Does the Bible mention false marriages or are all marriages valid? This year alone, three women who escaped from Michigan prisons more than thirty years ago have been captured and returned to Michigan. One woman who has received a lot of attention moved to California, changed her name, got married, raised a family, and lived in an upper-middle-class neighborhood. Nothing has been said in the news about her husband. My question is, are they still married or is the marriage null and void?<\/p>\n\t
The Bible does not use the term “false marriage.” Instead, it states that some marriages are adulterous. That is because one or both people involved in the marriage had no right to be married again. They were still bound by their prior marriage.<\/p>\n
“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<\/em>” (Romans 7:3-4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I have no idea if the woman you are referring to was married before. Even though she married under a false name, it is still a marriage. The fact that her sins caught up with her and she returned to jail doesn’t mean her marriage ended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Does the Bible mention false marriages or are all marriages valid? This year alone, three women who escaped from Michigan prisons more than thirty years ago have been captured and returned to Michigan. One woman who has received a lot of attention moved to California, changed her name, got married, raised a family, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[66,392,64],"class_list":["post-16286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-adultery","tag-lying","tag-marriage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39743,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-we-straighten-out-ending-our-past-marriages-would-we-still-be-in-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":16286,"position":0},"title":"If we straighten out ending our past marriages, would we still be in adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have seen you talking about adultery on a website answering questions. I myself have the same issue. I'm living with my boyfriend of\u00a0five years, and we have a child together. He is married to another woman, but they have been separated for ten years and he has not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23203,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-a-young-man-overcome-sexual-sin-when-he-is-not-yet-financially-able-to-get-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":16286,"position":1},"title":"How can a young man overcome sexual sin when he is not yet financially able to get married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a new convert. I have read several of your articles, which have helped in building up my faith. American marriages are quite different from marriages in my country. Here the bride's parents will give the groom-to-be a list of things to buy or pay that can add\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49490,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-marriage-performed-by-a-witch-doctor-legitimate\/","url_meta":{"origin":16286,"position":2},"title":"Is a marriage performed by a witch doctor legitimate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Here in Africa people go to witch doctors in order to get married, which is a sin. Now can you please tell me if people, who are married by a witch doctor, are allowed to have sex with each other because that for me is a sin? Marriage is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-marriage-still-valid-if-it-was-done-by-a-woman\/","url_meta":{"origin":16286,"position":3},"title":"Is a marriage still valid if it was done by a woman?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening brother. I would again like to commend you for the wonderful work you and the brethren are doing on your website on behalf of the Lord and His church. My question:\u00a0 A friend of mine recently got married.\u00a0 She and her husband were wed in a denominational\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2806,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-samaritan-woman-really-married-that-many-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":16286,"position":4},"title":"Was the Samaritan woman really married that many times?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In John 4, I get confused with the issue of marriage. Christ wanted her to call her husband until she said she had none. Then Christ said she had had five husbands, except that her present man was not her husband. Was Christ trying to prove that she had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68180,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-honor-all-marriages\/","url_meta":{"origin":16286,"position":5},"title":"Does God honor all marriages?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, I would like to know if God honors all marriages. I was recently in a study and they brought up Hebrews 13:4. I was told this verse God applies to Christians who are in the church. God does not honor marriages outside of Christ. For example, if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}