There is much discussion and teaching within the church about divorce, adultery, and remarriage, but something I’ve never heard discussed is what about the person who commits adultery, but who wasn’t married? The Bible is clear that a spouse who commits adultery with someone else is not eligible to remarry another if that married couple is divorced. But what about the person they committed adultery with if that person was single? If they repent of that sin, are they able to one day marry another? I have not been able to find a conclusive Scriptural reference that teaches they are ineligible for later marriage.<\/p>\n\t
A married person who commits adultery and then is divorced because of that adultery is not allowed to marry another person because he violated his marriage covenant. As a consequence of his sin, God does not release him from his covenant, even though his marriage ended, until his spouse dies. “For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man<\/em>” (Romans 7:2-3). To understand this better, law and covenant are synonyms for the same thing. The ending of a marriage does not automatically release a person from the covenant vows he has made. “And He answered and said to them, have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate<\/em>” (Matthew 19:4-6).<\/p>\n The single person who commits adultery with a married person is not under a covenant. The adultery remains wrong, but he is not married nor has he been divorced. There is no restriction on his getting married to someone who has a legitimate right to marriage.<\/p>\n\t Thanks for your response. God bless.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: There is much discussion and teaching within the church about divorce, adultery, and remarriage, but something I’ve never heard discussed is what about the person who commits adultery, but who wasn’t married? The Bible is clear that a spouse who commits adultery with someone else is not eligible to remarry another if that 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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-51898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-adultery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13180,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-status-of-a-person-who-married-a-person-who-had-no-right-to-marry-but-later-divorced-that-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":51898,"position":0},"title":"What is the status of a person who married a person who had no right to marry, but later divorced that person?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If someone has been scripturally divorced, but her previous spouse was not eligible for marriage because of a previous marriage. What is the status of that person? Answer: When a person's marriage ends in divorce for some reason other than fornication, or if the marriage ended in divorce because\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":16856,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-remarry-if-their-spouse-commits-adultery-after-the-divorce\/","url_meta":{"origin":51898,"position":1},"title":"Can a person remarry if their spouse commits adultery after the divorce?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to ask you about two people who have divorced. I understand they are supposed to remain unmarried, and if one of them does get married later, he is living in adultery. Is the other person free to marry, since in God's eyes they are still connected 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":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":51898,"position":2},"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":42225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-there-be-adultery-after-divorce-ends-a-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":51898,"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":18558,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-had-an-affair-and-divorced-my-husband-now-i-have-married-again-is-it-wrong-to-stay-married-to-this-second-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":51898,"position":4},"title":"I had an affair and divorced my husband. Now I have married again. Is it wrong to stay married to this second man?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know divorce is wrong. I know adultery is wrong. I have committed adultery, got a divorce and I have remarried to a man that I had an affair with. He and I both go to church now and we both know we have sinned and have asked 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":13242,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-to-marry-a-non-christian-if-she-is-willing-to-convert\/","url_meta":{"origin":51898,"position":5},"title":"Is it right to marry a non-Christian if she is willing to convert?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it right to marry a non-Christian girl if she is willing to convert? And can we marry a girl who is divorced? Answer: It is not wrong for a Christian to be married to a non-Christian. \"For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving\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\/51898","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=51898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n