What are Illegitimate Marriages and Are They Binding?
Mark 6:17-18
17: For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married.
18: For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
Questions
- Did Herod marry Philip’s wife? (See verse 17)
- Did John say it was ok for them to stay married since they had already married?
- Do you defend second marriages between unfaithful spouses and their affair partners, or do you admonish the unfaithful to divorce the second spouse and return to the first spouse?
Jesus said except for cause of unfaithfulness to divorce one’s spouse and marry another is infidelity.
At the end of the Book of Ezra, men were commanded to divorce themselves from their illegitimate marriages.
In light of this, is it Godly to suggest that people remain in adulterous marriages rather than returning to faithfulness to the spouse of their youth?
Is it right to accept as members in good standing couples in illegitimate marriages?
Is it honest to perform adulterous marriages and call them “holy matrimony”?
Is it right to perform a marriage and call it “Christian” if it is not clearly and openly set apart from illegitimate marriages?
If the immoral and dishonest and cowardly are going to perish into the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8), is it loving to let the unfaithful perish thinking they’re OK and that they have met the “repentance” requirements while they continue to live out thier lives in sin?
If the intention is to warmly welcome sinners in and not chase them away with intolerance, is it really loving to be silent and let their sin stand as a strongly defended, excused, justified, and supported example for others in the church to follow knowing it may shut the doors of heaven on them?
