MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, & REMARRIAGE

MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, & REMARRIAGE

It is sad to witness Christians who will attempt to twist biblical teachings for the purpose of pursuing an unjustified divorce or separation. Hopefully, the following biblical resources will dissuade any and all of such behavior. Neither is it moral to hold views of marriage, divorce, or remarriage, under the guise of upholding religious tradition or cultural morality, which are at odds with careful Scriptural exegesis and comprehensive scholarship. Such efforts neither build sound marriages or help reduce divorce rates, inside or outside the church.

Having personally experienced the tragedy of divorce, I have spent the past 20+ years reading and evaluating articles and books on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. The comprehensive and scholarly work of Dr. David Instone-Brewer as well as the treatment, Divorce and Re-Marriage: Recovering the Biblical View by William F. Luck, Sr., stand out as exceptional. Professor Luck's work is best suited for the average Christians. Note: Despite his fine analysis on the institution of marriage, Professor Luck fails to grasp Paul's teachings regarding the believer's New Creation standing. The last two chapters on the Ten Commandments and the use of OT law can be omitted without doing harm to the preceding twenty chapters. There is a simple and obvious reason why Paul imported a Jewish ethical framework into the seaport city of Corinth, "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ." The pagan Corinthians were not benefactors of Hebrew cultural/ethical traditions, nor had they progressed very far in knowledge, faith, truth, or love. Paul applies God's Edenic pattern as the starting point for a solution. Further, Luck's treatment of polygyny in Chapter 15 fails on a number of levels. For a comprehensive and scholarly work on the subject of polygamy, see Richard Davidson's Polygamy in the Old Testament.

Much damage has befallen the Church due to erroneous teaching on the subjects of marriage, divorce, remarriage, and more foundationally Creation-based sexuality. For the most part, both ancient and modern churches have failed to provide individuals, young and older, with the tools to create healthy marriages.

Typically, Christians often avoid serious study on these subjects unless pastoral duties force them to truly wrestle with the issues or their own marriages fall apart and end in divorce. Many well-meaning, conservative Christians, including their leaders, believe themselves immune to the possibility of 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 conservative, fundamental, and dispensational churches hold the unscriptural view of "No divorce, No remarriage, except with death of the spouse." Based on violations of basic principles of sound biblical interpretation, they erroneously believe their view represents the moral ethics advocated by Jesus and the Apostles. The end result has been nothing short of devastating upon individuals, families, as well as the Church.

Below are additional articles which explore and discuss these subjects in more detail.

Divorce and Re-Marriage: Recovering the Biblical View, by William F. Luck, Sr.

Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage
Common Positions on Divorce Amongst Bible-believing Christians
The Relationship of “Both-at-Fault” to No-Fault Divorce
LOVE & RESPECT - The Love She Most Desires, The Respect He Desperately Needs, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. Despite its limitations, I recommend reading this book. Read my book review.

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
- 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 ~ Instone-Brewer
- Desertion: Is It Grounds for Divorce? ~ Instone-Brewer
- Instone-Brewer's Response to John Piper's Criticism
- 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 ~ by Dan R. Smedra
- Should a Christian date or marry an unbeliever?

"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

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