Divorce and Remarriage: What Does the Bible Really Say? - Softcover

Woodrow, Ralph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0916938069 ISBN 13: 9780916938062

Publisher: Ralph Woodrow, 2002

Synopsis

Though Old Testament law permitted divorce--the Lord himself, figuratively, went through a divorce--by the time of Jesus, Jewish men were abusing this law by divorcing wives "for any cause." This book answers the questions: In which situations does the New Testament permit divorce? Are divorced Christians who have remarried "living in adultery"? Church dogma often targets the wounded, rejecting the very ones who need Christ's healing touch, thereby further complicating the pain and rejection of these wounded ones. While not encouraging frivolous marriage dissolutions, this book deals with the issues of divorce and remarriage from a biblical perspective--looking below the surface of what some have SAID the Bible teaches--to understand the obvious intent of Scriptural passages which deal with these issues.

About this title

From the Author:

DOES GOD REQUIRE DIVORCE? A man in Indiana became interested in the Bible through listening to a radio program. He sent off for free literature. What he read and heard seemed to make a lot of sense, so he requested a visit from church representatives. When they quizzed him about previous marriages, he explained that while he was still in his teens he had a brief marriage; that he had now been married to his present wife for twenty years; that they had three children. He was told that he was living in "adultery"; that in order to be a part of God's "one true church," he would have to divorce his present wife and go back to his first wife-or live single. To go back to his first wife was impossible, so he moved into an apartment across town where he spent a frustrated, miserable, lonely existence apart from his wife and family. Sadly, one day he was found dead in his closet-he had hung himself!

Why do some teach that God requires divorce? This idea is based, supposedly, on the words of Jesus: "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery" (Matt. 19:9). At the time of Jesus, many of the Jews practiced a type of divorce, popularized by Rabbi Hillel, known as divorce "for every cause." Such had become a mere excuse for immorality. When the Pharisees sought to put Jesus on the spot, they asked if it was lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause. In his reply, Jesus called it just what it was: adultery (see Matt. 19:3-11).

Today, by taking the words of Jesus out of their proper setting, some have gone to the other extreme. They argue that there are never any Biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage; that God recognizes only "first" marriages; that all remarried people are living in adultery.

If the statement of Jesus was an inflexible rule intended to cover all kinds of divorce-allowing no ground, no forgiveness-then it would be true: a remarried man would have to break up his present marriage (get a divorce) and go back to his first wife. If she has remarried, she would have to get a divorce. But clearly, this teaching, instead of curing divorce, would actually cause divorce!

If a man has gone through a divorce and must live the rest of his life single, alone, how would we explain Genesis 2:18: "It is not good that the man should be alone"?

In the Bible, Old Testament and New, no one was forbidden marriage. At Corinth, known in the ancient world as a very immoral city, many people had found the Lord-including married people, remarried people, single people, virgins, and widows. Marriage was forbidden to none: "Let EVERY man have his own wife, and let EVERY woman have her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:2). According to Paul, forbidding to marry was a "doctrine of devils" (1 Tim. 4:1-3).

Some at Corinth, having become Christians, were now married to unbelievers-they were saints married to sinners! They wondered if sexual relations in such a marriage were unholy and even if children born to such relations would be unholy. Their question was not so much "does God permit divorce?"-rather, "Does God require divorce-the divorce of an unbelieving spouse?" Notice Paul's answer:

"If any brother has a wife that believes not, and she is pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which has a husband that believes not, and if he is pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him" (1 Cor. 7:12,13). Children born from such unions were not unholy (verse 14). God did not require divorce.

On the other hand, in certain circumstances, divorce was permitted. Paul goes on to say that if the unbeliever is not pleased and decides to depart, to "let him depart, a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases" (1 Cor. 7:15)-that is, the believer is no longer bound to the marriage.

There are some who suppose that no matter how miserable their marriage is, no matter how many atrocities they face, that God requires them to forever remain in that situation! A woman may face the threat of AIDS, not only for her, but unborn children; nevertheless, there are legalists who insist she should become a marital martyr!

Make no mistake about it: Marriage for life-not divorce-is the ideal. Divorce is a major surgery. As with a physical affliction, a wise doctor will first try to treat the affliction with methods less drastic. So is it with divorce. It is a last resort alternative. But, by God's grace, there can be life after divorce.

From the Back Cover:

Did You Know That: The Lord himself went through a divorce? Out of the 23,214 verses in the Old Testament, there is only one against divorce-and that one verse has a strong variant reading in the oldest manuscripts? In some circumstances God actually commanded divorce? Some of the Jews were divorcing "for every cause" and it was this type of divorce, primarily, that Jesus condemned? The idea that "fornication" means sexual sin committed only by unmarried people is not the biblical definition? Forcing celibacy on anyone-including people previously married-is contrary to New Testament doctrine?

About this edition

• Publisher: Ralph Woodrow
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0916938069
• ISBN 13: 9780916938062
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 105