{"id":36475,"date":"2013-01-16T21:21:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T03:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=36475"},"modified":"2021-07-06T21:23:08","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T02:23:08","slug":"is-the-law-of-marriage-and-divorce-that-jesus-taught-for-the-church-or-universal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-law-of-marriage-and-divorce-that-jesus-taught-for-the-church-or-universal\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the law of marriage and divorce that Jesus taught for the church or universal?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>My wife last husband wanted to divorce her on irreconcilable differences. He changed his mind and said to her he wanted to work things out, she refused and wanted to proceed with the divorce because of the abuse and adultery, he also had another child outside their marriage. They proceeded with the divorce under irreconcilable differences even though in her heart she wanted to leave because of the abuse and affairs he was having. She was not in the church of Christ. We met, she then was baptized and now added to the body and I married her. Is our marriage right in God&#8217;s eyes? And is the law of marriage and divorce that Jesus taught for the church or universal?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>God&#8217;s laws, including those regarding divorce, are universally applied. If they were not, then people would be better off never becoming a Christian because &#8220;<em>sin is not imputed when there is no law<\/em>&#8221; (Romans 5:13). But sin is in the world, which is Paul&#8217;s point at the beginning of Romans. &#8220;<em>Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned<\/em>&#8221; (Romans 5:12). Thus, the world is accountable to God&#8217;s laws.<\/p>\n<p>It isn&#8217;t just Christians who must marry. &#8220;<em>Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge<\/em>&#8221; (Hebrews 13:4). Both Paul (I Corinthians 7:12-15) and Peter (I Peter 3:1-2) how to handle marriages to non-believers.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, most of what you wrote are non-issues. It doesn&#8217;t matter when she became a Christian.<\/p>\n<p>The point is that the divorce was because her first husband committed adultery, among other problems. It doesn&#8217;t matter what the court records have down as the reason. In many &#8220;no-fault&#8221; states, it is recorded as &#8220;irreconcilable differences.&#8221; Obviously, the difference, in this case, was that he thought adultery was fine and she didn&#8217;t. Nor does it matter these days who filed for divorce first. It is getting very common for the guilty party to file for divorce so they can continue their sin.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery<\/em>&#8221; (Matthew 19:9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Her marriage ended because her husband was committing adultery. Thus, she is allowed to marry again.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: My wife last husband wanted to divorce her on irreconcilable differences. He changed his mind and said to her he wanted to work things out, she refused and wanted to proceed with the divorce because of the abuse and adultery, he also had another child outside their marriage. They proceeded with the divorce under&hellip;<\/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":[167,177,64],"class_list":["post-36475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-divorce","tag-law","tag-marriage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67739,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-a-person-lied-about-his-past-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":36475,"position":0},"title":"What if a person lied about his past marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings, I have enjoyed reading your studies and answers for many years. I have two questions if you could answer them please. So far I have only been able to find an answer in necessary inference. If a Christian in good standing unknowingly marries a person who lied about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24160,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-my-wife-or-i-remarry-after-the-divorce\/","url_meta":{"origin":36475,"position":1},"title":"Can my wife or I remarry after the divorce?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My story: My wife and I are Christians. A few years ago my wife had an affair. I forgave her. But since that time I have been the spouse who has pretty much carried the relationship. I suggested counseling and suggested a closer walk with God. I notified my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2894,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-it-matter-who-files-for-the-divorce\/","url_meta":{"origin":36475,"position":2},"title":"Does it matter who files for the divorce?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When you say that someone may divorce their spouse due to fornication, does it matter who actually files the papers? A woman I know moved out of her house, filed divorce papers, and then started dating another man. Her husband didn't know for sure if she was committing adultery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19650,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-marry-this-woman-but-i-dont-know-if-it-is-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":36475,"position":3},"title":"I want to marry this woman, but I don&#8217;t know if it is right","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I met a beautiful amazing woman, and I want to marry her and start a family with her. She is a Christian, and we make a great team. However, there are some hesitations on my part. She had sex when she was younger to an unbeliever, but she didn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14974,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-husband-was-previously-involved-in-a-marriage-scam-is-my-marriage-legitimate\/","url_meta":{"origin":36475,"position":4},"title":"My husband was previously involved in a marriage scam. Is my marriage legitimate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for reading and responding. I have found your articles and answers to be very helpful and I\u2019m happy a platform as such exists.\u00a0 I met my husband the same day he filed for divorce and things between us moved fast. We were married in less than a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-couple-divorce-and-then-reconcile-do-they-need-to-remarry\/","url_meta":{"origin":36475,"position":5},"title":"If a couple divorce, and then reconcile, do they need to remarry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A married couple divorces, within a short time they reconcile, (in God's eyes the wife would have been wrong, she repented and made it right with God and the church). This all happened many years ago, but they just never formally remarried, and the state in which they live\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","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\/36475","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=36475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}