When Jesus was conversing with the woman at the well and He told her she had had FIVE HUSBANDS and the man she had then was not her husband, why did He continue to talk to her since she had committed the “unpardonable sin” of being in multiple marriages? Why didn’t He tell her she was hopelessly and eternally lost because of all this marrying and divorcing?
This is an example of the proverbial loaded question, because (1) it portrays an uncharitable, sarcastic bias and (2) it proposes a preposterous straw man dialog to promote a counter answer about the topic of marriage, divorce and remarriage. Hence, the paragraph above is not as much of a “question” as it is an “affirmation” of a doctrinal position. Yet, we will not presume that the one posing the question possesses this attitude, for these words may be merely the grammar of another repeated. In any case, the “question” or “affirmation” needs to be addressed from a biblical perspective.
Generally, Bible students refer to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as the so-called unpardonable sin (Matthew 12:31-32). However, the reason that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit or “a sin unto death” (1 John 5:16 KJV) is unpardonable is because the sinner refuses to repent. In both testaments, God has been willing to forgive sins for which sinners will repent; consider these biblical citations. “Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7 NKJV emphasis added). “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:11). “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Implicit in ‘confessing our sins’ is that we repent or turn from our sins. Without confessing our sins, repenting of them or turning from them, there can be no forgiveness of sins.
It is impossible to renew to repentance those who have turned from God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 6:1-6) as long as they persist in that rebellion. Likewise, when someone rejects Jesus Christ, he has rejected the only Savior, and “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26).
The relevance of the foregoing to marriage, divorce and remarriage involves turning from sin or repenting. Whatever a person’s sin today may be, God will forgive it – if and when the sinner turns from or repents of it. However, no forgiveness from God will be forthcoming as long as the sinner persists in the sin. This principle is true irrespective of the sin under consideration (e.g., stealing, lying, drunkenness, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, etc.). Furthermore, just because society or even civil law may legitimize what God declares as sinful (e.g., homosexuality, adultery falsely called marriage) does not annul divine instruction.
It is grossly untrue to tout that people involved in “multiple marriages” – those who have been “marrying and divorcing” – “hopelessly and eternally lost” or have “committed the unpardonable sin.” This language clearly attempts to paint the picture of rotten fruit to identify the tree as equally rotten – claim that the result of doctrine is repugnant, thereby making the doctrine itself repugnant. The simple truth is that repentance involves stopping whatever sin for which one is repenting. In the case of adulterous or biblically unlawful marriages, repentance still involves turning from what God deems as sinful.
The greatest difficulty with effecting repentance within the framework of marriage, divorce and remarriage is the investment of human passions and emotions. Yet, human, carnal desires and our emotions do not negate the Word of God. Even under the Old Testament, the children of God were called upon to put away or divorce wives whom they had married in defiance of divine instruction – despite the fact that children had been born to those unions. “Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law” (Ezra 10:3). There is no sin today for which God will not extend forgiveness if and when man will turn from or repent of it.
