Another man was also a teacher in a preacher training school as well as an elder in the congregation where he attended.  His wife died and in a very short time an old friend from elementary school days contacted him to let him know she was interested in “getting re-acquainted.” He responded by moving to the state where she lived so they could pursue this plan.  Many Christian friends admonished him not to make such a move at all and certainly not so quickly after his first wife’s death.  They doubted that he could afford to rent a house in the new city and so would probably move in with the lady.  For more than a year they lived in the same house while he tried to teach her about the church.  His old school friend stoutly refused to become a Christian, but they eventually married.  Gradually he became active in the work of the church again with no one seeming to contest his marital status or his activities before his marriage.

1. Because of the temptation to commit fornication (1 Cor. 7:2) God made marriage; however, He has given the privilege of marriage with restrictions.  Name the restriction(s) for someone (man or woman) who has lost a mate (1 Cor. 7:39).
2. Does 1 Corinthians 7:39 only apply to women?
3. Can anything in the Lord be outside the church?
4. What is the reason we are told not to marry outside of Christ (2 Cor. 6:14-18)?
5. Is there a command that says a person must be withdrawn from if he/she marries outside of the Lord?
6. Is there a command that tells the man he must divorce his wife if he disobeys the command to marry “only in the Lord?”
7. Is there a passage of scripture that allows a man and woman to have marriage relations before marriage?
8. If the man and woman lived in an adulterous relationship before they married, would his sin not prove to her that the commands of God were not important?
9. What kind of example is this church leader when he tries to warn sinners about their disobedience to the Lord’s commands?
10. What kind of example is this leader to the members of the church under his influence?