Bible Discussion Thread

I have a question about 1 Corinthians Chapter 7 Verse 39.

How about a husband, if he loses his wife, is free to remarry?

Hello Joseph

Romans 7:2-3

"For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man". The same goes for the husband, if his wife dies he is free to marry another woman. GBU

Thank you for this reminder. When taken along with the verses surrounding I Cor 7:15 about letting the unsaved leave and you are no longer under bondage , but God has called you to live in peace, it helps to clarify bondage. Some would say that if you are no longer under bondage, then you are free to re-marry. I hold that you are no longer responsible to the unsaved who left, but you still have a responsibility to your oath "til death do you part" made to God in the marriage ceremony. NOT "til divorce do you part". It does seem harsh that the saved should be bound to the oath until death of the spouse, but God is big enough to allow me to outlive spouse if he wants me to remarry. 46 years ago when I was very young and saved, I married an unsaved man and it was a horrible experience. I confessed it within 2 weeks of the marriage and told God that I was sorry but I would keep my oath but need his grace to do it. In the 3.5 yrs I was married, my husband periodically tried to convince me there was no God, and then convince me that WE should get a divorce. I told him there was a God and WE would not be getting a divorce because I had made an oath til death do us part, but he could make his own decisions. He did not want marriage but did not want responsibility for divorce either. He finally left, filed divorce and I let him go. I was free from him but still had my oath. Due to severe diabetes he had been on death bed twice and I thought he would not live long. 43 yrs later he is still alive, with multiple near death experiences, and I am still unmarried. The only way I can explain it is that God has given husband multiple opportunities to get saved, to no avail. And I guess his death would be wasted if God has not brought all the puzzle pieces together yet for me to have a partner. It is easy to fantasize how my life could have been if I had remarried years ago, but many people have that with much sorrow. I will never know what horrors God has saved me from.

Hello Jrpon

You have done the right thing dear sister and God has blessed you for obeying Him in your life. The church I am serving doesn't remarry divorced people and also doesn't give divorces for any other reason than adultery. We are very firm about it. But this is very rare to find nowadays in christianity, most churches have given up to their members' demand for remaryring, but that leads to adultery since in God's eyes remarriage is not valid. So what is our (born again christians) difference with the worldly churches, non really (even worse since we actually know the truth but don't follow it).

GBU

Giannis, thanks for mentioning the part about adultery. I found that in several passages related to re-marriage when the spouse is still living, regardless of the circumstances. When I think about it, it would be like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Things could be worse.

That was heartening to read, Jrpon, of your faithfulness to the Lord & to your marriage vows. In spite of maybe times of loneliness & a patient waiting on the Lord for His provision, you have proved the sufficiency of His Grace to surmount those trials. Yes, many have carelessly entered into an unequal/unloving marriage & have suffered through it & regretted it. But the comfort that He gives, is His special peace, that He has not forgotten you & will only give you His very best to live this life for Him. John 14:27.

Thank you Chris for your encouragement. I stopped giving my testimony years ago because of such an unpleasant response, even from church members: some who had been unequally yoked, even if the spouse had gotten saved and all was well; some who had been touched by re-marriage somewhere in their family. It was my story, but they were offended My 1st pastor was at a loss & would not comment on the situation; 2nd pastor would not perform a ceremony for divorced people because of an oath he had made to God when he went into ministry, but said I could get married at justice of peace and then both parties could serve at his church; 3rd pastor said being released from bondage meant that I was free to re-marry and he would do ceremony as long as the union was "in the Lord". Even pastors were not willing to embrace the truth and stand on it. But I could not get past the stigma that would be there if my husband was living. It seemed the only way to have a clean slate and start over with the best odds of having a successful relationship, & be married in the church with full support was for my husband to die first. Then there would be no questions or argument about it, and less stress for me. It became my sanity. In the meantime, I never ran into anyone that I was interested in that met the criteria of "in the Lord". I had a few boyfriends along the way and each time I asked myself how would I have more peace ? with or without them -- it was always without them. I have had a wonderful life and a career that provided very well for me and great friends and family. I had not looked at these verses in decades. I received word recently that my husband's health is failing and he is on kidney dialysis now, and I started wondering if I had mis-interpreted scripture way back then. So I re-read all the verses and they seemed clearer now than before and found this website when clarifying the meaning of bondage. I am encouraged now to give my testimony if asked about my situation.