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MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, & REMARRIAGE
Much damage has befallen the Church due to erroneous teaching on the subjects of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. For the most part, both ancient and modern church have failed to provide individuals with the tools to create healthy marriages. Many conservative Christians, including their leaders, believe themselves immune to the possibility of divorce, and sadly a level of self-righteousness prevails. Typically, Christians often avoid serious study on these subjects unless pastoral duties force them to truly wrestle with the issues, or their own marriage falls apart and ends in divorce.
Incorrect and erroneous views "can be traced through the Church Fathers, Church canon law, and the writings of the Reformers. It was developed in two different directions in the Catholic and Reformed churches, one moving towards easier annulment and the other towards easier divorce." Many fundamental and dispensational churches have held to the radically unbiblical view of "No divorce, no remarriage" falsely believing the position represents the moral ground advocated by Jesus and the Apostles. The results have been nothing short of devastating upon individuals and families. Below are additional articles which explore and discuss these subjects in more detail.
- Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage
- Common Positions on Divorce Amongst Bible-believing Christians
-
The Relationship of
“Both-at-Fault” to No-Fault Divorce
Dr. David Instone-Brewer is a Baptist minister and Research Fellow of Tyndale House, Cambridge, and member of the Divinity Faculty at University of Cambridge, UK. His scholarly works merit careful study.
- Dr. David Instone-Brewer ~ Home Page
- What God Has Joined Together ~ summary article
- Instone-Brewer's Response to John Piper's Criticism
- Divorce and Remarriage in the 1st and 21st Centuries ~ the best short text addressing modern-day misunderstandings (order booklets)
- Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible ~ the full scholarly presentation by Dr. David Instone-Brewer
- Divorce and Remarriage in the Church: Biblical Solutions for Pastoral Realities ~ Brewer
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Desertion: Is It Grounds for Divorce? ~ Instone-Brewer
In the past, Dr. Brewer's works have been available online at Tyndale House, Cambridge, England. Tyndale House is an international centre for biblical research associated with the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. It hosts one of the world's largest biblical studies libraries, but on one of the most unstable web servers. If the links aren't working, please try later.
- One Woman Man ~ by Dr. Vern Peterman
- Husbands - Show and Tell ! ~ by Miles J. Stanford
- A Word to the Wives is Sufficient !
~ by
Miles J. Stanford
- Women's Culpability
"The message of the NT is that divorce is allowed but should be avoided whenever possible. Divorce is allowed only on the grounds of broken marriage vows, and the decision to divorce can be made only by the injured party. A believer should never break the marriage vow, and should try to forgive a repentant partner who has done so. If divorce does happen, remarriage is permitted. All this would be obvious to a first-century believer, but the meaning of the text was obscured at a very early date due to ignorance about the Jewish background after 70 C.E.
"The [early church] Fathers were ignorant of the Jewish background to Jesus' divorce debate with the Pharisees. As a result, they were almost universal in their teaching that adultery was the only ground for separation and that remarriage could take place only after the death of a former spouse. They gradually developed the idea that marriage is indissoluble, and the Catholic Church carried on this view right up to the present, though it has developed a flexible, easy approach to annulment.
"The Reformers rejected indissolubility as a doctrine that was based on the Vulgate translation "sacramentum" in Ephesians 5:32. They therefore allowed remarriage after a divorce for adultery or desertion by an unbeliever. They had a variety of ways to show that such divorces do not involve breaking up a marriage.
"The Church should now be humble and admit that a great mistake has been made. Too many generations of husbands and wives have been forced to remain with their abusing or neglectful partners and have not been allowed to divorce even after suffering repeated unfaithfulness. The Church should not continue in a false teaching because Church tradition should not be regarded as superior to the teaching of Jesus and Paul." DIB
Links listed above may contain theological material and commentary on the policies of Christian denominations, political parties, advocacy groups, and Governments. We seek to carefully recommend articles and links to educate believers. However, these resources should not be interpreted as 'blanket' endorsement of any author or website. Our motive is love and we seek to educate and protect the Lord's people. Both our freedom and obligation to speak is protected by the Word of God and the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
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