What God Has Joined
I was being interviewed for what would be my first church pastorate, and I was nervous and unsure what to expect. The twelve deacons sat in a row in front of me and took turns asking questions, which I answered as clearly as I could. All went smoothly until they posed this question: "What is your position on divorce and remarriage? Would you remarry a divorcée or divorced man?"
I didn't know if this was a trick question or an honest one. There might have been a deep-seated pastoral need behind it, or it might have been a test of my orthodoxy. Either way, I didn't think I could summarize my view in one sentence; when I thought about it further, I couldn't decide exactly what my view was. I gave a deliberately vague reply. "Every case should be judged on its own merits."
It worked; I got the job. But I made a mental note to study the subject of divorce, and to do it quickly.
It's a good thing I did. As it turned out, I was surrounded by people who needed answers to questions raised by divorce and remarriage. My Baptist church was located near an Anglican congregation and two Catholic churches. Divorced men and women from these congregations came asking if we would conduct their weddings, having been denied in their local churches. Then I found that some of my deacons had been divorced and remarried. Should I throw them out of church leadership? If I did, I would lose people I considered some of the most spiritual in the church, people with exemplary Christian homes and marriages.
What Does the Bible Say?
The New Testament presents a problem in understanding both what the text says about divorce and its pastoral implications. Jesus appears to say that divorce is allowed only if adultery has occurred: "Whoever divorces a wife, ...
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dianne varas
I agree that divorced should not "be stoned." Jesus commands the adulteress to turn from her life of sin. We are commanded to love God and others, divorcing breaks the commandments of Jesus. Divorce is an ugly, painful sin, it does not express love. Divorces happen because of "hardened hearts," as Jesus stated. A hardened heart is rebellious, and rebellion is a sin. To the divorced God gives two options, remain unmarried or reconcile with their spouse. Remarriage, while the other spouse is still alive is adultery. By marrying a divorced couple, you're saying, "I don't care what God's desire for marriage is." No man can separate what God joins together.
RD HUNDLEY
I've read all of the comments to this article so far. One thing is obvious, those who have gone thru divorce understand the pain and anguish a failed marriage can represent. GOD IS LOVE, if there is one thing I believe it is that. I don't see that in most of the comments. Most are as legalistic as the BCE Jewish religion. I can see Jesus writing on the ground now. Standing around are the "Christians" ready to stone the divorced man or woman. Thank God, for the author of this article.
Jacob Hantla
How can we use extrabiblical documents to make the Bible say what it doesn't say? David Instone-Brewer does an excellent job of saying "that's not really what the Bible says" in his article on divorce in Christianity today. Piper comments on the article: Instone-Brewer’s interpretation is an example (common, it seems, in New Testament studies today) of taking extra-biblical observations and using them to silence the fairly plain meaning of biblical texts. Notice as you read all of Instone-Brewer's arguments that say that Jesus wasn't really prohibiting divorce in Matthew 19, Luke 16, and Matthew 5:32 and that Paul was authorizing divorce for Adultery, emotional or physical neglect, or abandonment or abuse that the crux of all of his arguments rest in extra-biblical rabbinic documents that make the text say the precise opposite thing that a clear reading of the text shows.