Do you agree it is scriptural if a non-Christian who was previously married but got divorced for unscriptural reasons and was re-married and wants to become a Christian has to get divorced before they can be baptized?<\/p>\n\t
Can a person become a Christian while remaining in their former sins? “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?<\/em>” (Romans 16:2).<\/p>\n If a person is actively engaged in sin, the act of baptism does not change a sinful action into a righteous one. If a thief decides to be baptized, it doesn’t mean his stealing is now approved of by God. In the same way, the act of adultery is not a one-time event. A person living in adultery before baptism would still be adultery after baptism.<\/p>\n In order to become a Christian one doesn’t simply get baptized. God tells us that there are several things that must be done, such as hearing the word, faith, and confession. But not least is repentance. “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish<\/em>” (Luke 13:3). In your scenario, you are describing a person who wants to be baptized without repenting of his adultery. How can a person be saved if he refuses to repent of his sins? “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’<\/em>” (Acts 2:38). Baptism without repentance is as useless as baptism without faith. If this couple needed to end their marriage because of an adulterous relationship, it must take place before baptism, not after.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Do you agree it is scriptural if a non-Christian who was previously married but got divorced for unscriptural reasons and was re-married and wants to become a Christian has to get divorced before they can be baptized? Answer: Can a person become a Christian while remaining in their former sins? “Certainly not! How shall…<\/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":[66,52,167,50],"class_list":["post-19001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-adultery","tag-baptism","tag-divorce","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7461,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-a-couple-previously-married-separate-after-they-are-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":19001,"position":0},"title":"Must a couple, previously married, separate after they are baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a couple consists of two divorced individuals, and they are converted to Christ and are baptized, do they need to separate? Answer: This question leaves out too much to answer well. For example, you did not mention whether the individuals had a right to remarry. The Bible speaks\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":22032,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-a-person-living-in-an-adulterous-marriage-still-be-in-sin-after-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":19001,"position":1},"title":"How can a person living in an adulterous marriage still be in sin after baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I don't understand how a non-believer, who divorced their spouse for reasons other than fornication and remarries, if they are born again, are living in sin. I thought when you are baptized all of your sins were forgiven according to Acts 2:38. Are only certain sins forgivable? Can you\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":17263,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-need-a-dumbed-down-version-about-divorce-and-remarriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":19001,"position":2},"title":"I need a dumbed-down version about divorce and remarriage","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering about a book called A\u00a0Review of Homer Hailey's The Divorced & Remarried Who Come To God\u00a0by Weldon Warnock. Have you read it or know the author? He takes a stand against Homer Hailey's, but I was wondering your opinion on it. I still need the divorce\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":38902,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-jew-had-divorced-and-married-another-prior-to-jesus-death-would-he-have-to-put-away-his-new-wife-before-being-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":19001,"position":3},"title":"If a Jew had divorced and married another prior to Jesus’ death, would he have to put away his new wife before being baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for taking my question. If there had been Jewish men on the day of Pentecost who had previously given their original wives a Bill of Divorcement and were now married to other women, would they have to put away the new wives before they were baptized? Thank\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":29692,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-cant-my-sister-get-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":19001,"position":4},"title":"Why can’t my sister get baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In a second marriage where a non-Christian is wanting to become a Christian but was divorced for reasons other than adultery, is the sin the adultery or the remarriage?\u00a0I am asking this in the context of repenting.\u00a0Do you repent of the adultery in this second marriage or repent of\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":32710,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-forgiven-after-being-divorced-for-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":19001,"position":5},"title":"Am I forgiven after being divorced for adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I always thought my husband had cheated on me while we were married but could not prove it. We didn't have a great marriage. He always treated me like he was ashamed of me. He had a good job and made comments all the time about my lack of\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\/19001","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=19001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}