If adultery dissolves a marriage, why can’t the guilty party remarry?
Question:
Good afternoon,
I have a question that has been on my mind for some time. I'm hoping that you can shed some light, with scripture, to help me better understand. I know where I used to stand on this subject, but then I changed my mind. I still look back and wonder, so I don't believe that I'm fully on one side or the other.
The question is this: Can the guilty party remarry? I'll shed some light on why I changed my mind from no to yes. I know that adultery or fornication will "completely" dissolve a marriage. So, if the husband commits adultery, he is no longer married in God's sight. If the husband truly repents of his adultery, then God forgives him. So, therefore, he can remarry. He has not committed adultery because the marriage has been dissolved. In his repentance, he said that he will not commit adultery again. This frees him from sin, making him eligible for remarriage.
Please help me to understand this clearly using Scripture.
Thank you.
Answer:
The flaw in your reasoning is in your assumption that adultery or fornication dissolves a marriage. If such were true, there would not be any need for divorce because a person could just go off and have sex and end his marriage. When the Pharisees stated that Moses commanded divorce, Jesus' response was: "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way" (Matthew 19:8). Take note of the word "permitted." It implies that divorce is not required. It is an option. If it is an option, then the act of fornication by the spouse did not end the marriage.
Earlier, Jesus stated that "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate" (Matthew 19:6). But if a person can end his marriage by adultery, then it is the man who is deciding the duration of his marriage and not God.
"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).
The wording of Romans 7:2-3 is broader than just divorce for fornication or even divorce for some other reason. It would cover situations of bigamy as well.
In the Scriptures, words like covenant, law, testimony, etc. are considered to be synonyms. When a couple enters a marriage covenant, the terms of that covenant are for the life of both parties. If one dies before the other, the other is released from the terms of the covenant. Jesus gave one additional exception in Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9 which states that marital unfaithfulness (specifically, fornication) can free the innocent party from the terms of the covenant. The guilty party, by implication in those verses, is not released from the covenant he or she has made.
If a person marries someone else while in a marriage covenant, they are guilty of adultery. Paul states they remain in adultery while married to another person. Notice that their adultery did not dissolve their former marriage. However, he notes that if their original spouse dies, they are freed from their covenant and are no longer in adultery even though they had married someone else.
The fact that the former adulterer's marriage is no longer adulterous is only a part of the solution. A thief who has stopped stealing still has the debt of his sin. A former adulterer still has the problem of unforgiven sin. In order to receive forgiveness for his sins, he would have to follow God's requirements, among which is repentance. He would have to denounce his former life of adultery. You or I may not be able to determine if he is sincere, but God will know, come Judgment Day.
