Hello,<\/p>\n
First, thank you for your patience, guidance, knowledge, and service. To God be the glory, and may His will be done always.<\/p>\n
I have a question and need guidance. Recently, a fellow Christian couple realized that they were in an unscriptural marriage. The option of going back to her original spouse is not available, as he has since remarried. In their current marriage (unscriptural), they have two children.<\/p>\n
The question is: Can they scripturally separate and not have to divorce with civil law?<\/p>\n
Thank you again for your time and attention.<\/p>\n\t
You asked about a\u00a0scriptural<\/em> separation, but the concept of separation without ending the legal aspects of marriage was not known during the biblical era. In the Bible, it is assumed that married couples will take advantage of sexual privileges that come with marriage (I Corinthians 7:3-5). There is also the problem of a marriage involving covenant vows before God. You cannot be under two conflicting covenants at the same time. “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). “Law” and “covenant” are synonyms. A man and woman are joined by covenant (Malachi 2:14). It is adultery to be joined by covenant to another person.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hello, First, thank you for your patience, guidance, knowledge, and service. To God be the glory, and may His will be done always. I have a question and need guidance. Recently, a fellow Christian couple realized that they were in an unscriptural marriage. The option of going back to her original spouse is not…<\/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":[167],"class_list":["post-69752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-divorce"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35331,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-deal-with-a-member-who-is-in-an-adulterous-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":69752,"position":0},"title":"How do I deal with a member who is in an adulterous marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question that requires me to go outside of the current congregation where I am a member. If there is a member who is in an unscriptural marriage, which I do have personal knowledge of, and who is being allowed to preach and teach in worship service,\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":19001,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-person-is-in-an-unscriptural-marriage-must-the-person-divorce-before-becoming-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":69752,"position":1},"title":"If a person is in an unscriptural marriage, must the person divorce before becoming a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you agree it is scriptural if a non-Christian who was previously married but got divorced for unscriptural reasons and was re-married and wants to become a Christian has to get divorced before they can be baptized? Answer: Can a person become a Christian while remaining in their former\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":89667,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-difference-between-divorce-and-puts-away\/","url_meta":{"origin":69752,"position":2},"title":"Is there a difference between “divorce” and “puts away”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Mr. Hamilton, First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to respond to emails. Your grace and patience have been a tremendous help to me. I have some questions I have been pondering on and hoping to gain some of your insight on, if that's alright?\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":55287,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-my-husband-dates-while-we-are-legally-separated\/","url_meta":{"origin":69752,"position":3},"title":"What if my husband dates while we are legally separated?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My husband and I separated three years ago but are legally married. If he decides to date other people is that adultery in God's eyes? Answer: In biblical days, the idea of a legal separation did not exist. Legal separations are essentially trial divorces. The hope was that by\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":38305,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-you-dont-have-concrete-evidence-that-your-spouse-is-committing-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":69752,"position":4},"title":"What if you don’t have concrete evidence that your spouse is committing adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for your web site. I have a question that you sort of touched on in a post, but I wanted to confirm. What if a spouse strongly suspects infidelities but has no concrete evidence? (The post I referenced involved a husband who may have been seeing prostitutes.)\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":19260,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-a-marriage-covenant-broken\/","url_meta":{"origin":69752,"position":5},"title":"When is a marriage covenant broken?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When is the marriage covenant broken? When a married person actually commits the sexual act outside of marriage or when his spouse divorces him? 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