates law; but his death liberates her to new marriage. The implication: the believer is "widowed" from the law through co-crucifixion with Christ and freed for union with the Risen One.
Church Fathers on Romans 7:3
“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 is 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.” He keeps continually upon this point, and that with great exactness, since he feels quite sure…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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