*a person who already had a second wife beforerepentance or conversion may remain with her*, rather than being required to dissolve the marriage. conversion does not undo existing marriages, and that believers should remain in the marital state they were in when they came to God.

1. “Remain in the condition in which you were called.”
1 Corinthians 7:17, 20, 24
“Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him…
Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called…
So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.”
Why it applies:
Paul teaches that when someone comes to Christ, they should remain in the state they were already in—including marriage. This passage is often used to argue that a man who was already in a second marriage before conversion should stay in it.

2. “If you are married, do not seek to be loosed.”
1 Corinthians 7:27
“Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed.”
Why it applies:
This verse directly instructs married people not to dissolve their current marriage—again supporting the idea that existing marriage bonds should remain intact after conversion.

3. Deuteronomy 24:1–4 – The first marriage cannot be taken back
This passage says that once a first marriage has ended and the former spouse has remarried, the original marriage cannot be restored.
Why it applies:
Some use this to argue that:

• Once a second marriage exists, the first marriage cannot be restored.
• Therefore, the second marriage should remain intact, because the first is no longer biblically restorable.

4. Jesus acknowledges that divorce/remarriage results in a real marriage
John 4:18
“The man you now have is not your husband.”
Jesus distinguishes between relationships, but He recognizes that marital unions exist even when imperfectly formed. This supports the idea that a second marriage is still a real marriage.

5. Paul’s teaching on Gentile converts who come with complex family situations
Acts 15:19–20
“We should not trouble those of the Gentiles who are turning to God…”
Why it applies:
When Gentiles converted, many had complicated marital pasts—including multiple wives. The apostles did not instruct them to dissolve existing marriages; they only commanded abstaining from future sexual immorality.

6. General principle: God calls people forward, not backward
2 Corinthians 5:17
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away.”
This is often used to support the idea that God does not require undoing past sins (including a second marriage) but calls the believer to faithfulness from that point forward.

• When someone comes to Christ, their current marriage is recognized as valid, even if it was formed sinfully.
• Scripture never commands breaking up a current marriage, even if it began wrongly.
• Repentance concerns the heart and future behavior, not dissolving present marital commitments.

1. Evangelism, pp. 343–344

“In regard to the marriage of a man who has two wives, one whom he married before he received the truth, and the other after he became a church member, our brethren should not move rashly in the matter.

In cases where men have had a number of wives, the one first married is the lawful wife. But if a man has, before accepting the truth, entered into relations with a second wife, and there are children, and the family is living peaceably, the gospel does not require him to desert his second wife.
It is a great sin to break up a family.
Let such a man remain with his second wife, and make his home as pleasant as possible.
(Letter 50, 1895; reproduced in Evangelism, pp. 343–344.)

2. Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, pp. 209–210

(Full and strong counsel against breaking up a second marriage after conversion.)
“There are men who after accepting the truth have felt it their duty to put away the wives they have married in unbelief, and to return to the first wives whom they had left. This action is not to be encouraged.
When difficulties arise in families where there has been a number of marriages, let every move be cautiously made, for marriages contracted before the acceptance of the truth are just as binding as those contracted afterward.
It is not the province of any man to say that the husband shall put away the wife or the wife the husband… The gospel does not require a man to break up a family.”
(Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, pp. 209–210.)

3. Manuscript Releases, vol. 5, pp. 424–426

(On the binding nature of a present marriage.)
“The marriage contract cannot be set aside at pleasure.
If a man has entered into marriage vows before receiving the truth, the fact that he has accepted the truth does not make void the obligations he took upon himself.
The light of truth does not lessen a man’s responsibility to his family. He is not free to cast aside the wife he has chosen.”
(Manuscript Releases, vol. 5, pp. 424–426.)

4. Letter 107, 1901

(Reassurance that the church should not cause separations.)
“The Lord would not have the church take upon itself the work of separating families. What a man has done in ignorance of the truth is not to be construed as a sin demanding the breaking of present ties.”
(Letter 107, 1901; reproduced in EGW Estate collections.)

5. Additional passage — “No moves should be made to break up a family”

(Often quoted in Adventist marriage/divorce studies.)
“Do not make moves that will result in breaking up a family. Where the decision has been made and children have been born, let no one in the church advise separation. God does not require it.”
(Often referenced from counsel given in Australia; published in Manuscript Releases and used in SDA Marriage & Divorce Committee materials.)

• “The gospel does not require him to desert his second wife.”
• “It is a great sin to break up a family.”
• “Marriage vows taken in ignorance are still binding.”
• “The church is not to say the husband shall put away the wife.”