Divorce, Remarriage and a Redemptive Hermeneutic

What are your thoughts on divorce and remarriage? What do you think the bible teaches on these issues? I recently scanned William J. Webb’s book Slaves, Women & Homosexuals in which he discusses a redemptive hermeneutic. In short, he points out that the revelation of God in the Scripture was progressive when it comes to dealing with the abuses of slaves and women in comparison to the then current societies and cultures. He handles homosexuality differently. Briefly, he seems to suggest that Scripture is timelessly consistent in its condemnation of homosexuality. The conclusion begs the question, “Do we continue this progressive, redemptive hermeneutic, or did the Scripture take it as far as it needed to go?” I would like ask whether we could place divorce and remarriage in such a discussion?

Is the Scripture progressive or timelessly consistent?

Divorce and remarriage is commonplace in the Church today. Does such a redemptive hermeneutic apply to these marital issues or is the Scripture timelessly consistent in its stance on divorce and remarriage? These are not easy issues to wrestle with…while you may find that you are skilled at throwing intellectual punches in the blogosphere; one only needs to sit across a family member or friend who has been divorced and remarried – and is a believer mind you – in order to hesitate in your position.

This post came to my mind while I was doing some work in the Apostolic Fathers. Read what is written here in The Shepherd of Hermas, and happy blogging! I look forward to our discussion:

Shep. 29:1 ¶ {Mandate 4.1.1} “I command you,” he said, “to guard purity, and let no thought enter your heart about another man’s wife or about fornication, or about some such similar evil thing, for in doing this you commit a major sin. But always keep your mind on your own wife and you will never go wrong.
Shep. 29:2 For if this desire enters your heart, you will go wrong, and if others things as evil as this enter, you commit sin. For this desire in a servant of God is a major sin, and if anyone does this evil deed, he brings death on himself.
Shep. 29:3 So beware; have nothing to do with this desire; for where holiness lives, there lawlessness ought not to enter the heart of a righteous man.”
Shep. 29:4 I said to him, “Sir, allow me to ask you a few more questions.” “Speak,” he replied. “Sir,” I said, “if a man has a wife who believes in the Lord, and he finds her in some adulterous situation, does the man sin if he continues to live with her?”
Shep. 29:5 “As long as he is unaware of it,” he said, “he does not sin. But if the husband knows about her sin and the wife does not repent, but persists in her immorality, and the husband continues to live with her, he becomes responsible for her sin and an accomplice in her adultery.”
Shep. 29:6 “So what, sir,” I said, “should the husband do, if the wife persists in this passion?” “Let him divorce her,” he said, “and let the husband live by himself. But if after divorcing his wife he should marry another, then he too commits adultery.”
Shep. 29:7 “So then, sir,” I said, “if, after the wife is divorced, she repents and wants to return to her own husband, she will be taken back, won’t she?”
Shep. 29:8 “Certainly,” he said. “If the husband does not take her back, he sins, and brings a major sin upon himself. In fact, the one who has sinned and repented must be taken back. But not repeatedly: for there is only one repentance for God’s servants. So, because of the possibility of her repentance, the husband ought not to marry. This procedure applies to wife and husband.

Don’t Ever Get Over It

Wednesdays are my true hump days. I get up and get to school by 8:30 for a 2 hour lecture on the history books of Israel and the wisdom books. Then I have a small group meeting through lunch followed by a class on Greek Exegesis. All of this is before 2:30. Then, I review Hebrew and attend the Student Ministry Staff meeting. Afterwards, I have a class on Soteriology that lasts from 6:45-9:30. Needless to say, I am busy on Wednesdays.

When I signed up for the class, I thought that it would be a refreshing course since last semester I took a class on Angelology, Anthropology, and Hamartiology (Angels, Man, and Sin). The class was great and my professor was very thorough. But, as the name suggests, I left the class feeling depressed most days. All the discussion regarding the world’s condition and the universe’s perpetual state of darkness apart from God can be very–how should I say–disheartening. So, a class on Salvation was a way to move past the problem to the solution.

It’s been great so far. My professor is in his 80’s, has already retired, and is back for a short season while the seminary gets out of its financial crunch. Yet, I have found him to be delightful and his enthusiasm for the content gives me a boost to endure the late hour class. One thing he said is what I’d like to reflect on for the moment and I hope that these short words can lift the spirits of all who read, and encourage you to pursue the living Christ more and more each day.

“Don’t ever get over being saved,” Dr. Robert Lightner says. Read that again. This time, say it. Isn’t that convicting! On our best days, I think we easily acknowledge that we “aren’t over it.” But on our worst days, I think we don’t even get close to remembering the depths of God’s love for us. The reality is that it’s easy to get over it. We like the material, the visible, and the immediate. God saves us and…we’re still here, living with the same family, going to the same school, and hanging out with the same friends. And if you got saved while you were young, then you figure that church is a way of life and that your salvation is part of life. But, it’s not. There are some who aren’t saved. There are some that will not be saved. Every one of us, needs to be reminded that salvation was a gift that we were given. Everyone of us needs to be reminded that we can’t ever let this gift seem blasé. It means too much to “get over.”

Everyone one us was on the “unsaved” side of the aisle, at one point in time. Whether you were there for 5, 10, or 50 years, doesn’t matter. That was our starting line. We lost the race before we even began. Romans 1-3 tells us that we were all “under sin,” and this section of the book appropriately labeled Condemnation ends with this fact about us “There is no fear of God in their eyes.” Everyone’s starting point is here. My starting point was here. The result: condemnation. Guilty and sentenced.

But, this is so easy to forget. It’s easy to forget that a sentence must be carried out. To be saved means to be rescued from having to fulfill this sentence. In a world filled with trials and appeals, we fail to remember that in God’s judicial system, the trial was finished and decided before we were done! Our sins are punishable by death! Oh, how miserable we were and destined for an eternity of fulfilling this sentence in hell!

Spend some time this week considering the miserable estate that we were in. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:11-22. We were without hope and without God in the world. In this passage, Paul reflects (really for our sake) on who we were before God. Think about those words, “without hope and without God, in the world,” and think about how that doesn’t describe you anymore. Take a week and reflect. Remember, “Don’t ever get over being saved.”