Romans 7:2
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. 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.
The law binds a wife to her husband while he lives, and looses and releases her from the law of her husband only when he dies. The bond is for life, and the marriage vow joins the destinies of husband and wife in a union that should be severed by nothing but death.
The marriage illustration carries a spiritual application in which believers have become dead to the law through the body of Christ. They are thus freed from their former bond so that they may belong to the risen Christ and bear fruit to God. In this freedom they serve in newness of spirit rather than in the oldness of the letter.
To seek another marriage while one's wife is still living disregards the marriage relation and dishonors God. For a man to turn his affections toward another woman while his wife still lives is a serious wrong, even when his wife has obtained a divorce. Such a course violates his promise to love and cherish her as long as they both lived. So in the case of Caldwell's proposed marriage to Fannie, he had no moral right to marry her, because his wife, though she had obtained a divorce, was still living.