Posted on 01/28/2013 10:46:27 AM PST by Laissez-faire capitalist
This may seem like a round about way of dealing with this topic, and it does get your attention, but the scriptures are clear on this (adultery/marital unfaithfulness):
Jesus said that a man would leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two would be one flesh.
Jesus also said (Matthew chapter 5) that a man (or woman) may put away their mate for marital unfaithfulness and remarry.
In light of this, since Jesus sanctioned the remarriage, and would not consider the former mate to be the man's wife any longer, this man can be a bishop/overseer (1 Tim Chapter 3), as he would not be the husband of more than one wife, as Jesus sanctioned the remarriage, and would not then consider him to be the husband of two wives.
I was just wondering how the Assemblies of God, Baptists, etc, came to their current teaching on this.
Any input appreciated...
Thanks.
Jesus also said (Matthew chapter 5) that a man (or woman) may put away their mate for marital unfaithfulness and remarry.
Actually, it doesn’t say that. It says that for any reason other than that he makes her an adulterer. That is because in that case she has already made herself one.
BTW, my first wife, after 20 years, divorced me because she was just tired of being married. I remarried. The woman had been divorced. That was 15 years ago and I’m in marital bliss the likes of which I didn’t know was possible.
But where does that leave me, scripturally? Do you know how many “non divorced” 40 something women there are? And by marrying, we prevented “burning”.
Most modern Baptists and Pentecostals, etc, are descended from austere and pious sects that emerged before and during the Reformation. There were the Waldenses, and the Anabaptists, which we still have with us today.
During the reformation, they at first had the same understanding as you express. However, after some of them were executed for bigamy, since the authorities at the time did not recognize divorce, they decided that they should eschew divorce for the sake of their testimony. Consequently, they would never allow any divorce-remarried to occupy leadership positions in the church, where they were highly visible.
To this day, the Anabaptists will consider you as lost and going to Hell if you are divorce-remarried, unless you and your current spouse separate and reconciliation with the former spouse is actively pursued, regardless of how little chance there is for same.
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
Matthew 5 (NIV)
It seems to be a twist from what Jesus actually said.
The actual term from the Greek is porneia - which is not semantically equivalent to "marital unfaithfulness.
I know some people don’t recognize that verse from Matthew, saying ...except for unfaithfulness.....is license to remarry. And if you do remarry (the innocent spouse who has not committed adultery), those same ppl now tell you, you are now guilty of adultery. Of course they reason, since you can only have one wife.
Well that is just foolishness imho. If you were under the law, in the days before Christ, you would be widow/widower if your spouse cheated on you. Both Deuteronomy 22:22 and Leviticus 20:1 specify death as the punishment for adultery. Just because Jesus spared the life of the adulteress woman (and thus she is not executed and her husband freed from the marriage vow in that manner), is it not a big assumption to state that he would also forbid her husband from divorcing her and remarrying...especially in light of specific passages in the Old Testament allowing such a thing?
Even if that was not the case, and your wife was simply divorced, if she remarried (or if you are) you can not take her back. Deuteronomy 24:4 states that would be DETESTABLE to God. So to the folks who say ditch the new wife, reconcile with the old.....I say ignore them. You clearly shouldn’t do what is detestable to God.
In our Catholic bible it is understood as “unlawfull” not unfaithful. Unfaithfull to Jews at the time would have been a marriage in the same family.
Marriage is a covenant with God. Divorce will never be good, no matter what the circumstances. Obviously people prefer to do whatever they feel like, as opposed to what God wants.
King Henry the 8th, separated from the Catholic church and formed the Anglican church so he could remarry. Maybe that is where the wording changed.
I personally see divorce as sin. But I will help one with that spec in their eye right after I get this log out of mine.
I’m not saying divorce isn’t a sin. I’m saying it isn’t always a sin. You know, when the spouse cheats.
What about your/her children. If we were the only ones that mattered I doubt Jesus would have been so adament in his gospels.
There are four New Testament passages that talk about divorce:
Matthew 5:31-32
Matthew 19:7-9
Mark 10:2-12
Luke 16:18
There are four New Testament passages that talk about divorce: Matthew 5:31-32 Matthew 19:7-9 Mark 10:2-12 Luke 16:18 Mark and Luke make no exceptions.
Yer still married to wifey number one.
While it may be true in some cases, I don’t see this passage addressing that issue.
Wideawake is correct—there is a distinction between the Greek moichatai (which more or less equals adultery—not fornication) and the Greek porneia—which would include adultery, fornication, and a whole lot more. Matthew 19:9 has both—the only grounds for putting away a putative life is for porneia, and one who marries a divorce woman is guilty of moichatai.
Under Jewish law, one couldn’t marry anyone one felt like—beginning with close relatives (or a woman that was already married). The best explanation I have heard is that if one has attempted marriage with someone that one couldn’t marry—even if done in good faith by both parties—the resulting state would not be marriage but porenia.
To put it in Catholic terms, if one discovers that there was something present from the beginning that made the marriage impossible, the marriage attempt was nul, and thus the union is capable of being declared nul—thus annulments.
The children? Good question. In the case of my wife’s children, their father died of leukemia when they were very young (she remarried after that).
Regarding my children, it was hard on them. But I take this position: I take responsibility for some of the problems in my first marriage, but not for the divorce. The reason? I didn’t do it. I had no choice. This is what no-fault divorce brings us to.
But once I was single I needed to marry, for the reasons Paul describes. I actually put together a band with two of my daughters and I councelled and tutored my third in my line of work. She is now a VERY successful business analyst. The other two went to college. One is now an accountant and the other a civil engineer. The divorce was hard on them but I was a lot better equipped to deal with it married than single. Single I was pretty worthless.
And my current wife took one of my daughters from the remedial math stage to becoming a math whiz in high school to the point that it became her favorite subject and her “remedial” teache said she was one of two students in his entire career teachin remedial math that successfully climbed out of that “group”. She is the one that is now a civil engineer who graduated with honors.
Meanwhile their mother burns through boyfriends and fights with each one incessantly (so say my girls, anyway).
But even after all that JBQ, none of them are Christian as adults. You don’t become a Christian because of who your parents are. That is between them and God. All I could do was teach them through His word and example - and pray for them. And their hostility to the faith is waning.
Does that go for on-line cheating, or just for physically cheating?
Matthew 5
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Yer still married to wifey number one.
Well, the bible does say that if the non-believer leaves, you are to let them leave...
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