Hello brother,<\/p>\n
After studying the Bible more, I look back on my life and feel ashamed of the sinful acts I’ve committed. I’m now at the point where I’m ready to marry, but I wonder if I scripturally can. I’ve never been married, but in my past, I have been unpure as a single man. I committed sexual acts with a woman who I know had a child, but I am not sure if she was married. I speculate that she was because of her child. If that was the case, I committed adultery, and that person did too. I know scripturally adulterous couples cannot remarry. But for someone like me, who has done this years ago and who never was married, am I permitted to even try and find a spouse?<\/p>\n
I am trying to find guidance, so I don’t live in a covenant of sin.<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
“And He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery”<\/em>” (Mark 10:11-12).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
While it is not a necessary assumption that a woman with a child was once married, let’s just assume that you had in your past committed adultery. Since the woman you were having sex with was married or still under the terms of a marriage covenant, you could not marry her. What was adultery remains adultery, even if you got married to her.<\/p>\n
This doesn’t mean you cannot repent of your sins and then marry a woman who is free to marry you because she was never married, is a widow, or was divorced because her husband was committing adultery.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Hello brother, After studying the Bible more, I look back on my life and feel ashamed of the sinful acts I’ve committed. I’m now at the point where I’m ready to marry, but I wonder if I scripturally can. I’ve never been married, but in my past, I have been unpure as a single…<\/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":[66,64],"class_list":["post-54005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-adultery","tag-marriage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23529,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-past-adultery-prevent-a-person-from-getting-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":54005,"position":0},"title":"Does past adultery prevent a person from getting married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello brother, I have been single for many years, and I have now found someone in the church I\u2019m wanting to marry. But in my past, I was not very faithful to God in my daily living. In my past, I slept with someone who may have been married\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":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":54005,"position":1},"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":36140,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/now-that-my-husband-has-died-can-i-marry-the-man-i-committed-adultery-with\/","url_meta":{"origin":54005,"position":2},"title":"Now that my husband has died, can I marry the man I committed adultery with?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have committed adultery against my husband. He has since died. If I marry the man that I committed adultery with, am I free to marry him? He is single. He knew I was married at the time this happened. Is he an adulterer? If we decide to marry\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":14935,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-after-being-divorced-a-person-found-out-that-his-spouse-was-married-to-another-at-an-earlier-time-is-he-free-to-remarry\/","url_meta":{"origin":54005,"position":3},"title":"If, after being divorced, a person found out that his spouse was married to another at an earlier time, is he free to remarry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question regarding divorce. If a person marries another knowing the person has been married before but understood this person was divorced scripturally from the first marriage.\u00a0 Years later, trouble begins and one spouse files for divorce. Therefore, leaving the one spouse not free to marry 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":44592,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-marry-a-woman-who-has-committed-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":54005,"position":4},"title":"Is it\u00a0a sin to marry a woman who has committed adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to marry a woman who has committed adultery? She is not married and I'm willing to forgive her and start afresh with her. Answer: Technically, you have nothing to forgive her. When she committed adultery, she sinned against God, against the man's wife, and against\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":24880,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-it-be-right-to-marry-a-man-who-had-committed-adultery-but-was-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":54005,"position":5},"title":"Would it be right to marry a man who had committed adultery but was forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good afternoon! I am reaching out because I have been combing through the collection of divorce articles on your website and believe you have an extensive biblical understanding of the subject. I hope that you can offer some clarity on a certain situation that I am receiving conflicting counsel\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\/54005","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=54005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}