Biblical Remarriage

I was asked the age old question today about remarriage. The question goes like this: “If a person has been married and gets a divorce, can that person marry again according to the Bible.” There is no way in the scope of this blog that I can fully answer the question so I choose to limit my answer surrounding the scripture given to us by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 7. I do so because this is the most direct and applicable passage given to the Church. Old Testament law was changed by Christ in Matthew 5 and 19. Christ’s comments were made to those under the law and before the Church was formed. That is not to negate the words of Christ, but just to understand them in context.

Let’s begin. Paul sums up the whole matter in verse one when he says, “it is good for a man not to touch a woman.” (7:1) meaning it is better to stay single and avoid the whole deal. Knowing that this is not the nature of man we see the context for the rest of the chapter which is to keep order in society: “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication…” (7:2) One husband, One wife, due benevolence. This would put a stop to fornication and fulfill the natural desire of man and woman.

Paul then addresses the two types of people that the Lord gave commandment concerning: the unmarried and widows, (viewed as the same, free from any bond) and the married folks. This thought of order and control continues in verse 8 when he challenges the unmarried and widows to stay that way, but to marry if they can’t control their urges. To the married, he repeats the same idea and commandment given by Christ in Matthew 19:8-9: divorce is a sin. A woman is not to leave her husband and a man is not to put away his wife. Remarriage is sin in the fact that there is no opportunity for reconciliation between the two couples. Here in lies the problem, the world if full of sinful people that have already done the deed. They have already been divorced, they have already been remarried. When Jesus was witnessing to the woman at the well he asked her to call her husband. Her response was profound. “I have no husband.” to this Jesus agreed and stated that she had had five husbands. It is interesting that Jesus didn’t say that she had one husband and was living in adultery, but recognized the five legal marriages of the woman.

Remember the goal is to avoid fornication. So, what do you do with all the sinners or as Paul calls them, “the rest.” (7:12) If you say they can’t marry then fornication abounds as is illustrated in the woman at the well, as she was living with a man at the time. So what do you do with a church body like Corinth full of sinners coming out of the world that are damned already because of their past marriages. Here is Paul’s advise. Stay in whatever situation you are in and make it work. If you are married to an unbeliever, stay with them and try and win them to Christ. (7:12-17) If you are a virgin, stay a virgin (7:25-26). There was much persecution in Paul’s day for Christians and being married just made it that much harder. If you are legally bound to a wife, stay bound. Don’t try and get out of it (7:27). If you are “loosed from a wife” i.e. the marriage has been dissolved (divorced), stay divorced.

Now for the kicker. Verse 28 begins with the phrase: “But and if…” There is no doubt that both the words “but,” and “if” are conjunction words that continue the thought from verse 27. The subject is still the man that has been loosed from his wife. “But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned…” The word “thou” is second person singular, meaning, Paul is talking to the one individual that had been loosed in the previous verse. If he had been talking to the church he would have used the word “ye” which is second person plural, meaning the entire group. (in newer versions the word would be the same, “you”, which could be either singular or plural with no way to distinguish.) Paul continues, If you have never been married (virgin) it is not a sin for you to get married. It just adds to the distress of the day.

From this we can gather that it is better to get remarried than to live in fornication. Paul is in no way giving license to divorce or the freedom to get remarried, but rather the lesser of two evils. Being married is better than living together. It would be nice to think that people that have been divorced would become eunuchs, but we know better. If you don’t know better wake up and look around. This is why Jesus even left room for Paul’s teachings in Matthew 19:11-12.

I would love to have your comments.