Romans 7:2 uses this term to describe a woman's legal status while her husband lives—she is 'under a husband,' bound by marriage law. Paul employs the marriage relationship as an analogy for believers' relationship to the Mosaic law: just as death releases a woman from marriage obligations, so death (through Christ) releases believers from the law's binding authority. The term emphasizes the legal dimension of marriage in Roman culture, where the wife's status was defined by her relationship to her husband. Death alone dissolves this legal bond.