I have always believed that man’s written divorce means nothing to God.\u00a0 And you reinforce my thinking when you mention that God is the one who decides when the marriage covenant ends.\u00a0 Doesn’t this mean that even though she wants a divorce (by man’s laws), and I do not, that we are still married in God’s eyes?\u00a0 And that if she remarries, she has now committed adultery against me, and this frees me from the marriage covenant.<\/p>\n
I believe it is best that I remain single and be reconciled with her, but this is so she will not be in adultery.<\/p>\n
I just feel that we are married in God’s eyes regardless of what the law of man says.\u00a0 Why is a divorce recognized by men so important?<\/p>\n
Thanks!<\/p>\n\t
God decides when a marriage covenant ends; that is, God is the only one who sets the rules and conditions for the ending of a covenant. There is no requirement that a person must<\/em>\u00a0divorce his spouse because of her sexual sins. God gives the option that if a person divorces over sexual sins on his spouse’s part, he may choose to remarry. Again, it is not a requirement but an allowance. “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>” (Matthew 19:9).<\/p>\n Since I don’t know why she is divorcing you, I can’t comment as to whether the two of you remain bound by your covenants. If it wasn’t because of sexual sins on your part; yes, if she remarries she will be committing adultery. But, no, this does not give you the right to remarry. The Bible does mention divorces due to other reasons than sexual sins, and in those cases, both parties are to remain unmarried or be reconciled. “Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife<\/em>” (I Corinthians 7:10-11). Adultery after the fact does not then give freedom to remarry.<\/p>\n Christians abide by the laws of their government except when they conflict with God’s laws. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves<\/em>” (Romans 13:1-2). In many places, the laws of man are more lenient than God’s laws. We abide by man’s laws (filing for divorce), but we realize that even though man’s laws allow for remarriage after a divorce for any reason, God’s laws do not. Therefore, God’s laws take higher precedence.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I have always believed that man’s written divorce means nothing to God.\u00a0 And you reinforce my thinking when you mention that God is the one who decides when the marriage covenant ends.\u00a0 Doesn’t this mean that even though she wants a divorce (by man’s laws), and I do not, that we are still married…<\/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-41585","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":41488,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-wife-is-leaving-me-after-only-seven-months-of-marriage-where-does-this-leave-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":41585,"position":0},"title":"My wife is leaving me after only seven months of marriage. Where does this leave me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am 19 years old and recently married my high school sweetheart.\u00a0 Now seven months later she wants a divorce, and it's not for adultery. Should I refuse to sign for the divorce?\u00a0 And if she continues with the divorce, without my agreement, and later remarries someone else, where\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":41585,"position":1},"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":17196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-divorced-person-remarry-if-adultery-occurred-after-the-divorce\/","url_meta":{"origin":41585,"position":2},"title":"Can a divorced person remarry if adultery occurred after the divorce?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If two people are divorced for unbiblical grounds and there is no adultery at the time, yet one spouse after the divorce marries someone else or is sexually immoral is the other then free to remarry another? Answer: \"And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for\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":19650,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-marry-this-woman-but-i-dont-know-if-it-is-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":41585,"position":3},"title":"I want to marry this woman, but I don’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 "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28224,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-who-married-a-person-who-had-no-right-to-marry-divorce-and-marry-someone-else\/","url_meta":{"origin":41585,"position":4},"title":"Can a person who married a person who had no right to marry, divorce, and marry someone else?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a man marries a woman who was not supposed to remarry because she and her husband had committed adultery, can the man in the second marriage divorce her because of her continued adulteries during the second marriage and be able to marry again? Answer: When a person marries\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":56990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-adultery-dissolves-a-marriage-why-cant-the-guilty-party-remarry\/","url_meta":{"origin":41585,"position":5},"title":"If adultery dissolves a marriage, why can’t the guilty party remarry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good afternoon, I have a question that has been on my mind for some time. I'm hoping that you can shed some light, with scripture, to help me better understand. I know where I used to stand on this subject, but then I changed my mind. I still look\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\/41585","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=41585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}