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Summary
- No passage of Scripture forbids dating a former partner’s friend, or a friend’s former partner, and dating itself never appears in the Bible.
- Every marriage prohibition in Leviticus 18 turns on blood or marriage, such as a brother’s wife (Leviticus 18:16), and John the Baptist invoked that law against Herod (Mark 6:17–18).
- Paul asks what helps rather than what is permitted: “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up (1 Corinthians 10:23–24; Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 8:9).
- Scripture asks us to speak plainly (Ephesians 4:25) and to take advice before acting (Proverbs 15:22), and Psalm 55:13–14 shows how deeply betrayal by a close friend wounds.
- Where the King James Version says “all appearance of evil” at 1 Thessalonians 5:22, the English Standard Version says “every form of evil.”
- Catholic canon law’s impediments to marriage cover consanguinity, affinity, public propriety and adoption (canons 1091–1094), and a friend’s former partner is not among them.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version (Leviticus 18:16; Deuteronomy 25:5–6; Psalm 55:13–14; Proverbs 15:22; 17:17; 27:6; Mark 6:17–18; Luke 6:31; Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 8:9; 10:23–24; Ephesians 4:25; 1 Thessalonians 5:21–22) and the King James Version (1 Thessalonians 5:22). https://www.biblegateway.com/
- Code of Canon Law, Book IV, Title VII, Chapter III, “Specific Diriment Impediments,” canons 1091–1094. Vatican. https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html
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