If a man married three times, but his wives are all now dead, can he marry again?
Question:
If a man had three spouses, he divorced his first wife for adultery and he married an adulterer, divorced her for unknown reasons, and married a woman who was not an adulterer and divorced her to go back to his second wife, and all three spouses die, is it OK for the man to marry another who is not an adulterer?
I really enjoy reading your responses, and know you are very busy doing the Lord's work.
Answer:
Marriage covenants last as long as both partners in the covenant are alive. Since the prior spouses are dead, the man is not under any marriage covenant. The reasons for the various marriages do not matter and are merely a distraction. "For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man" (Romans 7:2-3).
