Bulletin
Wash Away a Marraige?
No, baptism doesn’t wash away a marriage. You are a “new creature in Christ” yes, but if you were married before your baptism then you are still married after you are baptized. Your marriage status (nor your gender) doesn’t change in the water. If your marriage was scriptural before baptism, it is also scriptural after being baptized. On the other hand, if it was unscriptural before being baptized, it is still unscriptural after being baptized. The proof is in Jesus’ teaching. He said “everyone” (Luke 16:18), and “whoever” (Mat. 19:9), which includes Christians and non-Christians.
On the positive side of this commandment, God empowers you to know that you can get through the emotional crisis and build your marriage stronger. God commands you to love your spouse, and has created you with the ability to do so. Love is a choice and a follow through, so keep your vows, you are a better person for it. You are able. Now on the negative side, God doesn’t accept adultery, no matter how good we can make it sound, such as “a fling”, “an affair” etc. Adultery is what God calls it. What does Jesus call it when you divorce and remarry? Does it make a difference if you were a Christian or not? Does the same standard apply to everyone? Yes, the same standard applies to everyone, as long as “everyone” means everyone. “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.” (Luke 16:18). Obviously, just because a person gets remarried, does’t make it right with Jesus. In this next passage Jesus uses the word “whoever”. Therefore “whoever” applies to Christian and non-christian, and “whoever” applies to either spouse. “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.” (Mark 10:11-12). Notice the continual present tense “is committing adultery”, each time they are intimate, “she/he is committing adultery”. Even though she has “married another man”, the continual intimacy is the sin. Baptism doesn’t make the ongoing intimacy “ok”. Jesus contrasted himself with Moses, they didn’t teach the same thing. What Moses “permitted” Jesus doesn’t. “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Mat.19:8-9). Many people think they are a better lawyer than Jesus (Matthew 7:21-23). It doesn’t turn out good for them. Please repent, please. Dan Peters
- Wash_Away_a_Marriage_WORD.docx (9.24 kB)
