Building on marriage or adultery?

     Once upon a time there were two houses, both of them were called marriage. In the first marriage, there was a happy couple who had birthed many children and acquired much property. In the second marriage was another happy couple with children and much property. The storms came and beat upon each of these marriages. The first marriage stood. The second fell with destruction. One was founded on marriage. The other was founded upon adultery.

     We look upon the second marriage, the one founded on adultery. The woman was divorced and then married the man she now calls her husband. But God could not make her ONE FLESH with this new man. She was still ONE FLESH with the husband of her youth until death do they part. In God's eyes she is in an adulterous relationship. Even though this woman received a state-sanctioned divorce and then married again by the authority of a state marriage license, God does not recognize this second marriage. He calls it adultery:

Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. Mark 10:11-12.

     We are in awe that God would not recognize this home since the couple has done so many wonderful things. They have four sweet children. They have done many works in Christ's name. But their foundation is built on sand. And so it falls. And great is its destruction. No matter how wonderful and beautiful the relationship, it is not founded on the covenant of marriage. The man married a woman who was not free to marry because she was divorced from her husband. When he married her, he entered into adultery.

     During the last months, the Church has been flooded with materials on marriage and adultery. We are in much prayer and study as we look within and without the Church. We see families everywhere who have built empires upon false foundations. They have built many things together and our hearts weep for them because they are not in their first marriage. But how do we argue with the Word of God? Apostle Paul said they are adulterers and adulteresses unless their first partners have died.

If, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress. Romans 7:3.

     It is true that the state allows their people to have multiple husbands and wives. They have legalized polygamy, as long as it is done in stages. But that doesn't change the Word of God. Marriage is for life. Apostle Paul warns us not to be deceived about this,

     The Lord desired from the beginning that marriage be founded upon His institution of wedlock and no other. Nowhere in the New Testament do we find that remarriage is recognized unless one of the partners dies. Unless the parties are lawfully married according to the eyes of God, it is no marriage at all. No matter what they build, it is still not built upon marriage. It is built on something other than marriage. It is built on what Jesus calls adultery.

     Knowingly or unknowingly these people who are on their second marriages have built beautiful homes, but they didn't build them on rock. They will be destroyed. They cannot be saved unless they repent and sin no more. And everybody will stand back and weep at the destruction.

Not judged by how we feel

     Those who are on their second or third marriages say they feel no guilt. "I don't care what you say," they tell me. "I'm divorced and remarried and feel no condemnation."

     I can only say that we will not be judged by how we feel. We will be judged by the Word of God. If the Words of Jesus and Apostle Paul on adultery are true, then those who do not repent of their adulterous relationships, will be lost for eternity.

     If we are to be repentant, we must leave all adulterous relationships and either be reunited with our first spouse or remain single. If we remain in adultery, how can we claim to be new creatures in Christ? If anyone is truly in Christ, he will not continue in sin. "Let everyone that names the name of Christ DEPART FROM INIQUITY" (2 Timothy 2:19). New creatures in Christ would not remain in adulterous relationships. They would go and sin no more.

Building on a false foundation

     The preaching of God's word on divorce and remarriage is bringing many to their knees in sorrow. They are opening their Bibles and finding that God has never approved a second marriage while their original spouse still lives.

     "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?' So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate" (Matthew 19:4-6).

     The sin arises when you have become one flesh, separate, and then join with another. For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. If while her husband lives, she marries another man, she is called an adulteress (Romans 7:2,3). To live as man and wife when one or both partners have previous spouses that are still alive, is to live in adultery. You are building a new relationship on a false foundation that Jesus calls adultery (Luke 16:18).

     You desire God to forgive your first marriage so that your second relationship will stand. But it will not stand because it is built on adultery. You cannot expect God to forgive your original marriage, because it was lawful in the eyes of God. To return to God's favor, you must repent of your second relationship and either remain single or be rejoined to your true spouse.

     We are saddened by "families" being broken up over this issue. But if a "marriage" is being built on the foundation of adultery, instead of God's foundation of being married "until death do us part," then the foundation is sand and will not stand on judgement day. Your original marriage is the marriage recognized by God. God made you one flesh for life because He seeks Godly offspring:

     We urge you in Christ's name to examine your own marriage and see if it is based on the Biblical foundation of one man and one woman married for life.

     If you find your marriage is not based on a Godly foundation because you formed a union while an original spouse was still alive, then you must repent of this "marriage." In God's eyes it is not a marriage. It is adultery. If children were born of this adulterous relationship, they are born out of wedlock and are bastards. However, you are still responsible for them. There are many other concerns that must also be worked out. But the first step is to acknowledge the sin and then ask God's forgiveness and guidance as you seek to return to His favor.