Is someone married if they give their ID to use on a marriage license?
Question:
I have a question. My best friend and I had a huge argument, and I have to know if I'm doing the correct thing. Before my friend found God, he was living with a woman, so when he found God he wanted to do things right and marry her. Then he found out she was already married to a foreigner. She said that she just gave her ID and that was it, she was married, and she never saw this man again. Then she and my friend got married by a pastor in their house. Isn't he committing adultery by doing this? I understand that she was young but to me, she lied about her marital status, and even if she is lying, she is still married legally to another man. Doesn't that constitute adultery in God's eyes?
Answer:
Something doesn't add up. You can't get married by giving someone your ID papers. Marriage is done by making a covenant before God and witnesses. "Yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant" (Malachi 2:14). If what she said is true, then she consented to be a part of a fraud to lie to the government. However, she would not be married.
How she would clean up the legal mess that she got herself into is something I don't know.
