Marriage and Divorce: Difference between revisions

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<mediaplayer width='800' height='600'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq1lF8GUfng</mediaplayer>

Mark is generally seen as the oldest of the Gospel (i.e. the first one written) so we will start there:

Mark is also unique among the Gospels because it records Jesus not only forbidding the man to divorce and remarry but forbidding the wife the same thing.  St Paul also states that Jesus told wives not to divorce their husbands (1 Cor. 7:10).  This was impossible under Jewish law, according to which a wife could sue the courts for divorce but could not directly divorce her husband.

Luke contains a single verse on the issue of divorce:

The second part of the verse adds a new point to that of Mark - it is also adultery for a single man to marry a divorced woman.  The entire verse is addressed to the man. Jesus says: it is wrong to marry another woman after divorcing your wife; it is just as wrong to marry (for the first time) a woman who has been divorced.  In other words, the divorced woman’s first marriage still exists despite the legal divorce and therefore true remarriage is actually impossible in reality, and in God’s eyes (as opposed to those of the law of the land), it can only be adultery.

Matthew records 2 passages on the issue of divorce, the first being in Matthew 5.

Jesus’ response to the dismay of the disciples is also interesting.  He states - “Not everyone can accept this statement, except those to whom it has been given.”  Does this mean that if you can’t accept it you don’t have to?  Does it mean it doesn’t apply to everyone?  Is this principle not practical for everyone? Or is it that not everyone can understand what is being said but only those to whom God had given understanding?  Apparently all of these interpretations are possible from the Greek wording of the passage.

The Corinthians had written to Paul (1 Cor 7:1) specifically asking him questions on a variety of matters which he addresses in his letter to them.  In fact, the second part of 1 Cor 7:1 – “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman” – appears to be a direct quotation from their letter which Paul would be in some agreement.  But he does not agree with how they are using it.

The real problem with this passage is that its focus on maintaining mixed marriages (but allowing them to dissolve if the pagan initiates the action) does not offer much help on the problem of remarriage.

It should be added that from earliest post-New Testament days, writers in the early church wrote about divorce and remarriage. Almost always their teaching is about remarriage—rather than merely about divorce.  In almost every case they write against remarriage and mention no exceptions.  When writing about divorce they do quite frequently mention the permission—which they quite often make into a command—to divorce where there has been adultery. The overwhelming majority of them do not allow remarriage in these circumstances. Some specifically prohibit it; others simply say: there should be no remarriage after divorce. They mention no exceptions.

   

Is the Bible your absolute or is it something else?