Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 4/25/2008

Question
Hi there Pastor,

I have a theoretical question which has been puzzling me. In the past, before the Civil Rights movement, there were states down south were it was illegal for a Black man to marry a white woman, and vice versa.  But many times these people sinned and ended up having children together out of wedlock, even though by the laws of those states they could not be married legally. The same is true about South Africa during Apartheid. In fact I think it was illegal in every state of the United States for there to be such a union before the Civil War in the 1860s. And for some time even after that.  

Here is my question. If a black man got a white woman pregnant, and had several children with her, and he was living with her and supporting his family, what is he to do to get right with God?  If he wanted to do the right thing and marry her and support and raise his children, what was a such man to do in such a case when it was simply illegal in the entire country to marry her? In such a case could he approach his pastor and ask the pastor to conduct a wedding ceremony for them, even though it would not be legal? If so, then would their marriage be valid in the eyes of God, even though the state did not recognize it?

But I don't think that in such a case any Protestant Pastor would marry them because he would not want to get in trouble with the courts or the state. Also the pastor would not want to get lynched or driven out of town.  

What would a man in such a circumstance do? I know that you said that if a man and woman just exchange vows it is not valid in God's eyes unless it is also legal. So is such a man supposed to abandon the mother of his children, along with the children, or should he just continue to live in sin with her because no one was willing to legally join them in a marriage union?

I know the question sounds a bit odd, but this was a real issue even back in the 1950s in some States Down South.

-Josh

Answer
Hi Josh,

The fact is that the Bible does not condemn interracial marriage.  Moses was a Jew who was married to an Ethiopian woman....  His sister was upest about that marriage and God judged her.  Read the story:

Numbers 12:1-16


And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.   2 And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
4 And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. 5 And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. 6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. 7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. 8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? 9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.
10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. 11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. 12 Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb. 13 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. 14 And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again. 15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. 16 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

If an inter racial couple sinned in the old days and had children out of wedlock, it would have been right to marry.  The thing to remember is that we can choose our sin, but we cannot choose our consequences... better to stay pure in the first place.

In Christ
Pastor Don