Can you separate instead of divorcing?
Question:
Hello,
First, thank you for your patience, guidance, knowledge, and service. To God be the glory, and may His will be done always.
I have a question and need guidance. Recently, a fellow Christian couple realized that they were in an unscriptural marriage. The option of going back to her original spouse is not available, as he has since remarried. In their current marriage (unscriptural), they have two children.
The question is: Can they scripturally separate and not have to divorce with civil law?
Thank you again for your time and attention.
Answer:
You asked about a scriptural separation, but the concept of separation without ending the legal aspects of marriage was not known during the biblical era. In the Bible, it is assumed that married couples will take advantage of sexual privileges that come with marriage (I Corinthians 7:3-5). There is also the problem of a marriage involving covenant vows before God. You cannot be under two conflicting covenants at the same time. "For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man" (Romans 7:2-3). "Law" and "covenant" are synonyms. A man and woman are joined by covenant (Malachi 2:14). It is adultery to be joined by covenant to another person.
