060: Divorce & Remarriage pt 8: The NT Teaching on Remarriage pt 2 - Mt 19 & the Exception Clause

05/27/23 • 31 min

I examine Jesus’ teaching on remarriage in Mt 19, focusing on His exception clause. Should we understand Jesus’ exception to be applicable to both divorce and remarriage, or only divorce? I argue that Jesus’ exception gives moral permission to the innocent spouse to both divorce and remarry. I also address why it is that the innocent spouse who was victimized by sexual immorality is free to remarry following a divorce, but the innocent spouse who was victimized by an unjust divorce is not.

Web: ThinkingtoBelieve.com
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: facebook.com/thinkingtobelieve
Twitter & Gettr: @thinking2believ
Truth: @ThinkingToBelieve
Parler: @thinkingtobelieve

Web: ThinkingtoBelieve.com
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: facebook.com/thinkingtobelieve
Twitter & Gettr: @thinking2believ
Truth: @ThinkingToBelieve
Parler: @thinkingtobelieve

Previous Episode

059: Divorce & Remarriage pt 7: The NT Teaching on Remarriage pt 1 - Mt 5 and how to interpret "adultery"

I have moved on to the NT teaching concerning remarriage. I begin with an examination of teaching in Matthew 5:31-32. The entire episode focuses on the critical question of how we should understand Jesus’ teaching that those who remarry following an unjust divorce are guilty of “adultery.” Was He speaking literally or hyperbolically? In isolation, the literal interpretation is to be favored, but based on the context of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, I argue that Jesus clearly meant for us to understand “adultery” as hyperbole.

Those who remarry after an unjust divorce are no more guilty of actual adultery than those who lust after a woman are guilty of actual adultery (or those who are unjustly angry at their brother are guilty of actual murder). Jesus’ point is that the spirit of the command against adultery includes our thought life and remarriages. He isn’t claiming that lust and remarriage are just as bad as adultery. They are sinful, but lesser sins, and as such, people who commit these sins be punished as if they had committed actual adultery. Those who remarry following an unjust divorce committed a sin when they contracted a new marriage, but it is a bona fide marriage nonetheless and it would be wrong to force them to divorce.

Web: ThinkingtoBelieve.com
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: facebook.com/thinkingtobelieve
Twitter & Gettr: @thinking2believ
Truth: @ThinkingToBelieve
Parler: @thinkingtobelieve

Next Episode

061: Divorce & Remarriage pt 9: The NT Teaching on Remarriage pt 3 - Mk 10 & Lk 16

I finish up my examination of Jesus’ teaching on remarriage in the Synoptic Gospels. The brief version in Luke 16 rehashes Jesus’ teaching found in Matthew and Mark, so I focused my attention on Mark 10. Mark’s version is unique in two ways: (1) It is the only account to address a woman who divorces her husband, and (2) it specifies that the man who unjustly divorces his wife and remarries commits adultery against his ex-wife. This is important because it invalidates one interpretive approach to Jesus’ teaching, namely understanding it in light of the OT teaching on adultery. I demonstrate that Jesus’ definition of adultery differed from the OT definition, and thus we should not use the OT definition as a filter for understanding Jesus. To do so would actually cause us to misunderstand Jesus.

Web: ThinkingtoBelieve.com
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: facebook.com/thinkingtobelieve
Twitter & Gettr: @thinking2believ
Truth: @ThinkingToBelieve
Parler: @thinkingtobelieve