Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage
By Michael W. Larsen
20 August 2006
Adult Education Hour
Luke 16:18
Introduction:
“Divorce is the dissolution of a marriage. As we
have seen, a marriage exists when there has been a sexual union within the
context of a covenantal oath (Mal. 2:14). When that covenant is violated, then
the marriage itself has been violated. A marriage does not exist simply because
a couple has become one flesh. A
marriage exists when a hetero-sexual… relationship has been sanctified
with an oath. So then, marriage requires that a couple become one
flesh, but it also requires a covenantal oath. This helps us understand why God
hates divorce. "For the Lord God of
God has only one plan for
marriage and that is outlined in Genesis 2:24, "Therefore shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they
shall be one flesh." This plan has been followed as long as man has
existed and is reiterated in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and his
apostles.
Marriage is a permanent
covenant. Yet although God's plan is permanent, man's nature is in rebellion
against God; therefore in this study we must also talk about the practice of
divorce and remarriage.
There are basically
four interpretations regarding divorce and remarriage:
1.
No divorce, no remarriage
2.
Divorce, but no remarriage
3.
Divorce and remarriage for adultery and
desertion
4.
Divorce and remarriage for a variety of
reasons.
In this lesson we will
see that God does not approve of divorce or remarriage. It is also the
conviction of our Pastor that God does not approve of divorce or remarriage.
Church Fathers
First, let us consider
the writings of the Church Fathers. The understanding of the early church
leaders.
Basically the Church Fathers
are "unanimous in their understanding that Christ and Paul taught that if
one were to suffer the misfortune of divorce, remarriage was not permitted,
regardless of the cause".
Scholars contend that in the
first five centuries all Greek writers and all Latin writers except one agree
that remarriage following divorce for any reason is adulterous.
The main reason to
consider the Church Fathers is to bring to light the fact that they believed
almost unanimously that the Bible teaches the indissolubility of the
marriage union. If marriage is indissoluble, then remarriage, except in the
case where the scripture permits it (death only), is not an option if one is
divorced.
Even in our own
country divorce was pretty much illegal until the modern age. It was in my lifetime that we saw the concept
of “no fault” divorce. This makes
divorce easy. You don’t even have a
reason to blame one another.
How about your wedding
vows? Did you vow, “Till death do us
part”? Why did you do that? (You did it because that has been the real
definition of marriage from the beginning!)
Did you mean it? Was it a binding covenant? Of course it was.
What does the Bible
say?
Is divorce or
remarriage between two believers in the Lord Jesus Christ an option?
First let’s put into
context the teachings of Christ in relation to the practices of the people of
that day. There were 2 basic trains of thought
being promoted by the religious leaders.
One was that there could be divorce and re-marriage for just about any
reason at all. The other was that there
could be divorce only if there was adultery.
Then let’s not forget that they were in the land of the Herod’s where
incest was being practiced even by Herod himself. In fact that is why John the Baptist was
imprisoned if you recall. He informed
Herod that it was wrong to marry his brother’s wife. Leviticus 18 considers sex with or marrying
close relatives unlawful and is not allowed yet it was happening in that
area.
Jesus answered the
divorce and remarriage question very clearly and that is where we will get the
primary teaching on this subject.
Luke 16:18
This verse shows
that Jesus does not recognize divorce as terminating a marriage in God’s
sight. The reason a second marriage is
called adultery is because the first one is considered to still be valid. So
Jesus is taking a stand against the Jewish culture in which all divorce was
considered to carry with it the right of remarriage.
The second half
of the verse shows that not merely the divorcing man is guilty of adultery when
he remarries, but also any man who marries a divorced woman. So even the woman whom the man divorced
cannot be remarried without causing her 2nd husband to commit
adultery.
Since there are
no exceptions mentioned in the verse, and since Jesus is clearly rejecting the
common cultural conception of divorce as including the right of remarriage, the
first readers of this gospel would have been hard-put to argue for any
exceptions on the basis that Jesus shared the cultural assumption that divorce
for unfaithfulness or desertion freed a spouse for remarriage.
Mark 10:11-12
This text
repeats the first half of Luke 16:18 but goes farther and says that not only
the man who divorces, but also a woman who divorces, and then remarries is
committing adultery.
As in Luke
16:18, there are no exceptions mentioned to this rule.
Mark 10:2-9 and Mat 19:3-8
The
Pharisees evidently had Deut 24:1 in mind when they came asking Jesus the
question trying to tempt or trick him.
Deut 24:1is where the Mosaic law allowed divorce, however, Jesus
clarified the teaching;
“It
was because of the hardness of their hearts that Moses allowed that but from
the beginning it was not so..
and
Jesus rejected them using it to justify their practice of divorce by taking
them to the deepest and original intention for marriage, the 2 passages
in Genesis.
The implication here
is that Jesus rejects the Pharisees’ use of Duet 24:1 and raises the standard
of marriage for His disciples to God’s original intention in Creation.
Mat 19:9 and 5:32
Here we have what is known as
the “exception clause” I want to cover this sentence of scripture next week but
notice the passage in Luke and Mark do not include this exception. Before we jump to the conclusion that we need
to qualify the absolute statements of Luke and Mark with this exception clause,
“except for fornication”, we need to consider if the exception clause should
instead be understood in light of the absolute statements in Luke and
Mark. We will dig into this clause next
week but I did not want you to think I was ignoring it.
Mal 2:16 The Lord hates divorce
1 Cor 7:10-11
Here Paul is teaching what He heard
Jesus teach and that is do not divorce and do not remarry. (Mark 10:11-12) He says do not divorce. If you do divorce then stay single or be
reconciled to your husband. Why? Because if you remarry you commit adultery.
Now Paul appears to be aware
that in some cases divorce is going to happen.
Maybe he has in mind brutality or desertion or some other reason, but if
it does, the instruction is to stay single or reconcile to your spouse.
What if a believer is married
to an unbeliever?
1 Cor 7:12-16
This passage tells us that the
believer is not to leave their unbelieving spouse.
“Not under bondage” in verse 15
means they are not bound to serve the departed spouse. The word used here is Douloo and
it means serve or be in subjection. The believing spouse is also not under the
bondage of guilt either as to the unbelieving spouse leaving.
The word in this verse is not
the same word Paul uses in verse 39 where Paul makes it clear that a
spouse is bound for life. As well as in Romans
7:2 That word is Deo
and it means to knit, tie wind. In these
versus it becomes clear that the only acceptable way to dissolve the marriage
covenant is by the death of your spouse.
They are not bound to fight to
save their marriage either apparently thus the statement that God has called us
to peace. 1 Cor 7:15
“Not under bondage” in verse 15
cannot mean free to remarry however since that would contradict with verse 11.
1 Cor 7:27-28
This text does not teach the
right of divorced persons to remarry. It teaches that betrothed virgins should
seriously consider the life of singleness, but do not sin if they marry.
Recently some
people have argued that this passage deals with divorced people because in
verse 27 Paul asks, "Are you free (literally: loosed) from a wife?"
Some have assumed that he means, "Are you divorced?" Thus he would be
saying in verse 28 that it is not sin when divorced people remarry. There are
several reasons why this interpretation is most unlikely.
§
Verse 25 signals that Paul is beginning a new section and dealing with
a new issue. He says, "Now concerning the virgins (ton parthenon) I have
no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is
trustworthy." He has already dealt with the problem of divorced people in
verses 10-16. Now he takes up a new issue about those who are not yet married,
and he signals this by saying, "Now concerning the virgins."
Therefore, it is very unlikely that the people referred to in verses 27 and 28
are divorced.
§
A flat statement that it is not sin for divorced people to be remarried
(verse 28) would contradict verse ll, where he said that a woman who has
separated from her husband should remain single.
§
Verse 36 is surely describing the same situation in view in verses 27
and 28, but clearly refers to a couple that is not yet married. "If anyone
thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his virgin, if his passions are
strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no
sin." This is the same as verse 28 where Paul says, "But if you
marry, you do not sin."
§
The reference in verse 27 to being bound to a "wife" may be
misleading because it may suggest that the man is already married. But in Greek
the word for wife is simply "woman" and may refer to a man's
betrothed as well as his spouse. The context dictates that the reference is to
a man's betrothed virgin, not to his spouse. So "being bound" and
"being loosed" have reference to whether a person is betrothed or
not.
§
It is significant that the verb Paul uses for "loosed" (luo) or "free" is not a word
that he uses for divorce. Paul's words for divorce are chorizo (verses
10,11,15; cf. Matthew 19:6) and aphienai (verses 11,12,13).