Bringing Scripture to Life

Dealing with the Remarriage Dilemma This is a difficult topic to write about due to the fact that there are so many unique scenarios to consider, and because the journey that brought each person to this situation in life varies tremendously. We all know  some amazing and godly people who find themselves in this situation. They have been divorced, and now find themselves remarried. Some of them are within the permissive boundaries of God’s word for remarriage, and yet, we also know that some of them are not. It is definitely a delicate subject to teach on, due to the fact that there is nothing more personal, intimate, and sacred in life, than one’s marriage. And therefore, to suggest that someone’s marriage is outside of God’s best for their lives, or even worse, an act of adultery, can be a crushing blow to one’s emotional and spiritual state of being. I have to be honest with you, knowing that there will be a high percentage of married people who read this art...

Can a Christian who is Divorced remarry if the person they were divorced from was a non-Christian? Yes. Paul explicitly says in 1 Corinthians 7:28-29: “Are you bound [married] to a wife? Do not seek to be released [divorced]. Are you released [previously been divorced] from a wife? Do not seek [to be married to] a wife. But if you marry, you have not sinned ; and if a virgin [one who has never before been married] marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.” The Bible is telling us here that if a Christian has been divorced before from a non-Christian (1 Corinthians 7:15), they are free to remarry, as long as it is to a Christian (1 Corinthians 7:39). This would also apply to non-Christians who have been divorced prior to becoming a Christian, and seeking to be married in the Lord. The Bible says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all ...

What does it mean to be "joined together" by God?  In Matthew 19:6 Jesus says, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” What God has joined together is an expression used throughout the Bible to describe the marriage covenant that God creates with each husband and wife (cf. Gen. 2:24; Mt. 19:6; 1 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 5:31) The term “joined together” refers to the husband and wife being joined together through sexual relations. It is this act that initially joins the two together. Because this is an integral part of the marital bond: "the two will become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24; Mt. 19:5), any breaking of that bond by having sexual relations outside of the marriage relationship is a permissible reason for divorce.  However, the depth of this union that has been joined together, is meant to go much further then just their sexual union.  When God joins a husband and wife together, He does so holistically. The marital relationsh...

Marriage is an institution that was created by God to be experienced by one man and one woman for the rest of their lives (Gen. 2:24). A Christian marriage, when done according to God’s plan, is supposed to be a blessing for each couple (Gen. 2:18), as the couple submits to one another in their marital roles to the Lord (Eph. 5:21). The wife is called to submit to her own husband in obedience to the Lord (Eph. 5:22-24), and the husband is called to submit to the Lord, by fulfilling his role as the spiritual, loving, servant-leader of the home (Eph. 5:25-31). When both husband and wife consistently strive to fulfill their marital roles in this manner, it blesses both partners, and paints a beautiful picture of what a relationship with Jesus is supposed to look like for others to see (Eph. 5:32). And yet, the reality of marriage, even Christian marriage, is that the only perfect individual was Jesus, and therefore marriage takes a lot of work, and needs a lot of grace ...

Dealing with Christian Marriage, Christians on the Brink of Divorce, Christians who do Divorce, and Christians who Remarry, is a very delicate subject matter, due to the fact that we are experiencing a divorce epidemic within the Christian community today, one that is impacting all fellowships everywhere. In fact, right before I sat down to write this article today, I received an email from a woman who use to go to a church I pastored at, asking for prayer, as her husband (a professing Christian) had recently left her because he had fallen in love with another woman. This horrific news is simply one more sober reminder of this terrible epidemic we are facing today. With the divorce rate in the Body of Christ being equal to that of the world, and some believers who have been married three or more times, we are introduced to an interesting dilemma in the Church: Can divorced Christians remarry?   The Bible is quite clear about God’s design for marriage, God'...

I have to tell you, and I realize before I say this that it may not seem very "manly" of me to say this (at least by some men's standards), but being married to my wife has been by far the greatest blessing in the world to me. 11 years ago today, on September 25th, 1999, I became (in my opinion) the most blessed man on the planet! God allowed me to marry one of His amazing daughters, Lyndsey, and it has been the greatest adventure and love story that I could ever have hoped to experience up to this point in life. I have to confess to you, that our marriage has been absolutely blessed beyond measure as far our relationship is concerned. We have had arguments of course, especially in the first 6 months of our marriage, when God stuck two very rough lumps of clay together. It was awkward at times, but we allowed the Potter to take His Spirit, and pour over us the Living Water, in order to help mold us smoothly together. Since that time God has taken our arguments, and tau...