Question #28

Can a Christian Scripturally Marry a Person Divorced for Other Than Adultery?

At 18 this young man married divorced she would not go to his home town out of the service so they divorced , few years later he married she had another man they divorced with one child he then again years later married and she left him for another man he determined never to marry still non Christian then a Christian lady who had never been married , married him should she the Christian have married him? And now he is studying and we have hopes he will become a Christian this is 30 years after the first wife which I believe would be the problem. Can he become a Christian and be right with his new Christian wife?

The Answer:

Please read all of the answer to Question No. 2, but especially the answer to Subparts 2 and 3. If I understand your question, a man now 48 years of age has married a Christian woman who had never been married. It is not clear how many times he had been married. What is clear is that he did not have a scriptural divorce from his first wife. The Christian woman was eligible to marry, having never been married; the man was not eligible to marry since his first divorce was not because of adultery on the part of his wife. The Scripture plainly says, “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.” (Matthew 19:9.) Some suggest that when the first wife married, thereby committing adultery according to Matthew 19:9, the husband was freed to remarry. The truth in that case, however, is that the adultery in that case was the result of the divorce and not the cause of it. To avoid this conclusion some teach that God does not recognize earthly divorce. To the contrary, they argue, divorce in God’s eyes occurs when one of the parties commits adultery either with or without marriage. Such, however, does not seem to be the teaching of Scripture. Notice that the person who got a divorce in Matthew 19:9 “married” another. If a man was still married to the first wife in spite of an earthly divorce, and God recognized the second state as “married,” which He plainly does, then He must endorse polygamy. True, it may just be for a short time until the second union is consummated, but it remains polygamy until God recognizes the second union. It does seem strange that one would take the position that God does not recognize the dissolution of a marriage until an unscriptural marriage occurs. 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 clearly establish that such thinking is erroneous. “10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: 11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.” When one who is married departs from the spouse, the departing spouse must remain unmarried. If God did not recognize the departure (“to leave a husband or wife: of divorce, 1 Co. vii, 11, 15,” Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament), how could the departing spouse be referred to as “unmarried”? The language of the New Testament on marriage and divorce is not nearly as complicated as some make it. Generally, those who seek to avoid it are themselves or have family members who are caught up in unscriptural relationships. The family is important to God. He requires that it be respected and kept pure by man. Many are the tears and regrets that could have been avoided if people would had thought about the teaching of Scripture before they married instead of after they have gotten into an untenable situation. Once they find themselves in that situation and a marriage is terminated for reasons other than fornication or adultery, only two alternatives are available – remain unmarried or be reconciled to the one from whom they are separated. (1 Cor. 7:11.)