Introduction
Do individuals who get divorced and remarried
live in the perpetual sin of adultery? Does the Scripture say anything about
this chronic adultery issue as sometimes portrayed and perpetuated by the
Church as a reality?
Old Testament Heroes
Several Old Testament figures, including King David, Solomon, Joseph, and Jacob, had more than one wife at a time. However, Scripture teaches that a man should have only one wife at a time, especially if he were a
leader.
1 Timothy 3:2 says,
An overseer must be
above reproach, the husband of one wife.
An example is God, bringing to Adam only one
woman, Eve. So, the question is, did these men of old live in perpetual sin?
However, we see from multiple wives a never-ending problem that plagued their
lives. One wife wants this, another wife wants something else, and it goes on
to the point of ad nauseam. God’s plan for the family and its unity has always
been one wife; the home’s disunity comes with various wives simultaneously, as
seen from the problems these leaders had after their multiple wives.
Genesis 2:18 says,
Then the LORD God
said, It is not suitable for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper
suitable for him.
Genesis 2:21-24 says,
So the Lord God
caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his
ribs and closed the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a
woman the rib He had taken from the man and brought her to the man. The man
said,
She is now the bone
of my bones And flesh of my flesh; now she is a Woman because out of Man she
came from his rib. A man shall leave his father and his mother and join
his wife; they shall become one flesh.
God took only one rib, which could represent
only one woman at a time. Unity can only be achieved in marriage, with one man
and one woman together as husband and wife.
The Sin of Adultery
Matthew 19:9 says,
And I say to you,
whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman
commits adultery.
If one discovers a spouse to be immoral, is the
innocent party allowed to remarry without adultery consequences? If the answer
is yes, why does the Church hold them back? Often, pastors who ended up in a
divorce and the innocent party had to promise never to remarry if they wished
to remain a pastor.
One can only wonder why the Church puts men in a
situation to burn in lust. Is it to see them fail, and then the Church can say
it is because of your divorce that you have failed? This author was a guest
speaker at one Fellowship, and the head deacon and I were talking, and he told
me that even having a divorced person in the Pulpit would contaminate it. This
so-called contamination says that the individual’s salvation experience means
nothing and that God has not forgiven them.
The Question Is
Why is it so easy for the Fellowship to forgive
a murderer, a thief, a liar, a rapist, or any other sin, but they cannot pardon
someone divorced and remarried? If individuals commit homicide, they will
always be murderers; this will not change, even if they never do this crime
again. It is the same with any sin against God; there are no exceptions. All
people are sinners, yet each sin has a name, and we are that for the rest of
our lives.
Arrogance in the Leadership
An example of this arrogance is the rude talk
given by many Baptist Fellowship leaders about the Mormons at their Annual
Convention in Utah several years ago; this is the same egotism of the Jewish
Pharisees at the time of Jesus. They may try to deny this, but the proof is in
the records if one but looks.
Luke 18:10-14 says,
Two men went into
the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee
stood and prayed to himself: God, I thank You I am not like other people:
swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a
week; I pay tithes of all I get. But the tax collector, standing some distance
away, was unwilling to lift his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast,
saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner! I tell you, this man went
to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Visualize being told that “you cannot have God’s
best” because of divorce and remarriage; think of the mental anguish it would
put you through. If this was true, then God would not forgive and forget what
we have done, and the blood of Jesus would have been for nothing. This arrogant
behavior by the leadership has kept many good men from doing God’s will. I tell
you that every gift one receives from God is the BEST He gives.
James 1:16-17 says,
Do not be deceived,
my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from
above, coming down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation
or shifting shadow.
Whatever God gives you will be His absolute best
for you. The Church in America has many egotists who call themselves Christians
or leaders. Who controls the Church with an iron-fisted dictatorship is one of
the primary reasons for the Church’s weakness today. However, no one will voice
this opinion, fearing being called a heretic.
God and Forgiveness
When one confesses their sin, God has forgiven and
forgotten them.
Psalm 103:11-14 says,
As high as the
heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward people who fear
Him. As far as the East is from the West, He has removed our transgressions
from us. Just as a father has compassion for his children, the LORD cares for people who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He is mindful that
we are but dust.
1 John 1:9 says,
If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
Conclusion
God must forgive all individuals who wish to
serve Him and not live in sin. The Church should not rule that a person is
living in an adulterous state if they remarry because they may have asked for
forgiveness from God. There is no Biblical evidence to support this beyond any
reasonable question that a divorced person is ineligible to preach the Gospel.
Please do not use First Timothy as the proof text, as I have shown why there
should be only one wife at a time. This book says nothing about divorce and remarriage
and serving God.
1 Timothy 3:2 says,
An overseer must be
above reproach, the husband of one wife.
That refers to one wife at a time. If a man’s wife dies and he remarries, he has had two wives, and according to the Church, he can no longer be a preacher.
Sola Scriptura–By Scripture Alone
Sola Fide–By Faith Alone
Sola Gratia–By Grace Alone
Solus Christus–By Christ Alone
Soli Deo Gloria–Glory to God Alone
Copyright George L Gallant,
©2021
New American Standard
Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995)
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