Valentine’s Day is over and with it comes the end of the “American Divorce Season”; that is not to say that the continued onslaught by Christians against their marriages will not continue; it will just slow slightly. But just a word to those who can hear.
If you are a Christian you would probably agree with this statement ‘Continuing in sin does not cause it to cease being sin’. A person who steals from his neighbors continues to sin, a person who slanders his co-workers continues to sin. If a practicing homosexual comes to Christ it is expected that they repent of their sin and refrain from further homosexual acts. If an unwed person in a fornicating or adulterous relationship comes to Christ it is expected that they repent of their sin and refrain from further sexually immoral acts. If a person continues in this sin his conversion is suspect since the fruit that is borne does not match the verbal profession. If a professing Christian enters into adulterous relations they should be disciplined by the local fellowship for sexual sin and treated as an unbeliever until they repent (Matt. 18:15-18; I Cor. 5:11-13). One cannot have sexual relations with his neighbor’s wife and then claim that since he committed adultery with her once he is now free to continue sexual relations with her.
Now here is where it gets difficult for the American Christian and the American church…. The Bible teaches that when a person enters into a marriage with a divorced person they enter into an illegitimate sexual relationship with another person’s spouse. That is why it is called adultery. Since this relationship is adulterous at its inception the only logical conclusion is that it remains adulterous through its entirety.
Jesus did not say that they commit adultery only during the first sexual act and then it stops. Paul uses the future tense when he states that the remarried woman “will be called an adulterous” (Romans 7:2). This is contrasted with his statement “And such were some of you” (I Cor. 6:11). Paul uses the imperfect tense to show that they were forgiven of the sins listed in verses 9 and 10. He warns them against further practicing theses sins because those who do “will not inherit the kingdom of God
Most believe that they have not sinned by remarrying after divorce. However The New Testament states seven times in six passages that remarriage after divorce is adultery. The Bible does leave some room for grace for the individual who is rejected and divorced by their spouse, by transferring the guilt of their adultery to the one who committed the divorce, “But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery”. Matthew 5:31-32. But it is still adultery.
However there is absolutely no indication of any grace given to the one who commits adultery, who decides they are not in love anymore, or just wants to abandon their spouse for any other reason. In fact it clearly states time after time that there is no room in Heaven for those guilty of unrepented adultery. Just because some do not believe these actions are sinful does not make it so. All it makes them is a hypocrite, they excuse their own sexual immorality while condemning others.
I use to believe that most if given the opportunity would choose love, honor, faith, loyalty, and forgiveness; however I have come to realize that when Jesus revealed that the path to Heaven was narrow, that in fact what he was revealing is that most blindly and bitterly choose Hell.
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