Seeing the state of the woman, a young man who was not married and who also was an idol worshiper and an uneducated day laborer, who also lived in the same slum, decided to give her a life. He started living with her and provided all the needs for her and the children. He did not marry any other woman, nor he did have children with this woman.<\/p>\n
Several years ago, they have converted from idolatry to Pentecostalism. All of the children are now grown up. He has arranged marriages for all of the children and settled them from his earnings.<\/p>\n
A year ago, he started attending our Bible class. After I taught about baptism and the marriage relationship, he opened up about his life and explained his situation. He wants to be saved by accepting Jesus as his Savior and obey the Gospel through water baptism.<\/p>\n
Please explain how this should be handled.<\/p>\n\t
Because the woman’s husband left her for another woman, she has the right to marry again (Matthew 19:9). The problem is that she and this man have been living together, and I would assume that they have been having sex.<\/p>\n
Since baptism is based on repentance (Acts 2:38), then the proper thing would be for this man to marry the woman he has been living with for so long. Since a wedding can take place fairly quickly in most countries, he can then get baptized after he corrects his sinful life. An alternative is that he can temporarily move out until the wedding takes place and be baptized after he moves out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: This happened over 20 years ago. A husband and his wife, who were idol worshipers and uneducated day laborers, who lived in a slum with their little children. Suddenly the husband left his wife and married another girl. Seeing the state of the woman, a young man who was not married and who also…<\/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":[52,1572,50],"class_list":["post-6229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-fornication","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92625,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sin-within-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":6229,"position":0},"title":"Sin within the church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir, What does the Bible teach when a wife sins against her husband first? She committed impurity (not immorality) with a younger man in the church. Afterward, the husband committed immorality with a younger woman who was a member of the church. The wife repented of her sin,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3066,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-all-marriages-spiritually-binding\/","url_meta":{"origin":6229,"position":1},"title":"Are all marriages spiritually binding?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I attend a church of Christ, and my boyfriend of several years was baptized about a few years ago. We broke up last year for several months due to some differences but have since decided to be back together. 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Could he remarry a free and Christian woman? \u00a0 Answer: \"But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54334,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-divorce-her-husband-because-he-hid-the-fact-that-he-was-impotent\/","url_meta":{"origin":6229,"position":4},"title":"Can a woman divorce her husband because he hid the fact that he was impotent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What can the church do in a situation where a sister says she has been deceived by a brother who is impotent? He concealed the matter until he had married the sister. Can the sister marry another person since she desires children and was misled? Answer: The short answer\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":25600,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-we-still-committing-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":6229,"position":5},"title":"Are we still committing adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was married for over ten years and left my spouse to be with my current spouse. My current spouse was married and left his spouse to be with me. That was over fifteen years ago. We have no children. 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