Early Christian Views on Second Marriage
Early Christian writers gave a mixed answer about being twice married. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Hippolytus, and the Apostolic Constitutions often treated second marriage as a serious issue, especially for bishops and widows. Other texts allow remarriage after a spouse dies and do not call it sin. Key Bible passages in this discussion include 1 Corinthians 7:39 and Romans 7:2-3.
86 early-church witnesses · 169 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about being Twice Married?
Early Christian writings do not give one single rule on being twice married. Some writers, especially Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Hippolytus, and the Apostolic Constitutions, treat a second marriage as something that should limit church office or be viewed with suspicion, while others allow remarriage after a spouse dies and do not call it sin. The Bible passages most often used in this discussion are 1 Corinthians 7:39, Romans 7:2-3, Matthew 5:32, Matthew 19:9, and Mark 10:11-12.
So the early record is mixed: remarriage after death is often allowed, but second marriage is often discouraged for clergy and sometimes called sinful or adultery-like in strong ascetic writers. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Second marriage was often restricted for clergy in early Christian writings.
- Some writers called second marriage sinful or adultery-like, especially in ascetic teaching.
- The Bible passages most often cited allow remarriage after a spouse dies.
- The early Christian record is mixed, not one simple rule.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians bar twice-married men from church office?
Several early sources say a man who has been married twice should not be ordained or should not serve among the clergy. The repeated concern is especially strong in church-order material and commentary on Paul.
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching
...of heaven’s sake; but not everyone can accept this saying.” Therefore, all who, by human law, marry twice are deemed sinners in the eyes of our Master, as well as those who look at a woman to lust after her. For He rejects not only those who commit adultery in action but also those who desire to commit adultery: since both our deeds and our thoughts are open before God. Many, both men and women, who have followed Christ from childhood, remain pure even at the age of sixty or seventy; and I boast that I could find such individuals from every race. What shall I say of the countless number of those who have reformed from intemperate habits and learned these principles? For Christ did not call the just or the chaste to repentance, but the ungodly, the licentious, and the unjust; His words being, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” For the heavenly Father desires the repentance of the sinner more than their punishment. Regarding our love for all, He taught, “If you love those who love you, what new thing are you doing? Even fornicators do this. But I say to you, Pray for your enemies, and love those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for thos
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Tertullian, On Exhortation to Chastity Direct teaching
If we look deeply into his meaning and interpret it, second marriage will have to be called nothing other than a kind of fornication. For, since he says that married people make this their concern, how to please one another, he certainly does not mean morally, because he would not criticize a good kind of concern. And since he wishes them to be understood to be concerned about dress, ornament, and every kind of personal attractiveness, with a view to increasing their power to attract; and since, moreover, to please by personal beauty and dress is the genius of carnal concupiscence, which again is the cause of fornication, tell me: does second marriage seem to you to border on fornication, since in it those elements are detected which are proper to fornication? The Lord Himself said, "Whoever has seen a woman with a view to concupiscence has already violated her in his heart." But has he who has seen her with a view to marriage done so less or more? What if he has even married her? He would not do that unless he had desired her with a view to marriage, and seen her with a view to concupiscence, unless it is possible for a wife to be married whom you have not seen or desired. I grant
Did early Christians think second marriage was morally suspect?
A number of writers describe second marriage as unlawful, wicked, or even a form of adultery or fornication, especially in ascetic argument. These sources show strong disapproval, but they do not represent every early Christian text on the subject.
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Direct teaching
Now, when we saw that some who have been married twice may be much better than those who have been married once, we were perplexed why Paul does not at all permit those who have been twice married to be appointed to ecclesiastical dignities;
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
17. He who has been twice married after his baptism, or has had a concubine, cannot be made a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or indeed any one of the sacerdotal catalogue.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching
About the time of this man, bishops, priests, and deacons, who had been twice married, and thrice married, began to be allowed to retain their place among the clergy.
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Origen, Against Celsus Direct teaching
... And as he chooses for the office of bishop a man who has been married once rather than one who has twice entered the married state, and a man of blameless life rather than one who is open to censure, and a sober man rather than one who is not, and a prudent man rather than one who is not prudent, and a man whose behavior is decorous rather than one who is open to the charge of even the slightest indecorum, so he desires that he who is to be chosen by preference for the office of a bishop should be apt to teach, and able to convince the gainsayers. How then can Celsus fairly accuse us of saying, "Let no one come to us who is instructed, or wise, or prudent?" No, let whoever wills come to us instructed, and wise, and prudent. And no less, if anyone is ignorant and unintelligent, and uninstructed and foolish, let him also come. For it is these whom the Gospel promises to cure, when they come, by rendering them all worthy of God.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
We have already said that when a bishop, a presbyter, or a deacon is appointed, he must have been married only once, whether his wife is still living or has died. If he is unmarried when he is ordained, it is not lawful for him to marry afterward. If he is already married at that time, he must not marry a second time, but must be content with the wife he had when he came to ordination. We also appoint that ministers, singers, readers, and porters must have been married only once. But if they entered the clergy before they were married, we permit them to marry, if they are inclined to do so, lest they sin and incur punishment. But we do not permit anyone of the clergy to take as a wife either a courtesan, or a servant, or a widow, or a divorced woman, just as the law also says. Let the deaconess be a pure virgin, or at least a widow who has been married only once, faithful, and well respected. Leviticus 21:7, 14; 1 Timothy 5:9
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
or if they be then married, to marry a second time, but to be content with that wife which they had when they came to ordination.
Did early Christians allow remarriage after a spouse died?
Other early sources explicitly allow remarriage after a spouse dies and say there is no sin in marrying again. Bible passages on widowhood and release from marriage are used to support that distinction.
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Hermas, Connection to 1 Corinthians 7:39 Direct teaching
If a wife or husband die, and the widower or widow marry, does he or she commit sin? There is no sin in marrying again.
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Romans 7:3 Supporting witness
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
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Romans 7:2 Supporting witness
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
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1 Corinthians 7:39 Supporting witness
The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
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1 Corinthians 7:11 Supporting witness
(but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
Why did early Christian writers warn widows about second marriage?
Some early Christian writers warned widows not to enter a second marriage, especially if they had made a promise or were being counted for church service. The Apostolic Constitutions and Cyprian connect widowhood with honor, caution, and avoiding accusation, while 1 Timothy 5 is the main Bible text used in that discussion.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
...er of widows, lest, claiming they cannot control themselves in the prime of their age, they enter a second marriage and become open to accusation. Instead, let them be helped and supported, so that they do not, under the excuse of being abandoned, enter a second marriage and so be caught in a shameful accusation. For you ought to know this: to marry once according to the law is righteous, because it is according to the will of God. But second marriages, after the promise, are wicked, not because of the marriage itself, but because of the falsehood. Third marriages are signs of lack of self-control. But marriages beyond the third are obvious fornication and unquestionable uncleanness. For in creation God gave one woman to one man, for "the two shall be one flesh," Genesis 2:24. But for the younger women, let a second marriage be allowed after the death of their first husband, lest they fall into the condemnation of the devil, and into many snares and foolish lusts that are harmful to souls and bring punishment on them rather than rest.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
...ws to be no less than sixty years old, so that their age may in some measure prevent suspicion of a second marriage. But if you admit a younger woman into the order of widows, and she cannot bear her widowhood in her youth and marries, she will bring shameful criticism on the honor of the order of widows, and she will give an account to God. This is not because she married a second time, but because she has grown wanton against Christ, 1 Timothy 5:11, and has not kept her promise, because she did not come and keep her promise with faith and the fear of God. Therefore, such a promise should not be made carelessly, but with great caution. For it is better for her not to vow than to vow and not pay, Ecclesiastes 5:5. But if any younger woman has lived only a short time with her husband, and has lost him by death or some other cause, and remains by herself, having the gift of widowhood, she will be found blessed and will be like the widow of Sarepta in Sidon, with whom the holy prophet of God, Elijah, 1 Kings 17:9, stayed. Such a woman may also be compared to Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser, who did not depart from the temple, but continued in prayers and supplic
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
I. Choose your widows not under sixty years of age, that in some measure the suspicion of a second marriage may be prevented by their age.
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
widows before they are married, adulterous, not to their husband, but to Christ.
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1 Timothy 5:11 Supporting witness
But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
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1 Timothy 5:9 Supporting witness
Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man.
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1 Timothy 5:14 Supporting witness
Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
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1 Timothy 5:3 Supporting witness
Honour widows that are widows indeed.
Common Questions
Did early Christians allow a second marriage after a spouse died?
Yes, some early Christian writings allow remarriage after a spouse dies and do not call it sin.
Did early Christians think second marriage was sinful?
Some did, especially stricter writers like Tertullian, while others allowed it after widowhood.
Was being twice married a problem for church leaders?
Yes, several early texts say clergy should be married only once or should not remarry after ordination.
Source Index for Being Twice Married
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 169 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 86
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
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Didache, Connection to Exodus 20:13-14
Bible Passages 80 shown of 83
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.