Decoder Terminal
BOUND BY LAW TO HUSBAND
COVENANT BINDING — CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION UNTIL DEATH
PROTOCOLSpecs
greek term
dedetai — has been bound, is under obligation
roman context
Manus marriage — wife under husband's legal authority
jewish context
Marriage as covenant (Malachi 2:14), dissolved only by death or divorce certificate
Intelligence Brief
Paul uses the marriage analogy to illustrate the law's binding authority. The Greek 'dedetai' (bound) is legal terminology for contractual obligation. In both Jewish and Roman law, marriage created binding obligations that could not be unilaterally dissolved while both parties lived. The woman who remarries while her husband lives is an adulteress — not because marriage is bad, but because she is under the jurisdiction of an existing covenant. Paul's point is structural: the problem is not the law itself but being bound to it while trying to belong to another. The scarlet thread emerges in verse 4: believers have died to the law so they can be 'married' to Christ — the risen one. The first husband (law) had to die in the believer's experience before union with the second husband (Christ) could be legitimate.
Scripture References