Good evening brother.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
My question: A friend of mine recently got married. She and her husband were wed in a denominational church by a female “pastor”. In light of I Timothy 2:9-15, will God honor the marriage? I believe being married by a female judge or elected official is acceptable, but how does God view a woman “preacher” presiding over a wedding ceremony?<\/p>\n\t
Weddings are not a work of the church. If it were, then people married before becoming Christians would not be considered married. However, Paul said, “But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy<\/em>” (I Corinthians 7:12-14). This would mean that even people married in a pagan temple would still be considered married.<\/p>\n Therefore your friend is still married even though you and I would not accept such an arrangement for our own weddings.<\/p>\n\t I understand. I appreciate your response, brother Hamilton, and thank you for clarifying this for me. God bless and keep up the outstanding work!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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: A friend of mine recently got married. She and her husband were wed in a denominational church by a female “pastor”. …<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[64,566,82],"class_list":["post-33253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-marriage","tag-weddings","tag-womens-roles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":83895,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-get-married-in-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":33253,"position":0},"title":"Can I get married in the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a question. It happened months ago, but I want to know about this concern. I was studying doctrine. I liked a brother, and I decided to go out with him. We were like boyfriend and girlfriend but never agreed to be in a relationship. That date\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13653,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-my-marriage-before-a-justice-of-the-peace-legitimate\/","url_meta":{"origin":33253,"position":1},"title":"Is my marriage before a justice of the peace legitimate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please help me.\u00a0 I am a spiritual person who believes in God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 My husband does not.\u00a0 That is OK.\u00a0 The problem is that we were not married before God nor did we invite him to our union in any way.\u00a0We were married by\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":57799,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-it-matter-who-performs-a-wedding\/","url_meta":{"origin":33253,"position":2},"title":"Does it matter who performs a wedding?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, My fianc\u00e9 and I have planned a destination wedding. The wedding package we purchased has an officiant included. I mention this because the planner stated that they have their preferred vendors meaning we potentially cannot reach out to the local church and ask a minister to marry us.\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":31393,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/as-i-grow-in-the-lord-i-find-i-am-struggling-with-my-past-and-current-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":33253,"position":3},"title":"As I grow in the Lord, I find I am struggling with my past and current sins","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, my brother in Christ, I have been a member of the church for a number of years. I have been a faithful brother since that time and have grown tremendously over the years.\u00a0 As I continue to grow in the Lord, I am struggling with some things 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":35277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-dream-a-woman-wanted-me-does-it-not-mean-we-are-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":33253,"position":4},"title":"If I dream a woman wanted me, does it not mean we are married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was in a dream one night and saw a lady in my church trying to sleep with me. I ran away from her but she was desperate. Her younger brother, with her in that dream, was asking me why I don't want to marry his sister. Physically, she\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":33253,"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. 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