Greetings,<\/p>\n
I have enjoyed reading your studies and answers for many years.<\/p>\n
I have two questions if you could answer them please. So far I have only been able to find an answer in necessary inference.<\/p>\n
If a Christian in good standing unknowingly marries a person who lied about his marital status, when the Christian finds out he lied and is ineligible to have married, separates from him and divorces him because they are actually not married in God’s eyes, may the Christian ever marry to a person that is eligible?<\/p>\n
Also, if a person was, by no choice of his, divorced by his spouse and after the fact finds out the reason she divorced him was that she was having an affair and wanted to marry (obviously married to the world and not God) the person she had an affair with; is the innocent part able to remarry seeing as the reason to the world was irreconcilable differences, but in his hidden heart, it was for adultery?<\/p>\n
Some in the brotherhood would say no because the putting away was done by the guilty and not by the innocent for “the cause of adultery.” What do you think the Word tells us about this?<\/p>\n\t
The marriage was not valid in the first place. It would be recognized by men but not by God since the one spouse was not eligible to marry again. Thus, the innocent party in this matter could marry someone else since he has not had a true marriage.<\/p>\n
Some brethren believe that only the innocent party can divorce the guilty party. That was generally true until recent times when no-fault divorces changed things. Before no-fault divorces, a spouse had to prove in court why his marriage should end. Typically, the adulterer did not want his sin publicly aired, so the innocent party sued for divorce. With no-fault divorces, it doesn’t matter why the divorce is happening. The only “reason” recorded is “irreconcilable differences.” Only the people involved know why the divorce took place.<\/p>\n
While there are likely multiple reasons why a divorce takes place, so long as one of the reasons was due to fornication on the part of one of the parties, then I believe the innocent party has the right to marry someone else. The divorce was still due to fornication, as stated in Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9.<\/p>\n
If a couple does get a divorce for reasons that do not include fornication, they both must remain unmarried (I Corinthians 7:10-11). If one of them violates this command and marries again, it does not give the other spouse the right to also get married.<\/p>\n\t
Thank you.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Greetings, I have enjoyed reading your studies and answers for many years. I have two questions if you could answer them please. So far I have only been able to find an answer in necessary inference. If a Christian in good standing unknowingly marries a person who lied about his marital status, when 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_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[167,392],"class_list":["post-67739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-divorce","tag-lying"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"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":67739,"position":0},"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":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":67739,"position":1},"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":13242,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-to-marry-a-non-christian-if-she-is-willing-to-convert\/","url_meta":{"origin":67739,"position":2},"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":[]},{"id":51898,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-single-person-who-commits-adultery-prevented-from-getting-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":67739,"position":3},"title":"Is a single person who commits adultery prevented from getting married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":67739,"position":4},"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":51262,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-divorced-single-christian-serve-in-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":67739,"position":5},"title":"Can a divorced, single Christian serve in the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: These days it seems as if many couples, including Christians, do not give their marriages a chance and their marriages end quickly because they are not willing to give up their stubborn ways.\u00a0 My husband and I have been married a long time and went through a lot of\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\/67739","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=67739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}