Divorce Discussion Continues

Several people responded to my blog entry concerning the topic of divorce. They noted the following statement that I made in that blog entry:

To be clear, I do believe that all sins, with the exception of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, are forgivable. God will forgive us of adultery (in this case, adultery resulting from divorcing and marrying someone else).

And asked that I clarify my stance on divorce.

My reply was that Jesus was very explicit concerning divorce.

Mark 10:5-12 And Jesus answered and said unto them, "For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefor God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.

And he saith unto them, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery."

The permissibility of divorce does not equate the permissibility of re-marriage. If one re-marries after divorce, one commits adultery.

They replied with the objections that I had been expecting. They cited two sets of verses which seem to allow remarriage after divorce under certain circumstances: Matthew 5:32 and 1 Corinthians 7:8-9.

Matthew 5:32

But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Many people believe that the first part of the verse gives the husband permission to divorce his wife and re-marry if she had committed fornication. However, Jesus never said that. Jesus was pointing out the consequences of divorcing one's wife. If a husband divorces his wife, he will cause her to commit adultery unless she is already an adulterer. If she is already an adulterer then her being an adulterer is not the husband's fault.

Unbelievably, those, citing this verse, consistently failed to reference the latter part of the verse: "whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery". Is that not clear enough? The permissibility of divorce does not equate the permissibility of re-marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:8-9

Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Many people pointed out that the word "widows", in verse 7, was translated from the original Greek word "chera" and that "chera" literally means "lacking a husband". They reasoned that the reference to "chera" includes not only widows but also divorcee. Thus, they concluded that the Apostle Paul was giving permission to divorcees to remarry if they burn with passion.

This literal translation of the original Greek word "chera" is simply bad translation. It does not account for how that word is normally used in the cultural context of the writer and his readers/audience. It refers to widows.

Otherwise, it is like saying that Mary, mother of Jesus, was not a virgin because the original Greek word, from which the word "virgin" was translated, also means little girl, concluding that Mary was a little girl and not a virgin since Mary was pregnant. That's simply a bad interpretation since Mary was old enough to marry (at least 12) and would not be viewed by as a little girl in that society.

The people who tried to use 1 Corinthians 7:8-9 as justification of re-marriage after divorce also failed to address the next two verses.

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

To interpret 1 Corinthians 7:8-9, as Paul giving permission for re-marriage after divorce, would cause verses 8-9 to contradict verses 10-11, the next two verses. The only way, for there to be no contradiction, is for the original Greek word "chera" to be interpreted as "widows" only.

One can not be formulating one's theology by cherry-picking only ambiguous verses and interpreting them to support one's view. There needs to be agreement among all the verses concerning the topic.

And the only way, there can be agreement between all these verses, is if one interprets the two ambiguous verses as I did and concludes that while there may be permissibility of divorce due to the hardness of man's heart, re-marriage after divorce is adultery.

However, I must reiterate that while God's standard is so high that it's unattainable, He does provide mercy.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divorce

According to Barna Research Group's 2004 poll, among married born again Christians, 35% have experienced a divorce. That figure is identical to the outcome among married adults who are not born again: 35%.

Barna also noted that he analyzed the data according to the ages at which survey respondents were divorced and the age at which those who were Christian accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. "The data suggest that relatively few divorced Christians experienced their divorce before accepting Christ as their savior," he explained.

To be fair, Barna's survey showed that a larger portion of those, who are not born again Christians, co-habits, effectively, side-stepping marriage - and divorce - altogether.

Nevertheless, more than a third of Christian marriages end in divorce.

While the statistics did not surprise me, I was shocked and very saddened by the recent appearance of the cover story of Christianity Today entitled "When to Separate What God has Joined: A Closer Reading on the Bible on Divorce."

Even Time Magazine made a note of it in its November 5, 2007 issue in the article entitled "An Evangelical Rethink on Divorce?"

It's bad enough that more than a third of all Christian marriages end in divorce, now Christian leaders are altering their theology to accommodate this trend.

(I'm purposely not any mentioning prominent Christian leader who has or is planning to divorce.)

To be clear, I do believe that all sins, with the exception of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, are forgivable. God will forgive us of adultery (in this case, adultery resulting from divorcing and marrying someone else). However, there's a major difference between asking for forgiveness for a sin and modifying theology to no longer recognize that act as a sin.

Need I remind us that the marriage relationship is the image that God gave us to describe His relationship with the Church? Need I remind us that adultery is the image that God gave us to describe the situation when we abandon Him to worship idols? If these are the images that God gave us, what would be the embracing of divorce?

Most importantly, how we view divorce is a reflection of how we view marriage. And if we no longer view marriage as a binding relationship, how would this view effect the health of our marriages?

Perhaps we all need to be reminded of what the scripture says about divorce.

Matthew 5:31-32

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Matthew 19:3-10

The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?"

And he answered and said unto them, "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

They say unto him, "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?"

He saith unto them, "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you,

Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

Mark 10:2-12

And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?" tempting him.

And he answered and said unto them, "What did Moses command you?

And they said, "Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away."

And Jesus answered and said unto them, "For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefor God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.

And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

1 Corinthians 7:10-11

And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.