Articles
When Marriage Is A Sin
When Marriage Is A Sin
God instituted marriage when He created Eve for Adam and said: "For this cause shall a man leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife". Jesus would add: "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matt. 19: ). Yet, in instituting this relationship God also regulated it.
When God brought the children of Israel into the land He gave commandment concerning certain marriages which included specific prohibition about marrying "the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites…" He specifically stated 'You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons" (Deut. 7:1-5). Although that was nearly a thousand years earlier, God's law had not changed. The people of Ezra's day had been faithless to the covenant and married such forbidden people (Ezra 10:2).
Ezra's response is the response of a Godly man when he hears about people violating the commandments of God. He tore his garment, pulled hair from his head and beard, and sat appalled (9:3). Then he prayed - confessing the guilt of such actions (9:5-7). He even quotes the passage from Deuteronomy as he makes such confession. NOW what to do?
Yes, they are married. NO, the relationship is not right. The problem then becomes how to correct a relationship that God has said is wrong. Do you just admit it is wrong and continue in it? Do you say you are sorry and continue in it? I believe that Ezra set a correct example of how to deal with such wrong relationships.
The solution was a drastic but simple one: "let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord" (Ezra 10:2). While God hates divorce (Mal. ), He also has said that some relationships are just wrong.
Were they married? Yes. Did they have children from these marriages? Yes. Would such divorcing present problems and heartache? Yes. NONE of these things make the relationship right. NONE of these provide an excuse to continue in a relationship that God has said is wrong.
Even under the New Covenant, not all relationships are acceptable unto God. Some relationships are marriages, but they are still wrong relationships. I believe that the solution to such wrong relationships is yet the same solution. To continue in a wrong relationship is to continue in wrong doing before God. Forgiveness is available but continuing in a wrong relationship is not an option.
Hugh DeLong
