QUESTION: If a divorced man, who has a great family with a second wife, accepts the gospel, do I have a scriptural right to baptize him?
ANSWER: If the divorce from the first wife was for the “cause of fornication” (Matthew 5:32), with the man being totally innocent, and, if the second wife had a scriptural right to marry, he may be scripturally baptized. If the divorce was not “for the cause of fornication,” then the man and his second wife are living in adultery. Neither of these could scripturally be baptized without first repenting (Acts 2:38). This means that their marriage, in which God took no part, would first have to be dissolved. Even if the divorce from the first wife was “for the cause of fornication,” if the second wife had no scriptural right to marry, both would still be living in adultery. This situation would also demand repentance prior to scriptural baptism.