.png)
Table of Contents
Can a divorced woman remarry, according to the Bible?
If that woman had been lawfully married to her husband, meaning she was in a marriage that was not against the Levitical laws that are upheld by the apostles in the New Testament, like it's not an incestual relationship and she didn't marry the lawful spouse of another, or married in a same-sex relationship, then she is not permitted to remarry someone else.
If she was in one of the unlawful relationships mentioned above and if she was to repent and thus divorce from such a marriage she would be able to remarry since she was never bound by God to another.
Married lawfully first time = No Remarriage until first spouse dies
The only person that she's permitted to remarry is the lawful spouse that she may have divorced (if that was the case according to the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul). How do we know this? Because the Lord Jesus in Matthew 5 shares with us that if a man divorces his wife, except for the case of fornication or for the cause of fornication, he causes her to commit adultery. So divorce causes the innocent party or the spouse divorced to commit adultery.
Read My Article on Divorce and Remarriage with the Exception Clause(Must Read) How? Why is it adultery? Because they're still married in the sight of God.
Divorce does not take away the the marriage bond that God has done in a lawful marriage, and so that person in a lawful marriage is bound to that person as long as they both shall live.
However, in the cases of incest, homosexuality and marrying somebody else's lawful spouse, those two individuals are not bound together by God. So if a man (man B) marries another man's (Man A) wife (wife A), and that wife (wife A) was that man's (Man A) wife lawfully, according to Scripture, then the second marriage is not valid in the sight of God, because God has that woman bound to her lawful spouse (Man A) in the first marriage.
Because you see, adultery is what takes place after a lawful marriage is instituted (until a spouse dies). Anything that is done unlawfully sexually during a lawful marriage (including after divorce) is considered adultery, and we see that from the Matthew 5 text.
But in this case where it says except for fornication or for the cause of fornication, it would follow that since according to the Lord Jesus it doesn't cause a spouse to commit adultery, then it follows that in the case of fornication, the two are not lawfully married.
And this is what we see from the Levitical text and from the apostles teaching in that God did not join them together, because, remember, God joins a couple together until death if it is done lawfully, meaning it's not an incestual relationship, homosexuality, and it's not a remarrying to someone else's lawful spouse.
Read My Article on Divorce and Remarriage with the Exception Clause(Must Read) And so in the case of those unlawful relationships mentioned above as seen in Leviticus 18, the two people are joined by man and not by God. Therefore, those two people can divorce and not cause the other person to commit adultery because they were never married in the sight of God. And then to avoid fornication The Scriptures say let each man have his own wife and each woman have her own husband meaning their own spouse, legally or lawfully.
So in those cases where it's an unlawful or fornication type marriage, the people in that marriage can remarry lawfully, given that they have never been lawfully married before (or been joined as one by God) to someone else in the sight of God.
- So a man who was married to a man is not bound as one to the other man by God.
- A man who marries another man's divorced lawful spouse is not joined as one to the divorced woman.
- And a brother and sister in a marriage are not joined as one by God.
All of these are considered fornication.
Just as we know fornication to be sex outside marriage, all of these activities involve sex outside of lawful marriage and are thus deemed fornication.
Again, this is from Leviticus 18. And because God cannot sin by joining sin or condoning sin, no sinful/unlawful/fornication relationship is joined as one by God. So if those two men divorce, by man's standard, each man can get remarried to his own, lawful woman, given that he was never married lawfully to a woman before.
Read My Article on Divorce and Remarriage with the Exception Clause(Must Read)
