BOUND TO HER HUSBAND

 BOUND TO HER HUSBAND

“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 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.” Romans 7:2-3. The law which binds the wife to the husband is the law of marriage which God gave in the beginning. God had created woman from the rib of man and brought her to the man and the two become one flesh. Genesis 2:21-25. This text teaches us that the wife is bound to the husband until the two are separated by death. This marriage law also applies to the husband being bound to the wife until death. Jesus taught, “Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And, if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.” Mark 10:11-12. There is an exception which Jesus gives to this law of marriage. “It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” Matthew 5:31-32. The spouse against whom fornication has been committed is at liberty to divorce and remarry. This is the only exception that God allows. If a husband or wife divorce for any reason other than fornication and remarry, that one is guilty of adultery. The term, fornication, is used of “illicit sexual intercourse” and stands for or includes adultery. One who indulges in fornication is termed in scripture as a fornicator or whoremonger. Ephesians 5:5. “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” The law of God is “to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.” I Corinthians 7:2. Notice that a man is to have his own wife, and a woman is to have her own husband. The gender of individuals is here established in this verse of scripture. To do otherwise is to violate divine authority.