Can Divorced Believers Remarry?
1) Direct Answer
In general, no—marriage is for life. A believer is bound to their spouse while that spouse lives. Remarriage is permitted only on clear Scriptural grounds: the death of the spouse; the case of fornication that makes the union unlawful from the start. Otherwise, remain unmarried or be reconciled.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Marriage is for life: “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6). “The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth… but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:39; see also Romans 7:2-3).
- Against casual divorce/remarriage: “Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery” (Mark 10:11; Luke 16:18). “Let not the wife depart… but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled” (1 Corinthians 7:10-11).
- The narrow exception of fornication: “Saving for the cause of fornication” (Matthew 5:32; 19:9). This covers the case where sexual uncleanness connected with the betrothal/entrance into marriage is discovered, as seen in Joseph’s intent to “put away” Mary privately (Matthew 1:18-19). In such a case, putting away does not make the innocent party an adulterer.
- When the unbeliever departs: “If the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace” (1 Corinthians 7:15). “Not under bondage” in 1 Corinthians 7:15 means you are not enslaved to pursue, cohabit, or litigate to hold them; God has called us to peace. It does not mean the marriage bond is dissolved for another marriage
- Concerning complex situations on conversion: “As God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk” (1 Corinthians 7:17, 20, 24). Men who came into the faith already having more than one wife were received but are disqualified from church office (1 Timothy 3:2). They did not marry those extra wives in the church; they came with them and should not tear up those homes.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- God made one man and one woman to be one flesh. Death ends the bond; then remarriage in the Lord is clean. That’s simple.
- Jesus condemned divorcing and marrying another as adultery. So open-ended remarriage while a living spouse remains is sin.
- Yet the Bible gives a narrow door: fornication that invalidates the union at the very start, or death of one spouse.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, the cleanest walk is to keep your vows, seek reconciliation where possible, and if you must remain single for Christ’s sake, do it with a full heart. If you remarry, do it only in the Lord and only where Scripture gives you the liberty to. God honors a life kept within His Word.
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Questions and Answers
61-1015M §81
...it adultery: whosoever marries her that is put away liveth in adultery." So don't do that. No, you cannot go back to your first wife if she's been married again. But if she divorced you and put you away...
Questions and Answers
62-0527 §16
...nts to depart, you don't have to just hold onto them. If they're wanting to leave you and they're going to leave you for the cause of Christ, let them leave. But, you can't remarry! "But God has called us unto peace," see. Now, not that you can remarry again, he's already stated that, but you don't have to live with an unbelieving husband or an unbelieving wife if they are not willing.
Questions and Answers, Part 2
64-0823E §41
QUESTION: Brother Branham, is it (Let's see.) ... for a person who has a---who has a living, divorced mate who remarry before coming into the message to minister? Well, in I Timothy 3:2, if you want to put that down, and Titus 1 to 6 (I wrote that one down), I want you to read that for this question. See? If a man desires the office of a bishop or a preacher (something another in church), he's got to have just one wife. That's right! A minister. Now, that's I Timothy 3:2, and Titus 1 to 6. Now, Titus 1 to 6, yeah!...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §75
Now, let us, in view of these vindicated truths of God, search a little further, if you want to. All right. Now, this may hurt just a little bit till we get down to the bottom of it. I'm just going to show you the truth of it. There is no minister that can marry a widow. Did you know that? You want to read that? All right, you get in Leviticus 21:7 and Ezekiel 44:22 and it will show you that the priesthood was not to marry a woman that's been touched by man. This type is of the virgin bride of Jesus Christ, because...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §103
And in I Corinthians the seventh chapter, the twelfth and fifteenth verse, in the New Testament prophet, Paul, who met the same thing in the church, and spoke this: "This is I, not the Lord." Is that right? Because of the divorce condition. It wasn't so from the beginning. But Moses was permitted it, and God recognized it righteousness! And Paul also had a right when he found his church in that condition. Now, you believe this to be true and believe it to come from God. And by the vindication of His cloud and His m...