May The Divorced Remarry If Their Original Spouse Dies?

Jesus teaches in Luke 16:18 that divorced people commit adultery if they remarry, but Romans 7:2-3 teaches one may remarry if their spouse dies. Is there any conflict between the two passages? What about a divorced person whose former spouse dies, may they remarry?

When we realize Romans 7:2-3 tells us the reason it is wrong for a divorced person to remarry, because they are still bound (obligated) to their original spouse (http://www.bibledebates.info/Articles/DivorceAndRemarriageMOTT/02_Matt19.9StatesTheFactsOfTheCaseRom7.2-3StatesTheReason.docx ), then we we’ll understand a divorced person whose former spouse dies is eligible for remarriage. If the reason a divorced person commits adultery when they remarry is because they are still bound/obligated to their original spouse, then if that original spouse dies, the marriage “bound” (obligation) is gone, therefore it would not be adultery at that point if remarriage occurs.

God’s rule is not that a person can scripturally enter a second marriage if they divorce their original spouse for fornication AND if their original spouse dies. Instead, the rule is that a person can scripturally enter a second marriage if they divorce their original spouse for fornication OR if their original spouse dies. If the AND option were true, then a person who divorces their spouse for fornication would still have to wait for the death of that fornicating spouse before they could remarry, and if a sound marriage ends in death the remaining spouse would not be eligible for remarriage because their spouse never committed fornication. But since the OR option is correct, a person can remarry in either case, that is, if they divorce their spouse for fornication or if their spouse dies. Only one of the two circumstances must come into play.

Since a divorced person is still under the rule of Romans 7:2-3 (adultery upon marrying another), then the part of that same rule that says remarriage after death is not adultery would also apply. You can’t have it both ways just to fit the way you think things ought to be.

Many will agree with me if talking about an innocent person who has been put away against their will, but won’t go along if we are talking about one who has put away their innocent spouse or one who has been put away for fornication (as they don’t think that would be fair). But neither Matthew 19:9 nor Romans 7:2-3 makes a distinction in those cases. Matthew 19:9 teaches both the one who puts away unjustly and the one who is put away unjustly commit adultery upon remarriage. If Romans 7:2-3 does not say the one who puts away for a reason other than fornication is still bound to their original spouse and that is why they commit adultery if they remarry, then neither would Romans 7:2-3 say the equivalent about the one who is put away for a reason other than fornication. You can’t have it both ways to suit your fancy. And if Romans 7:2-3 says they are still bound (obligated) while their former spouse is living in both cases, then Romans 7:2-3 would then also say they are loosed (free to remarry) upon the death of their original spouse in both cases.

Similarly, it is wrong for a put away person to remarry because the phrase “whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery” in Matthew 19:9b (and Matthew 5:32b and Luke 16:18b) condemns the remarriage of put away persons regardless of why they were put away, fornication, burning the biscuits, or any other reason. And so if (as some teach) a wife put away for fornication cannot remarry when her former spouse dies, then neither can a wife put away for burning the biscuits remarry when her former spouse dies. Romans 7:2-3 is either the reason a put away person (for whatever reason) may not remarry or it isn’t. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Repeating: Matthew 19:9b applies to the one put away for a reason other than fornication just as much as it does to the one put away for fornication. They both (the non-fornicator and the fornicator) are in the same boat in this verse. The verse either proves any every away person (fornicator or innocent) may never remarry, or the verse proves every put away person (fornicator or innocent) may not remarry while their former spouse still lives.

I Corinthians 7:27-28 shows the same thing. This passage indicates a person is either bound or loosed, one or the other. If they are loosed, then Paul says in verse 28 they can marry without sin. Can a person who puts away for incompatibility or the one put away for fornication remarry? Matthew 19:9a and b say they can’t. That shows they are still bound to that former spouse (remember, either bound or loosed). Therefore, if that former spouse dies, they are loosed (free to remarry). As least according to I Corinthians 7:27-28 and Romans 7:2-3 they are.

The word “adultery” as used by Matthew 19:9 also indicates the divorced are still bound to their former spouse. Romans 7:2-3 says an adulteress (the Bible dictionaries define it similarly) is a woman who marries when still maritally bound to another. Matthew 19:9 calls the marriage to a divorced person “adultery,” therefore from Romans 7:2-3 we see the divorced person is still bound to their original spouse (or their remarriage wouldn’t be called “adultery”). Therefore, when that original spouse dies, the divorced person is loosed and free to marry (I Corinthians 7:27-28). And adultery is always “against” (Mark 10:11) someone else; so who would a divorced person be committing adultery against if their original spouse is dead?

It is very important that we hold to Jesus’ strict truth on Divorce And Remarriage. But it is possible to make our teaching stricter than what Jesus taught simply because I want to be known as conservative, or this makes sense to me, or this is the way I think it ought to be, or this is what I think is fair. We have to learn to stand for what God actually said on this topic (whether we are called conservative or liberal for it) because God’s thoughts and ways are much higher than our thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

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