A visitor to our website writes:

“I am 19 years old.  I am also a wife and mother.  Before my husband and I got married we had twin girls.  My husband and I are both Christians and we are concerned about the children being saved.  We were concerned particularly about Deuteronomy 23:2.  Can you please give us some insight on this?”

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Dear friend,

Thank you for writing your question to me.  I have no doubt that your daughters are very precious to you (and I assure you that they are precious to God also); and so I can only imagine how concerned this question must have made you.  I’ll do my best to answer it.

First, let me assure you of something that you didn’t ask about–but I suspect still needs to be said.  It seems clear that you recognize that the circumstance you and your husband were in before you got married was not in accordance with God’s will.  But if you have both confessed your sins and have trusted in the cross of Jesus fully as God’s payment for those sins, He has fully forgiven you both.  God’s word says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  Once we’ve done that, we can do as Paul said; “. . . [F]orgetting those things that are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

In Christ, God does not lay your sin upon you, your husband, or your daughters.  I have several married Christian friends who have come from situations like the one you described; but having embraced the forgiveness of God through faith in Jesus’ cross, they went on by God’s grace to live fruitful lives of service to Him.  Not only are their marriages a testimony to God’s grace today; but their children are too!

I just wanted to start off by assuring you of that.

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Now for the Bible verse you asked about.

In the New King James Version, Deuteronomy 23:2 says; “One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD.”  These are words that the Lord gave to Moses to speak to the children of Israel just before they entered into the promised land.  It’s important to remember that they were spoken to a particular people in a particular situation.

God’s purpose in giving these words was to stress to the Israelites the absolute necessity for holiness in all of life.  This was essential to God’s plan for them; because they were to be an outstanding people above all other peoples on the earth.  It would be them (as it says in Romans 9:4-5), “to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God.  Amen.”  Many of the laws and regulations that we read that God gave to them at this time in history were laws and regulations that were meant to keep them a very holy and distinct people on the earth.  Those laws and regulations don’t necessarily pertain to all peoples; but specifically to the Jewish people entering the promised land, who then constitute “the assembly of the LORD”.

What’s more, the law that God spoke to the people at that time concerning those of “illegitimate birth” had to do with an earthly situation–that is, the “earthly” assembly of the Jewish people in its decisions and leadership of the nation.  It was concerned with the holiness of that assembly, and probably also with their national purity as a distinct people born of Abraham and from whom the Messiah would come.  But it has nothing to do with someone’s ultimate spiritual condition, or whether or not they may enter into heaven.  After all, “illegitimacy” is a condition that someone is born into apart from anything they themselves actually did.

There is a great hero in the Bible named Jephthah.  He was a mighty man of valor; but he was also born as the son of a harlot.  Because of his illegitimate birth, he was excluded from the assembly of his people (Judges 11:2).  And yet, later on–when his people were in danger and needed a leader–they called on him (vv. 6-11).  Chapter 11 of Judges goes on to tell us that the Spirit of God came upon him, and he was used greatly by God to deliver his people from their enemies.

Being born in illegitimate circumstances does not prohibit God from pouring His grace on someone and using them for His glory.  My advice is to simply raise your two daughters to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to give themselves to Him by faith.  Pray for them.  Take them to church.  Teach them about His love.  Let them come to Jesus; because the Bible assures us that He gladly welcomes them (Matthew 19:13-15).  Your little girls are as free to come to Jesus and be saved by Him as anyone else is.

Thanks; and God bless you and your family.

Pastor Greg
Bethany Bible Church

(All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version.)