Divorce & Remarriage

If you do any of the shopping, probably the strangest part is at the checkout. The magazine section there is perhaps the strangest collection in print. One of the strangest periodicals is the Hollywood marriage and divorce scene. The tragic life is so common in this area that it has become a parody. Because it is so common and tragic, it has become a parody. Commenting on this scene commentator said: “In Hollywood they get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day. The hardest thing in Hollywood is to keep the marriage a secret until the divorce leaks out. I was invited to a Hollywood wedding. Traffic was heavy, so I got there late -- just in time for the divorce. One Hollywood kid has good reason to be proud: at the last PTA meeting, he won the prize for having the most parents there. One actress is very sentimental: she always gets divorced in the dress her mother was married in. Finally, a Hollywood bride looked around as the groom put her down after carrying her across the threshold. Puzzled, the Hollywood bride said, "This place looks familiar. Have we been married before?". The tragedy outside of Hollywood is that for far too many people life now resembles art. The stuff of Hollywood yesteryear now can be seen in the everyday. These days it is not uncommon to read of prenuptial agreements, messy custody battles, haggling over spousal support and the list goes on and on.

The situation in Corinth was no different. When Paul dealt with the Greek cities such as Athens and Corinth, and other Roman cities, divorce was a frequent thing. Some in Corinth were saying it was better to remain single to be more spiritual. Ascetics considered sex carnal, not spiritual, and were divorcing their spouses. The Hedonists lived for pleasure and would divorce and remarry on the drop of a hat with only objective of selfish pleasure.

What’s important to distinguish up front is that I am not trying to pick on anyone. If you are divorced or remarried, it is not my intent to single you out or to embarrass you. I realize for many this issue is painful, and this is not an academic or theological exercise. It is a very personal and painful experience that has touched your lives. I hope we can all have a greater biblical understanding and know how to go forward as well as counsel others and consider the issue for those who may encounter the problem, both as a personal choice as well as with those they care about.

No one it seems has not been affected by the topic of Marriage and Divorce. We are either the participants, children or friends of someone who is or has gone through this process. The statistics and effects from depression to crime almost seem meaningless. The effects of divorce are all around us. What we need is the solution and God’s guidance.

1 Corinthians 7 guides us in family arrangements through three elements First with: 1) Guidelines for Christians Married to Other Christians (1 Corinthians 7:10-11), 2) Christians Married to Unbelievers Who Want to Stay Married (1 Corinthians 7:12-14), and finally for 3) Christians Married to Unbelievers Who Want to Leave (1 Corinthians 7:15-16).

In Addressing the topic of Divorce and & Remarriage, the Apostle Paul first gives:

1) Guidelines for Christians Married to Other Christians (1 Corinthians 7:10-11)

1 Corinthians 7:10-11. [10] To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband [11] (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. (ESV)

Paul does not callously (cite) the Lord’s prohibition of divorce to beat down those whose marriages were in trouble and who were at wit’s end as to what to do. A man “who weeps with those who are weeping” (Rom. 12:15) surely would have spoken differently to those struggling with the demise of their marriages. From 1 Corinthians 6, at least four marital arrangements were practiced in that day—ranging from the common–law usus to the noble confarreatio. To the married covers every type. That both partners of the marriage in view here were Christians is clear from Paul’s giving them this charge/instruction (which he never gave to unbelievers) and from the fact that in verses 12–16 he deals specifically with marriages in which only one partner is a believer. (Garland, D. E. (2003). 1 Corinthians. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (280). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.)

Please turn to Matthew 19

Lest there be any doubt as to the source of the teaching here, the apostle adds, not I, but the Lord. It is in reality not Paul but the Lord himself who issues this order, for the order here stated is the one issued by Jesus himself in Matt. 5:32; 19:6, and when Paul says, “I give this charge/command” (present tense), he means that the order of Jesus has continuous, permanent force. In this instance Paul can use a word that was spoken by Jesus himself in regard to the permanency of marriage, a word that has validity for all time (Lenski, R. C. H. (1963). The interpretation of St. Paul’s First and Second epistle to the Corinthians (285–286). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.)