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What does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage? - YouTube
Channel: Southern Seminary
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- I think all would agree who
have a high view of Scripture
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is that divorce and remarriage
are never the ideal.
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I mean, Jesus is very clear, isn't he,
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in Matthew 19 and Mark 10,
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where we have extensive
teaching on this passage,
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that marriage is one man and one woman
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united forever, or as long as life lives,
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I mean by forever, together,
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and that is God's ideal
for a man and a woman.
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Genesis 2:24, for this reason a man
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shall leave his father and mother
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and shall cling to his wife,
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and the two shall become one flesh,
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so that you have a permanent union.
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And Jesus also appeals to
creation, both male and female.
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So that's very important today,
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where people are even
confused, what is marriage?
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One man, one woman,
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united forever, ideally;
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by forever, I mean as long
as life lasts; in this union.
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So here's the question:
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Can that union ever be broken by divorce?
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Again, that's not the ideal, is it?
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Jesus makes that clear.
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But is it ever permitted?
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And here, there is disagreement.
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So, for example, one view out there is
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that in Matthew 5 and Matthew 19
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where we have those exception clauses,
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and let me point out
those exception clauses
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regarding divorce and
remarriage, it's not in Mark,
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it's not in Luke 16,
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it's not in Romans 7.
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1 Corinthians 7 is
another passage on divorce
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and remarriage, but that is disputed.
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But some say look, those
exceptions that are in Matthew
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ought to be interpreted as referring
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to the engagement period.
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So, in Jewish culture,
engagement was considered
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to be as serious as marriage.
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And so, some have said
since these exceptions
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are in Matthew, and Matthew
is the Jewish gospel,
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and since we have the example of Joseph
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wanting to divorce Mary
during the engagement period,
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when Matthew talks about
the exception clause
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he's not talking about
marriage at all, actually,
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he's talking about when you're engaged,
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that if there's sexual infidelity
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which Joseph suspected
Mary of being engaged in,
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then divorce is permissible.
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So, if you hold that view,
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there are no grounds
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for divorce or remarriage.
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I don't think that view is convincing.
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First of all, very few
people have held this view
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in church history, it's a
radically minority view.
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But secondly, I think most
important, Jesus says,
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in Matthew 5:32,
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in Matthew 19:9,
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that divorce and remarriage are acceptable
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in the case of porneia,
that's the Greek word.
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Is that word porneia, does it refer to sin
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during the engagement period?
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I don't think it does, the word in Greek
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is just a general word for sexual sin.
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We have no clear contextual evidence
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that the word should be
defined as sexual sin
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only in the engagement period.
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I think we need clear contextual evidence
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that that's the case,
and it's just not there.
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The example of Joseph in
chapter one is very interesting.
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Actually, the word porneia is
not even used in chapter one,
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so Matthew doesn't draw any connection
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between the divorce text and what happened
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with Joseph and Mary.
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So, I think that's an interesting view,
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but I don't think it's
exegetically persuasive.
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Another view that's popular
today among some scholars is
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that you can divorce for
sexual immorality, for porneia,
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but you can't remarry;
so that the exception
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only goes with the divorce
clause of Matthew 5:32
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and Matthew 19:9, but it
doesn't apply to remarry.
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So, a well-known British scholar
I have great respect for,
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John Wenham, Old Testament scholar,
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has argued this view often over the years.
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I don't think this view
is convincing, either,
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because if you actually look at the text,
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I don't think it's clear
that the exception,
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sexual sin, porneia,
only goes with divorce
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and doesn't apply to remarry.
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In other words, I think
it's arbitrary syntactically
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to locate the exception clause
only with the divorce clause
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and say it doesn't also
include the remarry clause,
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I don't think that's a very natural way
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of interpreting the text.
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So, the third view,
which is the traditional
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Protestant view, is that
divorce and remarriage,
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they're never the ideal, and
even when sin is committed
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we try to keep marriages together, right?
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We don't say if there's sexual sin
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then you must divorce, do we?
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We work at trying to
keep marriages together.
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But the third view says
if there's sexual sin,
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divorce and remarriage are permitted,
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not encouraged as the first option.
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But how do we apply this practically?
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That takes wisdom, doesn't it?
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And I think 1 Corinthians
7 suggests the same thing,
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where Paul says if an unbeliever
wants to desert a believer,
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then the believer is called to peace
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and they're no longer
bound to that marriage.
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And I think when he says
you're no longer bound
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to that marriage, by
definition that also includes
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a freedom to remarry.
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So, notice the situation
in 1 Corinthians 7,
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if an unbeliever says I
want to leave a believer,
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the believer isn't initiating the divorce,
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then the believer is free
to let that relationship go,
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the unbeliever is leaving anyway,
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and I think they're also free to remarry.
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So that is the traditional
Protestant view.
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Divorce and remarriage are permitted
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in cases of sexual infidelity
and in cases of desertion.
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Now, there's a lot of practical questions
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about what that means in particular cases,
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and I think we have to be
careful about trying to write,
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or me right now trying to say, every case.
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That's why God gave us elders
and counselors and pastors,
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to help us with particular situations,
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because we always have to look at
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what exactly is happening.
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We have the general principles,
if you desert your spouse
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or if you sin against them sexually,
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divorce and remarriage are permitted.
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Let me say it again,
permitted but not encouraged,
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the ideal is to stay together.
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But then, how do we work that out?
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Well, we have to sift that through
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what is the particular situation
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that is going on right here,
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always encouraging
marriages to stay together.
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But I think we stick with what Jesus said,
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and I think Jesus said yes, it is not sin,
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it is not sin in some cases
to be divorced and to remarry.
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(music)
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- [Narrator] Thanks for
watching Honest Answers.
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