Hello,<\/p>\n
I have been married to my wonderful wife for a number of years. We have a beautiful family! Before I met my wife she was in a proxy marriage. This proxy marriage was done so she could gain citizenship. She was a illegal citizen at the time. The young man she did the proxy marriage with was incarcerated at the time. Because of this her mother stood in at a lawyer’s office in place of the groom. Her mother and herself exchanged wedding vows. The individual never was physically present. They never lived together as a married couple. The Immigration Department rejected the proxy marriage, and she still could not obtain citizenship. Years later she is now a Christian wife and I am a Christian husband. We are raising our kids in a church of Christ, but we never knew about the proxy marriage stance with Scripture. We spoke with other ministers, and they stated that it didn’t count as marriage. Is this true? One last thing: she couldn’t obtain citizenship with the proxy marriage but still had to pay for an actual divorce.<\/p>\n\t
I’m wondering how many preachers you will ask before you finally believe one of us.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t a legitimate marriage. There were no witnesses to his vows because he never made them in presence of those at the so-called wedding. One person cannot stand in for another person in making a covenant. See:<\/p>\n
Even though the state recognized proxy marriages at that time, its rules don’t make a legitimate marriage according to God’s laws. Your wife had to get a divorce to meet the state’s laws. It had nothing to do with God’s laws.<\/p>\n
For Christians, God’s laws always exceed government laws. This is why states that grant homosexual marriages are not legitimate to Christians. The government’s laws in that case break God’s laws. The same is true in a proxy marriage. While they might have good intentions, it does not meet the criteria of a marriage covenant found in God’s laws.<\/p>\n\t
Brother Hamilton,<\/p>\n
Thank you very much! I am extremely happy that God’s laws are above all<\/strong>. You have really clarified this situation for me using God’s words.<\/p>\n You are very knowledgeable and I enjoy your website. Your Q&As are exceptional and every time I need clarification I first ask God to help with opening my heart to understand and then I visit your website.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hello, I have been married to my wonderful wife for a number of years. We have a beautiful family! Before I met my wife she was in a proxy marriage. This proxy marriage was done so she could gain citizenship. She was a illegal citizen at the time. The young man she did the…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-47618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-marriage"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2268,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-a-wife-do-when-she-finds-out-her-husband-lied-about-committing-adultery-against-his-former-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":47618,"position":0},"title":"What does a wife do when she finds out her husband lied about committing adultery against his former wife?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This question is in reference to a friend. She grew up in the church, and she was baptized. She entered into a marriage with someone, but her spouse committed adultery against her. My friend remarried sometime later and was under the assumption that she was entering into a scriptural\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":14974,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-husband-was-previously-involved-in-a-marriage-scam-is-my-marriage-legitimate\/","url_meta":{"origin":47618,"position":1},"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 "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":47618,"position":2},"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":68803,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-she-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":47618,"position":3},"title":"Was she married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings in Jesus' name, I was searching for an answer to a particular question that affected me, and I came across a similar question and answer on your website. I'm not yet married. I fell in love with a girl in my locality. I was born and raised there\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":24503,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-a-woman-in-an-adulterous-marriage-have-the-right-to-remarry-after-a-divorce\/","url_meta":{"origin":47618,"position":4},"title":"How could a woman in an adulterous marriage have the right to remarry after a divorce?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have read through your articles and thoroughly enjoyed them, and even taken a few sermons and re-worked them into sermons that I preached here. However, when I came across\u00a0an answer to a question you made concerning divorce and remarriage, I was a bit taken aback because of 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":29499,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-just-found-out-that-my-wifes-first-marriage-was-never-dissolved-what-do-we-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":47618,"position":5},"title":"We just found out that my wife’s first marriage was never dissolved. 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