Matthew 5:31-32
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’[f] 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Matthew 5:31-32
ReplyDeleteQuestion: What cases does this apply to? All?
This article, http://www.answering-christianity.com/bassam_zawadi/womans_ability_to_divorce.htm , covers some of the logical objections (P.S. I don't think it's a Christian site).
ReplyDeleteWhat honor is this to the woman? Lets say a husband divorces his wife for no good reason. That means she automatically becomes an adulterous. That also means that she cannot marry again as long as her first husband is alive. This is because she would be committing an act of adultery then. What if her husband became sterile and couldn't meet her sexual needs? What if her husband was in a coma? Or if her husband went to prison? She needs a man to take care of her but she is not allowed to marry again until the first husband dies. Also the man who marries this woman would also be committing adultery.
This also shows that if a woman happens to be beaten up by her husband she has no right to divorce him. Or if she marries him and then ends up realizing that he is not what she excepted him to be and she is not happy with him, she is forced to stay married to him! If they happen to separate she is not allowed to marry anyone else. (1 Corinthians 7:11)
Also a husband cannot divorce his wife except if she cheats on him. What if he marries her and she turns out to be a really horrible disobedient wife? He still has to stay married to her until she cheats on him!
This article takes a very harsh view of divorce: http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/divorce.htm
ReplyDeleteI think it even says that second marriage people are going to hell. I'm not sure why I'm even putting this article on here, except to show the range of views on the issue.
This article describes what to do if you are in a second marriage - http://www.dougbrittonbooks.com/onlinebiblestudies-marriageinformationandadvice/bibleandchristiandivorce01-committoyourmarriage.php
ReplyDeleteIf you were a Christian when you divorced and have married someone else, confess that you started in sin. If you truly confess, Christ will forgive you (1 John 1:9) and help you deal with the mess you created. By truly confess, I mean to (1) genuinely face the awfulness of the sin of divorcing and (2) acknowledge that if you could make the decision again you would not divorce. Anything else would be half-hearted and come short of genuine confession.
After confessing your sin, do not divorce your present spouse to remarry your previous mate. You cannot undo the effect of sin by sinning again.
https://www.gci.org/ethics/divorce2 seems to take a principle before hard and fast rule approach:
ReplyDelete"The Old Testament takes divorce as an already-established custom. Abuses were criticized, but the practice was not outlawed.
In Mark and Luke, his statements seem to prohibit divorce, but Jesus did not intend for those statements to be used as an exceptionless code of conduct. In Matthew, an exception is allowed for cases of porneia.19
Although Paul was aware of the Lord’s teaching about divorce, he did not consider the Mark/Luke version final. Nor did he consider porneia the only legitimate exception, so Matthew’s statements are not the complete description of God’s will, either. Jesus’ statements did not cover every possible situation that might arise within the church. Paul, recognizing that he faced a new situation, permitted divorce and remarriage in cases of desertion. Paul’s statement isn’t complete, either, since he does not specifically mention porneia. Paul did not intend to provide an exhaustive list of exceptions (just as none of his lists of spiritual gifts, virtues or vices is complete).
Situations arise that were not addressed by either Jesus or Paul.
Even if we combine all the New Testament statements, resulting in a prohibition with two exceptions, it would seem unlikely that we have a complete statement of God’s will on the subject. Situations arise that were not addressed by either Jesus or Paul. New situations may call for new exceptions, and new judgments. Paul indicates one way the church can judge: the principle of peace, which he deemed more important than a law-based prohibition. This suggests that Christians today may also use the principle of peace to release people from the bondage of certain marriage vows.
Ethical principles are more important than strict rules.20 Satisfying hunger is more important than keeping Sabbath rules (Mark 2:27-28); justice, mercy and faith are more important than scrupulous tithing (Matt 23:23). Principles are sometimes even more important than the exercise of specific freedoms: Although a Christian may eat meat, it is better to abstain if eating might offend another believer (Rom 14). These examples show that principles are more important than narrowly defined laws.
Commitment within marriage is an important principle; peace, unity and love are important, too. If the unity and love are so lacking that the marriage threatens Christian peace and joy, the principle of peace may outweigh the principle of commitment.
In a bad marriage, principles must be weighed. Commitment within marriage is an important principle; peace, unity and love are important, too. If the unity and love are so lacking that the marriage threatens Christian peace and joy, perhaps the principle of peace outweighs the principle of commitment. The marriage may in fact be an oppressive relationship that opposes God.
A Christian could forgive an adulterous spouse, having no desire for vengeance, and also have the wisdom not to stay with a person with a life-threatening character flaw. But reconciliation should be attempted. "The believer is never compelled to seek a divorce, not even when the spouse is guilty of adultery" (Scott, p. 193).
May the guilty party remarry? Davis (p. 103) says yes, "if the guilty party has truly repented and attempted to make restitution for personal and financial obligations that may have been forsaken during the dissolution of the marriage." "As Clinton Gardner has observed, remarriage should be permitted for the repentant and only for the repentant" (Scott, p. 197). Admittedly, this can create awkward situations: There may be a divorce, the church may permit one person to remarry, and later accept the repentance of the other person and in effect allow spouse-swapping within the church.21 Such situations may be inevitable in an age containing both sin and grace, and they cry out for caution by all involved. Time and counseling need to be involved before divorce andbefore a remarriage.
Finally, my 2 cents:
ReplyDeleteJesus is telling us what happens when people get divorced and remarried - namely, the sin of adultery. Notice that Jesus is giving us a general principle, and not necessarily a command (because the command already exists in the law).
God is serious about sin in our lives. We can never lightly sin or be in danger of shutting out the Holy Spirit. Given that, there are circumstances in which we must choose the lesser of two evils (example of killing a person defending others). I don't know and am not going to attempt to give a set of rules for when divorce and remarriage is OK - and not only because it's impossible.
I agree with the above article that everything needs to be weighed. But we need to do this carefully and under the Holy Spirit's guidance, lest we justify all kinds of sin.
We need to keep the global principal in mind - when we divorce and remarry, it is adultery. Given that, the church needs to weigh (carefully) each circumstance to judge whether adultery is the lesser of two (or more) evils.