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