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if a divorced person marries, are they in adultery?


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Jordan, there is already a thread about this subject going on now. This subject has been beat to death on this and other forums, as well as in churches across the country and across time itself.

Somehow people just don't keep up with subjects and just keep asking the same old tired questions again and again. If you have been saved for any length of time and/or are going to bible college, you should be well past small issues and well on your way into the "meat" of bible study.

 

I just tried to find the thread that this subject is in, but it escapes me right now. It is the one about qualifications for a pastor. In it the subject of divorce is hashed out extensively. 

Edited by Jim_Alaska
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I've seen a lot of these over the years, but no one thickens the broth -- shall we?

Okay:

Bill  marries Sally. The pot toking partiers do fine until their first child dies. Bill is finding life to be vanity, Sally starts drinking heavier and snorting for relief.

Bill gets saved a year later, in 4 months Sally says, "I'm outta here, Bozo" and files for divorce. 18 months later Bill marries Vera.

Across town, Fred and Jennifer get a divorce. 2 years later, Jennifer marries Barry. The following year they both get saved.

 

Fast forward 7 years; Sally died years ago from an OD, Barry has died of a heart attack, Fred and Vera were among the 11 fatalities of a 23 vehicle collision.

Bill (1st wife divorced him and is dead, 2nd wife died) and Jennifer (1st husband divorced and now dead, 2nd now dead) marry. Is Bill qualified to be a deacon? Why or why not?

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I've seen a lot of these over the years, but no one thickens the broth -- shall we?

Okay:

Bill  marries Sally. The pot toking partiers do fine until their first child dies. Bill is finding life to be vanity, Sally starts drinking heavier and snorting for relief.

Bill gets saved a year later, in 4 months Sally says, "I'm outta here, Bozo" and files for divorce. 18 months later Bill marries Vera.

Across town, Fred and Jennifer get a divorce. 2 years later, Jennifer marries Barry. The following year they both get saved.

 

Fast forward 7 years; Sally died years ago from an OD, Barry has died of a heart attack, Fred and Vera were among the 11 fatalities of a 23 vehicle collision.

Bill (1st wife divorced him and is dead, 2nd wife died) and Jennifer (1st husband divorced and now dead, 2nd now dead) marry. Is Bill qualified to be a deacon? Why or why not?

You forgot the lidocaine powder

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I've seen a lot of these over the years, but no one thickens the broth -- shall we?

Okay:

Bill  marries Sally. The pot toking partiers do fine until their first child dies. Bill is finding life to be vanity, Sally starts drinking heavier and snorting for relief.

Bill gets saved a year later, in 4 months Sally says, "I'm outta here, Bozo" and files for divorce. 18 months later Bill marries Vera.

Across town, Fred and Jennifer get a divorce. 2 years later, Jennifer marries Barry. The following year they both get saved.

 

Fast forward 7 years; Sally died years ago from an OD, Barry has died of a heart attack, Fred and Vera were among the 11 fatalities of a 23 vehicle collision.

Bill (1st wife divorced him and is dead, 2nd wife died) and Jennifer (1st husband divorced and now dead, 2nd now dead) marry. Is Bill qualified to be a deacon? Why or why not?

Yes. The easy explanation is, all former spouses are dead, so that's easy, even under the law. Under grace, it is also fine because Bill is still the husband of one wife, even if Jennifer's divorce was for bad reasons, though you don't give the reasons for her initial divorce. 

I have heard the argument from a couple pastors of how a person who is a widow/er should not remarry, and preach it from the pulpit, but it has no biblical bearing or support.

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I have friend that was pastor of a IFB church , his wife up and left him saying she was tired of being married he tried hard to find out how they could reconcile their marriage but she refused to cooperate and divorced him .the church deacons took a vote to fire him because of the divorce (in which he contested but the judge granted the divorce) shortly after the divorce his wife committed suicide leaving him a letter saying she was at a fault in sin of a affair ,though some believe she had mental troubles was the cause. Since this time he has been not been able to pastor another church because of the divorce, he doesn't talk about what happen and has excepted responsibility for his wife's actions and regrets that the church split causing many to leave because of him being fired.i know him very well and he has always been a strong man of God ,but I don't understand why the church fired him being he had not committed adultery or any other sin.

Any Pastors thoughts and scriptures are welcome.

God bless

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Consider Ezra 10. Several questions always come to my mind that kind of muddy the waters of the divorce/remarry/adultery question.

  1.         We see that these people were married to “strange wives of the people of the land”. Could this not be likened to people who are married prior to being saved?
  2.               Ezra 10:11 says: Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. Divorce seems to be mandated here. Now I realize this is during the time of the law, but this certainly cannot qualify as a Levitical dictate. This is clearly a problem because God’s people (today’s church?) are married outside the faith to people of the world that seem unwilling to become a part of God’s people.
  3.       Ezra 10:44 then points out: All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children. Doesn’t this even further complicate the question?

My brother became a Christian after he had married and his wife adamantly refused Christ. Not only did she refuse, but she soon became involved in some VERY repugnant behavior. He tried desperately to save his marriage, but she would have none of it and eventually filed for divorce. This whole thing tore my brother up, but he had no recourse.

My brother is the type who really cannot be alone. He needs to have someone at his side. After several years he found a woman with whom he was much more compatible and remarried. Is he now in adultery? I look at Ezra 10 and have my doubts if God looks at it that way.

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Consider Ezra 10. Several questions always come to my mind that kind of muddy the waters of the divorce/remarry/adultery question.

  1.         We see that these people were married to “strange wives of the people of the land”. Could this not be likened to people who are married prior to being saved?
  2.               Ezra 10:11 says: Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. Divorce seems to be mandated here. Now I realize this is during the time of the law, but this certainly cannot qualify as a Levitical dictate. This is clearly a problem because God’s people (today’s church?) are married outside the faith to people of the world that seem unwilling to become a part of God’s people.
  3.       Ezra 10:44 then points out: All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children. Doesn’t this even further complicate the question?

My brother became a Christian after he had married and his wife adamantly refused Christ. Not only did she refuse, but she soon became involved in some VERY repugnant behavior. He tried desperately to save his marriage, but she would have none of it and eventually filed for divorce. This whole thing tore my brother up, but he had no recourse.

My brother is the type who really cannot be alone. He needs to have someone at his side. After several years he found a woman with whom he was much more compatible and remarried. Is he now in adultery? I look at Ezra 10 and have my doubts if God looks at it that way.

 

"But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace."  (1Cor 7:12-15) 

Many take the fact the Paul attributes this to himself as not actually being something we can follow, but I suspect Paul would not write this if he wasn't absolutely sure it was according to God's will.

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"But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace."  (1Cor 7:12-15) 

Many take the fact the Paul attributes this to himself as not actually being something we can follow, but I suspect Paul would not write this if he wasn't absolutely sure it was according to God's will.

This is true, but the reference in Ezra has the believer departing from the unbeliever.

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Ezra was dealing with a specific situation, under a specific dispensation, with a specific people. New Testament believers are under a different dispensation. That difference is not insignificant. I would give far more credence to Paul's instructions than to what happened in the time of Ezra.

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Ezra was dealing with a specific situation, under a specific dispensation, with a specific people. New Testament believers are under a different dispensation. That difference is not insignificant. I would give far more credence to Paul's instructions than to what happened in the time of Ezra.

Ezra was during the Dispensation of the Law of Moses which did allow for divorce (male or female) for limited reasons; those given in Ezra not being among them. But then we must look at what the Word (Jesus Christ) says on the subject:

Matthew 19:3-9 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 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.

Bottom line, divorce is not at all what God intended or ever wanted. The problem always comes where sinful man enters into the mix. Jesus, God in the flesh, the Word incarnate is pretty adamant here about His position on divorce. His position does not match the law, it does not match Ezra, and it does not match what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians. Who is right? I side with Jesus and yet this does not match what was allowed in three separate areas of the Bible.

Salvation can be a huge road block in a marriage. It can lead to many difficult, onerous, and even violent situations in the life of the one saved. I am merely stating (not dogmatically) that God may not be as antithetical in this area as many would wish to believe.

 

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