Can marriage ever be a sin if both are Christian

[Grafted In]

If I'm wrong, please assure me with Scripture.
Bill

 

[ZephBonkerer]

My point was divorced people are single - not married to anybody. So the fact that a person was divorced does not make his or her second marriage a sin.

You're right on the money with that one. 1 Corinthians 7:28 makes this point very clear. So does verse 9 of the same chapter. It is not reasonable to presume that these verses apply only to the widowed and those who have never been married. Paul certainly gave no indication to this effect.

The context indicates Paul was speaking to those who are unmarried for any reason, regardless of any prior marital status.

 

[Grafted In]

I believe Paul is speaking directly to those have just been born again and never married.
In God's eyes any divorced person is still married.

1 Corinthians 7

 

[Grafted In]

Much of 1st Corinthians deals with this issue.
I once worked with a guy who was a born again Christian.
During a conversation he told me he married her long after he was saved, but the she was not a Christian.
When I questioned him, he said God makes that ok because now she and the children they had after marriage were sactified due to him being a Christian.
This, in my mind, twists the original intent of Paul's opinion.

 

[ZephBonkerer]

In God's eyes any divorced person is still married...

That's not true. There is no such thing as "still married in God's eyes" in Scripture. If that were so, Deuteronomy 24 would have read very different, and this point would have been explicit somewhere in Scripture when the topic of divorce came up.

You probably would have also had clear instructions to divorced and remarried people in the NT to divorce their current spouses and get back with their so-called "covenant spouses". But the notion that any divorced person is "still married in God's eyes" cannot go without saying.

 

[Lost Witness]

Remarrying after a divorce for any reason other than your spouse dying or them committing adultery IS sin (having already been born again) only exception would be divorce before being Born Again and then remarrying.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

That's not true. There is no such thing as "still married in God's eyes" in Scripture. If that were so, Deuteronomy 24 would have read very different, and this point would have been explicit somewhere in Scripture when the topic of divorce came up.

You probably would have also had clear instructions to divorced and remarried people in the NT to divorce their current spouses and get back with their so-called "covenant spouses". But the notion that any divorced person is "still married in God's eyes" cannot go without saying.

God actually divorced Israel (Jeremiah 3:8-9). According to your view, God is still married to Israel.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Remarrying after a divorce for any reason other than your spouse dying or them committing adultery IS sin (having already been born again) only exception would be divorce before being Born Again and then remarrying.

So, if someone close to you is a domestic violence victim in fear of her life from a homicidal husband, you would advise her to stay with him? What about a spouse has been deserted by the other spouse with no hope of reconciliation? What is missing from the 1 Corinthians 7 reference are instructions for the innocent spouse in a divorce. The reason why Paul taught the Corinthians concerning divorce was that believers were divorcing their wives for no reason other than they believed they would be closer to God being single. Note that there is no teaching about divorce in any of his letters to the other churches.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Remarrying after a divorce for any reason other than your spouse dying or them committing adultery IS sin (having already been born again) only exception would be divorce before being Born Again and then remarrying.

Yet, once it has happened, is it sin to remain married to the new spouse? Paul says he calls us to peace.

The real principle there is that God hates divorce.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Yet, once it has happened, is it sin to remain married to the new spouse? Paul says he calls us to peace.

The real principle there is that God hates divorce.

God also hates domestic violence and desertion by a spouse. God never punishes the innocent with the guilty. When we consider these things, we have to be aware of the whole counsel of God, and that we know that God treats the innocent and guilty in quite different ways, unlike some churchians.

 

[ZephBonkerer]

Cases of abuse, neglect, etc show quite clearly why the marriage permanence doctrine just doesn't work biblically. To accept this doctrine as truth, we would have to conclude that God cares more about marriage as an institution than He does those in it. I refuse to stand for such blasphemy.

If the Sabbath would not outweigh the welfare of flesh and blood human beings, then what makes a man think marriage would?

 

[linux.poet]

It's important to remember that Paul's words about marriage were written in the case of the persecuted church where people were dying left and right for the Gospel. Having an emotional attachment to a spouse and children would make embracing martyrdom more difficult and would cause a less consistent stand for the Gospel at that time. So it would be better to remain single than to have to watch your spouse be slaughtered. In many parts of the world where Christianity is persecuted, Paul's advice rings true - the person you say "I do" to one day can end up in jail the next.

In 2023 America where Christianity isn't persecuted, it's difficult to feel the impact of that advice, and easier to feel my body's lonely agony. This agony is impairing my effectiveness for God's glory and honor, and making it hard to focus on God at all. Frankly I've suffered from hating God for how intensely I burn up. So I have no real occasion to judge those who wish to be married.

As for whether it is ever a sin, I would think that those who marry for trivial reasons or monetary gain should be rebuked, for they make a mockery of an institution that some of us need to be effective in ministry.

 

[Lost Witness]

So, if someone close to you is a domestic violence victim in fear of her life from a homicidal husband, you would advise her to stay with him? What about a spouse has been deserted by the other spouse with no hope of reconciliation? What is missing from the 1 Corinthians 7 reference are instructions for the innocent spouse in a divorce. The reason why Paul taught the Corinthians concerning divorce was that believers were divorcing their wives for no reason other than they believed they would be closer to God being single. Note that there is no teaching about divorce in any of his letters to the other churches.

according to the very little known personally....if someone divorces for any reason other than adultery they are to remain unmarried or be reconciled to their spouse?
Doubt the LORD would say Adultery was the Only Reason for divorce just for there to be an "exception"/s....
Mind You not saying what someone should or shouldn't do,
that's between them and the LORD..
Just standing on the little that has been shown to me.
Myself wouldn't do it..


May The LORD Bless You and Keep You


Shalom Aleichem

 

[Grafted In]

I guess this is simply one of those "He who hath ears..." subjects.
I have found no Scripture that makes it OK to divorce one and take another.

 

[Fantine]

I just learned last year that many of the letters of Paul were not written by him, particularly the ones that are more "institutional Church." He may have spoken to a prison visitor who put his own spin to things. His teachings on women and sex seem to be in these books.
My Catholic Bible notes say not everything attributed to Paul are his, and there are Wikipedia and other articles, and I have spoken to a nun about this who confirmed it.
And so for me when something from Paul seems wrong, I apologize to him for having misjudged him all these years.
I think the passionate radical more progressive Paul was the real Paul

 

[ZephBonkerer]

I guess this is simply one of those "He who hath ears..." subjects.
I have found no Scripture that makes it OK to divorce one and take another.

I have. See Deuteronomy 24:1-4. In case anyone says "that's the Old Testament" refer to Matthew 5:17-18 and 1 Corinthians 7:28. In other words, you are not forever barred from marrying someone simply because you were once divorced and reconciliation to your first spouse is either impossible or inappropriate. It was the frivolous abuse of the divorce process that Jesus had a problem with, not divorce and remarriage per se.

One man divorced Jessica just so he could get with Rachel. Another man conspired to break up the marriage between Jack and Jill so that he could have Jill. These are the actions that Jesus rightly condemned as tantamount to adultery. But someone who divorced a spouse for far more serious reasons and married a better person some time later is in a far different category morally. The moral difference is obvious even to pagans, and it is unreasonable to presume that Jesus would recognize no such difference.

If Jesus declined to condemn David for eating the show bread, why would He condemn someone for getting a divorce for some serious and compelling reason? Or for marrying someone who isn't a worthless bum?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

according to the very little known personally....if someone divorces for any reason other than adultery they are to remain unmarried or be reconciled to their spouse?
Doubt the LORD would say Adultery was the Only Reason for divorce just for there to be an "exception"/s....
Mind You not saying what someone should or shouldn't do,
that's between them and the LORD..
Just standing on the little that has been shown to me.
Myself wouldn't do it..


May The LORD Bless You and Keep You


Shalom Aleichem

The truth is that the only ones who can exercise judgment on a divorced person are those who are totally sinless themselves. To my knowledge there is only one, the Person who was crucified for me. This means that those who imply condemnation on divorced people are trying to get a speck out of the divorced person's eye when they have a log of sin in their own. When one points the finger at another, there are three pointing back at themselves. For me, I would rather wait until the day of judgment when the sole person who has the right to judge is on the throne and will exercise fair judgment based on the facts.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I guess this is simply one of those "He who hath ears..." subjects.
I have found no Scripture that makes it OK to divorce one and take another.

There are no Scriptures that makes it OK to lie, blaspheme, steal, hate, have a riotous lifestyle, commit fornication and adultery. fail to love God with all our heart, yet, we all do these things one way or another. So what is the difference?

 

[ZephBonkerer]

There are no Scriptures that makes it OK to lie, blaspheme, steal, hate, have a riotous lifestyle, commit fornication and adultery. fail to love God with all our heart, yet, we all do these things one way or another. So what is the difference?

So you're saying we all lie, blaspheme, steal, hate, have a riotous lifestyle, commit fornication and adultery? You might want to rethink your assertions here. I don't do this stuff.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

So you're saying we all lie, blaspheme, steal, hate, have a riotous lifestyle, commit fornication and adultery? You might want to rethink your assertions here. I don't do this stuff.

Here is the test:
Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain at any stage in your life?
Have you ever taken something that doesn't belong to you however small?
Have you ever been so angry at some you have felt you hated them?
Have you ever looked at someone with lust?

If you are honest, then you are like the rest of us:
A blaspheming, hateful thieving adulterer who, if having put our faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on the Cross, would be declared "not guilty" at the Judgment and would be in heaven with the Lord instead of in hell with the devil and his angels. John 1:8 says, "If we say we have no sin, we lie and the truth is not in us."