Divorce And Remarriage Analysis

Humans like order. They like to have a set of rules to follow and then they like to bend those rules. Eventually they start to break the rules put in place to give them the structure they wanted. Religion is a structure humans crave. Due to this, every religion has rules that followers start to want to break. Divorce and remarriage have been just one of the laws brought to the forefront as one that should be examined. Gordon J. Wenham, William A. Heth, and Craig S. Keener are three authors who have discussed the issue of divorce in Christianity. All three have very different, yet similar beliefs on the subject. My personal views tend to align more with Craig S. Keener, but I will discuss all three. Gordon J. Wenham gives the strictest view …show more content…
He cites only Ambrosiaster as a first century writer who did not condemn remarrying after a divorce. In using first century sources, Wenham sheds light on common beliefs of society when Jesus was living. Since society in general was against remarriage, this should concrete the idea Jesus was against it as well. Wenham then dives into the New Testament. He states most of the New Testament is against divorce at all, but will allow it as long as those divorcing do not remarry. Remarriage is when the New Testament will label divorcees adulterers. Matthew is the only book that will allow divorce and remarriage, if one party has already cheated. Wenham goes on to explore common Jewish beliefs. In Jewish law, divorce for any reason and remarriage were fine, but the early Christian church always held the opposite view. Wenham raises the point, “… if one holds that the permissive view is the original sense of Jesus’ teaching, it becomes a great mystery as to how the early church came to hold the view that remarriage after divorce is wrong (Wenham, 35).” He believes the only explanation would be Jesus taught remarriage after divorce was wrong, since Jewish practice would state it was fine. In order to bring the Church back to its roots of no remarriage after divorce, Wenham proclaims educating believers to be the first step. This should include sermons, counseling sessions for engaged couples, and youth group …show more content…
Keener’s views most closely resemble mine. He believes remarriage is acceptable once acts by one partner break the marriage covenant with the other. In all cases the innocent one is allowed to move on and remarry. Keener cites, “… four of the six divorce texts in the New Testament make exceptions for an innocent party (Keener, 110).” Jesus’s prior use of hyperbole, Matthew’s entire passage on divorce being hyperbolic, Jesus’s other teachings assuming dissolubility of marriage, and Matthew’s two exceptions for innocent parties are all proof for remarriage after divorce. These exceptions do not allow believers to break up their marriages, but they can accept a divorce coming from their unbelieving partner. “I suspect that Jesus did not intend to tell us where to draw the line so much as to make us faithful to our marriages (Keener, 115).” In other words, Jesus taught to work through marital problems before pulling the plug on the entire union, but if the problems are unable to be worked through a divorce is an all right path. Keener does mention if divorce is the course taken, even innocent parties need to take time to heal before looking into remarriage. Jumping too quickly into a new relationship will only lead to that one failing as well. “… I am convinced that Jesus’ saying about remarriage being adultery was hyperbole, I believe that its point was to (as in all other New Testament teachings on divorce) to prevent the dissolution of