https://youtu.be/1N823kHcM50
In our verse by verse study of Romans we are in Rom 7:2; at the phrase "the living" the present active participle of "zao" (live) with the definite article "ho" is used as a personal pronoun so it is translated "he." The present tense is static present describing a doctrinal reality that is taken for granted as an absolute fact from God's Word of truth that establishes the authority of the man in marriage according to God's perfect word of truth.
The active voice: the husband produces the action of the verb in the divine institution of marriage. The participle refers to time so it is temporal so it is translated "while he lives."
In the analogy living refers to physical life as opposed to physical death or marriage as opposed to divorce or physical death so in the analogy as it relates to marriage death refers to divorce or physical death.
The wife of the first marriage who is married to the old sin nature is an unbeliever, while the wife of the second marriage is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Throughout the passage the same principle applies the first husband is the old sin nature; second husband is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Marriage counselor of the first marriage is the Mosaic Law; the marriage counselor of the second marriage is God the Holy Spirit. In this analogy the wife corresponds to the unbeliever who is married to the old sin nature from physical birth and then divorced and remarried to Jesus Christ when she is born again.
The rulership of the old sin nature begins at birth with the imputation of Adam's original sin to the genetically formed old sin nature.
The Mosaic Law is the marriage counselor who advises the unbeliever of their status of spiritual death from physical birth. The establishment code of the Mosaic Law describes the problem of spiritual death and the ritual code of the Mosaic Law presents the solution to the problem with the animal sacrifices that point to Jesus Christ's work on the cross.
At salvation the believer is divorced from the old sin nature that is represented by the first husband, and remarried to a second husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. The baptism of the Holy Spirit and the deaths described by retroactive positional truth establish the spiritual mechanics for the divorce analogy.
Three identifications are involved in the divorce analogy: identification with Christ in spiritual death is rejection of good and evil and the function of the old sin nature as the ruler of human life.
In the analogy, a woman, before she divorces a man rejects him in her soul is represented by identification with Christ in physical death and separation from good and evil, the function of the old sin nature as the ruler of human life.
In the divorce analogy after a woman rejects the man the next stage is separation that correlates to separation from the first husband represented by identification with Christ in His burial.
This is divorce from the old sin nature. In the analogy divorce is comparable to death. The authority of the old sin nature, the first husband, has been abrogated, rescinded and rendered null and void by the divorce.
The believer wife has divorced the old sin nature, so the old sin nature is dead to the wife who is now a believer in Jesus Christ.
"but if the husband be dead" - the postpositive conjunctive particle "de" (but) connects two antithetical clauses. A contrast exists between the first and the second marriage. The conditional particle "ean" (but if) introduces the 3rd class condition "if and maybe its true."
Plus the nominative singular subject " ho aner" (the man) includes the generic use of the definite article that makes it monadic so it describes the man in a special class as the former husband of the wife, and it is a reference to the old sin nature who after salvation is analogous to the ex-husband. Then the aorist active subjunctive of "apothnesko" (die) is used in our analogy to refer to divorce not physical death.
The aorist tense is a constantive aorist that contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, and the action of the verb is the divorce from the first husband who represents the old sin nature.
This divorce includes identification with Christ in His spiritual death or rejection of the husband, identification with Christ in His physical death or separation from the first husband, identification with Christ in His burial that is the actual divorce from the first husband who represents the old sin nature.
The active voice describes the first husband who produces the action of the verb by being divorced by the baptism of the Spirit and resultant spiritual death of retroactive positional truth. The subjunctive mood is potential so it refers to the potential concept of the idea that is predicated on whether an individual actually believes in the Lord Jesus Christ or not.
"she is released from the law of her husband" the perfect passive indicative of the verb "katargeo" (released), meaning to render null and void, to cancel, to abrogate, to abolish, to rescind, to wipe out, or to set aside.
Here it means to be released from a former association so "she has been released." The perfect tense describes completed action in the past with results continuing into the present that is the reality of being in union with Jesus Christ as the new husband.
The passive voice tells us that the wife receives the action of the verb, the first marriage is null and void by divorce and therefore the law releases her from her first husband who represents the old sin nature.
The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of divorce and release from the first husband. Next is the prepositional phrase "apo" (by) plus ablative of means "nomos" (law), and the ablative of source from the noun "anar" (man)" with the article "ho" (the) making it monadic referring specifically to her former husband and the Mosaic Law so she has been released by the law from her first husband.
Expanded Translation Rom 7:2; "For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is released by the law from her first husband"
Rom 7:3; explains how the illustrative principle doesn't work and verse 4 explains how it does work. "So then if while her husband lives" the inferential illative particle "apa" (then) refers to a transition from one thing to another by natural sequence, and it also denotes logical inference.
It can also be translated "therefore" or "consequently." It is followed by what would be considered to be a redundancy to us, using the inferential conjunction "oun" (therefore) translated as "therefore." If it was translated literally it could be translated "Therefore, therefore" or "Consequently therefore."
We are immediately struck with the fact that Paul is using humor to make a point but he is simultaneously advancing his argument from the negative perspective. The corrected translation is "therefore if."
The noun in the genitive case is the subject of a participle in the genitive case. This is the genitive absolute; so it is not grammatically connected with the rest of the sentence. The genitive singular of "anar" (man) is the subject of the participle that is used to specifically to describe a noble person in contrast to an ordinary person who is called "anthropos" (man or mankind).
Then a genitive present active participle from "zaw" (live). The retroactive progressive present refers to what started in the past and continues into the present. She is married, doesn't like it any more, and would like to get out from under the situation.
The active voice: the husband produces the action of the verb by continuing to be alive as the husband. This is a temporal participle that is translated "Therefore, if while her husband is living."
What follows is not the way the illustration works. This is digression but there is a purpose for it because he is following the thinking of the Roman believers. Positionally the divorce between the old sin nature and the unbeliever is final.
The ex-husband is dead to the wife and the ex-wife is dead to the husband. Positionally as believers we are dead to the old sin nature.
The death or divorce of the first marriage is comparable to retroactive positional truth, while the new marriage to Jesus Christ is comparable to current positional truth.
Salvation adjustment to God's justice not only divorces the believer from the old sin nature that is represented by the first husband, but it also unites the believer to the new husband, the Lord Jesus Christ.
At salvation the believer is positionally delivered from the power and sovereignty of the old sin nature through retroactive positional truth. At salvation the believer becomes subject to the power and sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ through current positional truth.
Therefore, at least theoretically, we are living to please our new husband. But our new husband has policies and they must be understood; they must be communicated and He has delegated authority that must be accepted before we can ever please the second husband.
So the analogy of the context is obvious. The believer is analogous to a married woman who prior to salvation has been under the authority of the first husband, the old sin nature. But now, after salvation, the new believer is placed under the authority of the second husband, the Lord Jesus Christ.
All of this positional. It does not become experiential until the believer advances to spiritual maturity. Maturity adjustment to God's justice from maximum doctrine resident and circulating in the soul's stream of consciousness causes the believer's experience to equal their position but experience can never equal position until the doctrinal viewpoint of spiritual maturity is attained.
"she became married to another man" - the aorist active infinitive of "ginomai "means to (might become). It is used here for the wife who has changed her nature to indicate that she has entered into a new condition so she belongs to another.
This includes belonging to another mentally as well as physically. It does not imply marriage here, but is an intimate relationship with another man other than the husband. Translation: "she has become intimate."
The aorist tense is a constantive aorist that presents the idea of mental and physical intimacy in its entirety. Mental intimacy and spiritual intimacy with the old sin nature is being discussed so it is gathered up into one entirety.
The active voice tells us that the married woman produces the action of the verb with a man other than her husband and, by the analogy, with another who is not the Lord Jesus Christ. The subjunctive mood is potential so it is part of the 3rd class condition of if that qualifies the illustration with contingency implying a future reference.
Plus the instrumental of association, and we have the same noun, "aner"(man) but here it is not used as the husband. Here "aner" (man) is used for a man other than her husband whom she admires.
With it is an adjective in the instrumental singular of association "heteros" (another), referring to another of a different kind.
Translation: "she has become intimate with another man." In the instrumental of association a second party must furnish the means of association. So the other man has initiated to her and she has responded. The third class of if condition tells us maybe she will and maybe she won't.
One thing is sure, the congregation to whom this was originally addressed in Rome has already wandered into this area of thinking, so in his genus Paul wanders with them.
The principle is that when a sheep wanders from the flock you have to go out, or send the dog out, to get the sheep to wander back into the flock. You have to go out and get the sheep; it will not wander back on its own.
The audience has wandered in their thinking, and Paul just takes a little short trip with them to bring them back in. The short trip is in verse 3 where he discusses the iffy possibilities of the situation.