Christian Divorce and Remarriage

Christians in America who exhibit the most preoccupation with sexual morality tend to talk a lot about matters such as homosexuality, pornography, sex before marriage, and similar issue. But except for the Catholic Church, we don't find them saying much about divorce and remarriage (and even American Catholic leaders don't say a great deal that is covered in the media). Why is that? Granted, Christians argue against divorce - but you don't see them saying that remarriage would be a sin. That's strange because, according to the Biblical texts, it probably is.

Deo Omnis Gloria, a Christian blog, helpfully lays out the matter - first by quoting relative passages:

Matt 5:31-32. It was also said, "Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce." But I say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 19:3-6. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one'? So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together let no man put asunder." They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity [porneia], and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." [Jesus quoted Genesis 2:24]

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

Luke also contains the same statement against divorce and remarriage as Matthew 5, but the verse in Luke leaves out the exception for "unchastity." Mark contains the same story as what we see here in Matthew 19, but again the exception for "unchastity" is absent - one has to wonder if perhaps this was an addition created by Matthew and which didn't exist in the original traditions. Regardless, Jay argues that this exception would be unhelpful for most Christians because it doesn't simply mean "unfaithfulness" (i.e., adultery), but a situation where the original marriage was never really valid in the first place:

To start, we must understand that all of the other prohibitions against divorce in the Bible include no exemptions - only Matthew includes this exemption (twice). The word porneia used here is not the technical word for adultery, which is moicheia. In addition, a key lies in the fact that some pagan religions of the time required marriages that were condemned under Leviticus 18:6-16. Primarily this passage condemns incestuous marriages between close relatives. This clearly makes sense. So the question remains, did Jesus merely mean infidelity or did he mean to refer to these condemned arrangements? ... In the time of Christ, those who had an invalid marriage as defined by Leviticus (incestuous), were not "divorced," but their marriage was defined as invalid. This gave them the option of remarrying (because they never had a valid marriage).

Let's review: both Paul and Jesus condemn divorce and remarriage. Divorce, if necessary, is acceptable - but remarriage either never is or is only acceptable if there is good reason to believe that the original marriage was never a truly valid union to begin with. Contrast this with the fact that Jesus never actually mentions homosexuality - only Paul has anything to say specifically in the matter.

Given this situation, one would think that those who claim to worry about the state of sexual morality in America and who also claim to consider the Bible to be the absolute, inerrant, and infallible Word of God to be at least as outspoken about remarriage after divorce as they are about homosexuality - especially when we remember that we can find far more remarriage in America and positive images of remarriage in the media than we will of homosexuality.

Now, I'm not saying that we should expect such people to be silent on subjects like homosexuality - on the contrary, we should expect that they would continue to voice their opposition to anything that would make homosexuality seem acceptable and appropriate. However, the fact that we see these same people saying nothing about remarriage - and in many cases remarrying themselves! - indicates that they aren't what they claim to be.

Most likely they are, contrary to their statements, picking and choosing what sorts of biblical laws and values they wish to enforce. It isn't simply a matter of emphasising "moral laws" which continue to be in effect while dismissing "ceremonial laws" that are no longer relevant - there is an argument for such a position, but the fact of the matter is that remarriage is a "moral law" which is mentioned more than once in the New Testament (unlike things like eating pork or wearing mixed-fiber clothing).

Technically speaking, the Catholic Church is the main exception to what I am describing here, and it's no surprise that Jay is a Catholic. I say "technically" because while the prohibition on remarriage remains, we don't see Catholic leaders speaking out on it like they do on homosexuality. A lot of time and money is invested in opposing things like laws that might allow gay marriage, but not in changing the laws to prevent remarriage for straight couples after divorce. I'd all that a form of hypocrisy - but perhaps an expected one because, in practice, getting an "annulment" is nearly as easy for Catholics as getting a divorce is. The "prohibition" here is not honored in reality to the degree one would expect from an institution that is truly holding to moral principles.

Read More:

• Ethics of Gay Marriage
• Separation of Church and State 101
• Religious Right
• Evangelical Christianity & Homosexuality