2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Regeneration does not do away with family relationships…………one’s covenant spouse is still their covenant spouse, one’s children are still their children………if, when we come to Christ, we are in illicit relationships, our conversion does not turn those illicit relationships into lawful ones………If we are in adulterous unions (whether extramaritally or through a remarriage) we repent when we see that sin for what it is. If we are in relationships where we are fornicating, becoming regenerated does not change the fornication into a lawful relationship, stopping the sin is evidence of true repentance.
Let’s turn our attention to the person who has faith toward God, since this is what we are discussing. If a born-again believer does have faith in God, yet because of circumstances beyond their control, such as a second marriage before coming to Christ. Or even after. Are they still in the sin of adultery? This contradicts the “new creature” doctrine. True, the Christian who has read the scriptures and understood it coming to the knowledge of the truth, has no more sacrifice for sins, as we are shown in Hebrew 10:26. But I don’t believe that such a true Christian will repeat the same sin again, knowing that if they would marry after a divorce they commit adultery.
Again, I stand by what the scriptures tell me…Once we are a new creation in Christ, all things are new. If we are divorced before coming to Christ, and then remarry after coming to Christ, then we are not at fault nor at sin, since now we have faith in Christ, as before we did not. To say that a second marriage (remarriage) is adultery after becoming born again is to judge wrongly.
If all things are “new”, then they are new for all who are in illicit relationships in the Lord’s sight and come to Christ. Do you really believe that or do you believe it only pertains to the type of adultery that occurs when one marries another person’s spouse?
We are born again and not dead and buried. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new..
Nowhere in scripture will you find that God dissolves the one flesh HE joined together due to the “new birth”. Our previous SINS(the guilt in God’s eyes) are what have passed away (though maybe not the repercussions of those sins). Lawful marriage is not a sin to be repented of/washed away. Divorce is a sin and remarriage is a sin. Those need repentance and forsaking. If we become born again, we cannot continue to commit adultery, fornication, homosexuality, etc. When we become born again and those sins are made clear to us, we leave that lifestyles. We do not confess our guilt, then return to the sin.
Exactly! we do not return to all our former sinful ways and it is dead and buried never to be dig out of the grave. We are a new creation and you can’t dig out the dead for they must be rotten stink if you dig out your old ways. We are made new in Christ Jesus!
I don’t think you are understanding me. If we are born again and have repented of our adulteries, fornications, homosexual relationships, we do not then go back into those SAME relationships, believing somehow our salvation changed the nature of those relationships. What the Lord declares is adultery does not magically turn into a marriage God joined together as One flesh. The person who is committing adultery prior to being born again is committing adultery because GOD sees them as joined to another. Conversion doesn’t change that………..at least I can’t find any passages that show God dissolving the marriage He joined together, and then joining the two He says are committing adultery together—-once a person gets born again.
We do not confess our guilt, then return to the sin. We do not return to our former sinful ways! It is dead and buried period. We have a new life in Christ Jesus! Amen!!!
The “new” life is that we confess that we are married in God’s sight to another, not the one God says we are committing adultery with.
So what does one do after admitting this?
They stop committing adultery with the one God has said they were committing adultery with.
So what do you mean by this? Do you go and have a divorce or do you create a sexless marriage? Creating a sexless marriage would be sin as well. 1Cor 7 speaks of the fact that we are suppose to look after our spouses sexual needs. That we are not to deny. Unless you get divorced you are still married and again would be going against the word of God and breaking your vows.
If the Lord says one is committing adultery when they marry someone, that tells me that He did not join those two as One—hence it is adultery to have relations with that person. In the same vein, it would NOT be sin not to have relations with that person as God does not view them as the lawful spouse, but a person one was committing adultery with.
First, you said you don’t believe in forgetting the past and going forward? Well, what did Apostle Paul say, “this one thing I do, forgetting what is behind, I press on toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus.” Pretty clear, I think. It is the very definition of FAITH to believe for that is yet unseen– to see a bright future that God has already planned.
Absolutely correct, but the other half of the ONE is still part of the picture for God’s Future for anyone who is physically separated due to sin. When I say I am not in favor of moving on, it is in regards to getting a “new” husband/wife, because the Word of God, to me, is quite clear that it is adultery, for the “guilty” party as well as the “innocent” party. It is not in regards to one’s growth in the faith. We are called to continue seeking GOD’s KINGDOM—-through our trials, whether they be marital, children, physical disabilities, finances, etc.
What about people who divorce before they get saved? They can’t get saved and meet a nice Christian gal at church?
Concerning marriages contracted prior to salvation, does God only join Christians in marriage—all others who “marry” are in actuality fornicating? If God joins the unsaved as well as the saved, which I believe is support by scripture, do we find that salvation then dissolves the marriages God joined together—-allowing one to marry a different person? Does salvation also nullify our relationships as parents, siblings, children, etc? Does the passage: “all things have become new” mean that I no longer have children, or parents, etc?