Show Notes
Divorce, Remarriage, and the Teaching of Jesus Welcome back to Vine Abiders. In our study through the Sermon on the Mount, we’ve come to Matthew 5:31–32—the words of Jesus on divorce and remarriage. It’s not an easy passage. In fact, this subject has followed me in a unique way. Last year I wrote a book on it—Remarriage After Divorce: A Biblical Defense of the Traditional Christian View. I didn’t publish it under my full name but under C.A. White, because I was hesitant to make it public. It’s a hard teaching. In America, almost everyone knows someone who has been divorced and remarried. Writing about it feels like a direct challenge to people we love. But the Sermon on the Mount won’t let us skip difficult words. Jesus’ next subject is divorce and remarriage, so today I’m going to walk through the main arguments of that book and summarize what Scripture and church history actually say. Three Views Within Evangelical Christianity There are three main positions in the church today: * The Permissive ViewDivorce is allowed in cases such as fornication or abandonment, and remarriage is permitted in those cases. This is common in modern evangelicalism. * The No-Divorce ViewDivorce is never allowed for any reason, and remarriage is only possible after the death of a spouse. This is relatively new and niche, though it has modern proponents. * The Traditional ViewDivorce may be permitted in limited cases, but remarriage while the former spouse lives is always adultery. This was the view of the early church and is the position I defend. The Witness of the Early Church For most of church history, the consensus was clear: divorce might be tolerated in some situations, but remarriage was forbidden as long as the spouse was alive. William Heth and Gordon Wenham’s Jesus and Divorce puts it bluntly: “To list those who hold that remarriage after divorce is contrary to the gospel teaching is to call a roll of the best-known early Christian theologians… in all, 25 individual writers and two early councils forbid remarriage after divorce.” This wasn’t fringe. It was universal. The change came with the Reformation. How the Reformation Changed Everything Erasmus, an early reformer, was among the first to suggest that remarriage might be a “social good.” His reasoning wasn’t biblical but pragmatic—remarriage, he thought, could relieve social pressures and emotional pain. Luther went further. He argued that adultery was a capital offense in Old Testament law. Since adulterers “deserved death,” they could be considered dead in God’s eyes, and the innocent spouse was therefore free to remarry. Ironically, the same Luther who often dismissed the Old Testament as binding on Christians leaned on Old Testament stoning laws to justify remarriage. From there, Protestant teaching began to diverge from the early church. What Jesus Actually Said When we read all of Jesus’ statements together, three related sins emerge: * Divorcing a spouse and marrying another is adultery. (Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18; Matthew 19:9) * Marrying someone who has been divorced is adultery. (Luke 16:18; Matthew 5:32) * Improperly divorcing someone makes them guilty of adultery. (Matthew 5:32) This isn’t just about divorce. The real issue is remarriage. Take Luke 16:18: “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.” Notice the universality: “everyone.” There is no exception clause for remarriage. Or Mark 10:11–12: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.” This passage makes clear that the sin applies to both sexes. Whether husband or wife initiates, remarriage is adultery. Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 Matthew 5:31–32 is, in my view, the Rosetta Stone for understanding Matthew 19:9. In Matthew 5, Jesus says that improper divorce causes the innocent spouse to comm
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