Divorce and Remarriage

by Bryan Owen

I first posted this over at Creedal Christian back in August. I offer it again here, not only because the Gospel reading appointed in the Eucharistic lectionary for today (Mark 10:1-12) is about divorce and remarriage, and not only because I continue to believe that this is an important moral issue that the Church largely ignores, but also because I sometimes hear people refer to this matter as though either (a) biblical teaching on these issues is simple and univocal, or (b) because there is diversity in the New Testament, there is no clear, normative biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage.

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It’s just my luck that in the daily Eucharistic lectionary for this Friday, the Gospel reading is Matthew 19:3-12 – one of the five passages in the New Testament that deals with divorce and remarriage. That’s not a topic that regularly pops up in sermons (I’ve never preached on it until today’s noonday service), and the relevant passages rarely surface in the Daily Office and Sunday Eucharistic lectionary cycles. It’s not the sort of thing I’m eager to preach about.

Fortunately for me, Biblical scholar Richard B. Hays’ discussion of the relevant biblical texts in his book The Moral Vision of the New Testament (HarperCollins, 1996), provides a nice summary of what the New Testament says about divorce and remarriage – and thus gave me a way to address this topic in a brief homily. Here’s the gist of Hays’ summary:

Relevant Texts

1. Mark 10:2-12

2. Matthew 19:3-12

3. Matthew 5:31-32

4. Luke 16:18

5. 1 Corinthians 7:10-16

New Testament Diversity

1. Mark and Luke categorically prohibit divorce.

2. Matthew and Paul allow for possible exceptions to the norm of life-long marriage in cases calling for pastoral discretion.

3. In Matthew and Luke, only the husband can initiate divorce.

4. Mark and Paul recognize the right of women to initiate divorce.

5. Matthew maintains that divorced women can only remarry as adulteresses, while men may possibly remarry without sin if their former wives were guilty of unchastity.

6. Luke excludes the possibility of remarriage after divorce.

7. Paul advises against remarriage, but acknowledges that options for remarriage may exist for Christians divorced by unbelievers.

8. Mark does not address the problem of remarriage in special circumstances.

New Testament Unity

1. Normative vision: marriage is a permanently binding commitment in which a man and a woman become “one flesh.”

2. Divorce is always an exceptional and tragic deviation from the norm.

3. Rules out no-fault divorce and serial monogamy.

Given this summary of New Testament diversity, it simply will not do to say, “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it!” when it comes to divorce and remarriage. There is no single biblical rule here. Instead, there is a moral argument internal to the New Testament canon. So it is not appropriate to make categorical judgments about particular cases of divorce and remarriage on the basis of isolated biblical texts. The entirety of the New Testament’s diverse witness must be taken into account. This is particularly important given the fact that none of the New Testament writers address issues such as spousal abuse as a legitimate reason for divorce. In cases calling for moral and pastoral discernment, other factors may also require appeal to additional authoritative resources in tradition and reason to supplement the diverse biblical witness.

At the same time, the points that unite the New Testament’s diverse voices must also be taken seriously. In particular, the summary third point – that the New Testament rules out no-fault divorce and serial monogamy – strikes very close to home in virtually every Christian congregation. Serial monogamy has displaced lifelong unions as the norm in our culture, and in light of the high divorce rate among Christians, the Church has followed suit. Sober assessment of the Church’s accommodation to our culture ought to make all Christians who claim to take biblical authority seriously think long and hard before we throw stones at others we perceive as sinners.

I think that the New Testament texts on divorce and remarriage need to be read, not only in relation to each other, but also within the larger context of the entire biblical story of God’s grace in creation and covenant. We do well to remember that the Bible is a love story that begins with a divorce and ends with the union of heaven and earth in the New Jerusalem.

Yes, repentance is necessary. But redemption is always possible.