I have just recently married a beautiful godly woman who totally fills my heart with love every day that we share together in holy matrimony.\u00a0 But recently we have found out that she is still married to another.\u00a0 Several years ago my wife was to be wed to another man but found out some rather unsavory aspects of her future husband’s life prior to the ceremony. She proceeded with the ceremony but after the ceremony asked that the marriage be dissolved.\u00a0 Seven years have elapsed, and she has had no contact with this man and was under the impression that the marriage was dissolved.\u00a0 We have just recently found out that the certificate of marriage was filed and now she has to go through with an actual divorce filing to right this wrong.\u00a0 My question is, am I living in adultery by being married to this woman and how do I correct this situation and preserve my marriage and be right in the eyes of the Lord?<\/p>\n\t
You can’t have all combinations. The woman you married is married to someone else. So, yes, you are committing adultery with her.<\/p>\n
Think about the foolishness of her statements: She discovered something bad about her fiance but marries him anyway. She only demanded a dissolution after she finished the ceremony. Thus she freely chose to bind herself to someone she did not respect. Though she wanted the marriage dissolved, she made no effort toward that end. That too was not a wise move on her part. She then goes on to marry another man, not telling him of her former marriage.<\/p>\n
Let us assume that her marriage was ended as she wanted. She still had no right to another marriage because it did not end because of fornication on her husband’s part. “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery<\/em>” (Matthew 19:9).<\/p>\n She made a lot of poor choices in life. Her obligation under her marriage covenant remains until her first husband dies. “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 7:2-3).<\/p>\n From what you have told me, the only choice is to end the adultery. Since you married under false pretenses, you are free to marry someone who does have the right to marry.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I have just recently married a beautiful godly woman who totally fills my heart with love every day that we share together in holy matrimony.\u00a0 But recently we have found out that she is still married to another.\u00a0 Several years ago my wife was to be wed to another man but found out some…<\/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":[167],"class_list":["post-29499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-divorce"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23206,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-about-the-catholic-view-of-divorce\/","url_meta":{"origin":29499,"position":0},"title":"What do you think about the Catholic view of divorce?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your web site today concerning divorce and the Bible.\u00a0 Clearly, God considers divorce a serious matter, possibly a sin. However, for years Catholics had strict rules about divorce and remarriage.\u00a0 It seems that Catholics were unfairly targeted as being too unforgiving or strict when it came to\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":43526,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-matthew-199-only-refer-to-fornication-prior-to-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":29499,"position":1},"title":"Does Matthew 19:9 only refer to fornication prior to marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I am confused about your definition of porneia in Mathew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9. In your answer to the question \"My wife is leaving me after only seven months of marriage. Where does this leave me?\" you said that: \"One of the reasons for the divorce has to\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":43031,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-trying-to-figure-out-if-my-marriage-is-causing-me-to-be-an-adulterer\/","url_meta":{"origin":29499,"position":2},"title":"I’m trying to figure out if my marriage is causing me to be an adulterer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a 46-year old baptized, unconfirmed, non-practicing Roman Catholic. My wife is a 43-year old unbaptized divorc\u00e9e. My wife previously married a non-practicing Catholic in a civil ceremony many years ago. A short time after their marriage, she had a one-night stand. Sometime later her husband became\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":42225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-there-be-adultery-after-divorce-ends-a-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":29499,"position":3},"title":"How can there be adultery after divorce ends a marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You said on your website: \"When one partner in a marriage commits adultery, the innocent party has the option to divorce the unrepentant adulterer and may marry someone else if he or she so chooses.\u00a0The adulterer remains bound by the terms of his marriage covenant.\u00a0Anyone marriage enters into will\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":29698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-recently-found-out-my-ex-wife-was-married-before-we-married-is-my-second-marriage-proper\/","url_meta":{"origin":29499,"position":4},"title":"I recently found out my ex-wife was married before we married. Is my second marriage proper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I was married to a woman I recently discovered was married previously. She never told me that she was married, for if she had, I would not have married her. In less than a year, she divorced me for irreconcilable differences. About two years later, I married again.\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":29725,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-the-adulterer-marry-again-and-that-marriage-be-acceptable-to-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":29499,"position":5},"title":"Can the adulterer marry again and that marriage be acceptable to God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello and God bless, I have some questions that I hope you can address.\u00a0 I am a born-again Christian who has suffered through a divorce.\u00a0 This divorce was not my desire, as I absolutely believe in marriage vows and the concept \"until death do us part.\"\u00a0 I want always\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\/29499","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=29499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}