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Divorce and remarriage

Dave-W

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As I read 1 Cor 7, it permits the believer to allow the unbelieving spouse to leave.
That puts the believer in a limbo state that was not even imagined back in the first century - being separated but not divorced.

The separations at the beginning of the chapter were for very short term; days or weeks, NOT months and years.
 
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98cwitr

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That puts the believer in a limbo state that was not even imagined back in the first century - being separated but not divorced.

The separations at the beginning of the chapter were for very short term; days or weeks, NOT months and years.

Exactly right. Christ is wanting reconciliation, and never divorce. Moses permitted divorce because the Hebrews' hearts were hard. Christ AND Paul are clear in teaching that divorce is forbidden. It is a vow made not only to your spouse, but to God, for God joined the two into one. If a person breaks that vow and divorces their spouse, it is a sin; but even moreso it is a further sin to remarry, as it makes the new spouse an adulterer. It's bad enough to cause yourself to sin, but it's (I think) even worse to cause another to sin. I'm not on a self-righteous soapbox, just repeating my own understanding of Scripture. I am a sinner the same as the next man...as not to be a hypocrite.
 
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Dave-W

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Exactly right. Christ is wanting reconciliation, and never divorce.
I absolutely agree on that point.
Moses permitted divorce because the Hebrews' hearts were hard.
Moses wrote NOTHING that God did not give him approval to write. That includes the statute on divorce. It was PROTECTION from the damage from those with hard hearts.

And guess what? People STILL have hard hearts. Even true believers. On that point, the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 multiple times: "Today if you hear HIS voice, do not harden your heart..." That was NOT written to unbelievers. We still need that protection.
 
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mikesayen

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Or, Thumb War.
Statement: You can divorce for abuse.

Answer: Jesus only spoke about “sexual immorality” in the Gospels and Paul only spoke about “abandonment” (which really was not abandonment but a desire and initial response of the unbeliever to end the marriage). Trying to get abuse out of sexual immorality or abandonment takes a lot of scripture twisting. Jesus or Paul never mentioned the Greek words associated with physical “abuse”.
 
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Paidiske

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That may be so, but did either Jesus or Paul put forward a vision of marriage which allowed for it to be abusive?

Sometimes, divorce saves lives. Which is more important; the spouse remaining in the marriage, or remaining alive?

Just because Jesus and Paul were silent on that issue does not mean that we also should choose silence.
 
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mikesayen

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That may be so, but did either Jesus or Paul put forward a vision of marriage which allowed for it to be abusive?

Sometimes, divorce saves lives. Which is more important; the spouse remaining in the marriage, or remaining alive?

Just because Jesus and Paul were silent on that issue does not mean that we also should choose silence.
I totally agree!!! In the Jewish culture, they beat men up to get them to sign their wife's divorce papers (get). It seems to me that the men in the Old Testament times were very aware of their family members (12 Tribes of Israel) and would beat them for abusing their wives, or expel them from the synagogs or out of the city gates. I think this tells us men to be men and actively try and prevent a man from beating his wife. And the Church should too. But, the hard part becomes that in most cases the wife is married to an unbeliever (or seems to be) and we need to protect these women and children but we also do not want to cause an unscriptual divorce. God says to love them and let God be the Advenger.
 
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mikesayen

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Statement: You can divorce for abuse.

Answer: Jesus only spoke about “sexual immorality” in the Gospels and Paul only spoke about “abandonment” (which really was not abandonment but a desire and initial response of the unbeliever to end the marriage). Trying to get abuse out of sexual immorality or abandonment takes a lot of scripture twisting. Jesus or Paul never mentioned the Greek words associated with physical “abuse”.
Statement: You can divorce but not remarry anyone else.

Answer: I have two scriptural points to address this doctrine. First, Deut. 24:2 did not say it was a “sin” for the woman to remarry her second husband. In addition, God had made a covenant with Abraham/Christ and another with Moses 400 years later. Gal. 3:17, “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” God divorced Israel and Judah in Heb. 8:8-13 making that covenant “obsolete” while the marriage covenant of Jesus and the Church began. Otherwise, the Jews and Christians could attain salvation at the same time by two entirely different covenants and biblical standards.
 
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Dave-W

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God divorced Israel and Judah
God divorced Israel (northern tribes) but NEVER Judah.

Rom 11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2a God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.
 
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mikesayen

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God divorced Israel (northern tribes) but NEVER Judah.

Rom 11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2a God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.
God finally divorced Judah when the rejected Moses' Prophet. Therefore, Heb 8:8-13 was fulfilled and Both Israel (2 Kings 17) and Judah have been divorced. Therefore Moses' covenant is now obsolete.
 
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Grafted In

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Both parties can remarry, if it was done according to Moses' concession. Neither party commits adultery in remarriage. But, scripture only allows the man to initiate the divorce according to Deut. 24:1 (this practice is still common to Israel and the Orthodox teachings o the Jews).

I disagree.
 
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98cwitr

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I absolutely agree on that point.

Moses wrote NOTHING that God did not give him approval to write. That includes the statute on divorce. It was PROTECTION from the damage from those with hard hearts.

And guess what? People STILL have hard hearts. Even true believers. On that point, the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 multiple times: "Today if you hear HIS voice, do not harden your heart..." That was NOT written to unbelievers. We still need that protection.

I don't believe true believers do have hard hearts...we'll have to agree to disagree in that point. While Moses was permitted by God to grant divorce, Jesus turns that upside down in the Gospels. Are we following what Jesus said or what Moses said?
 
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Dave-W

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I don't believe true believers do have hard hearts...
Then who was the author of Hebrews writing to? Unbelievers?

Hebrews 3:15 while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”

4:7 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
 
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mikesayen

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I don't believe true believers do have hard hearts...we'll have to agree to disagree in that point. While Moses was permitted by God to grant divorce, Jesus turns that upside down in the Gospels. Are we following what Jesus said or what Moses said?
98 you are correct. Heb. 3 and 4 warn us that those who vontinually have a heard heart will not enter heaven. This is a warning to Chrsitians
Then who was the author of Hebrews writing to? Unbelievers?

Hebrews 3:15 while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”

4:7 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
this is a warning to Christians not to harden our hearts in unbelief and not enter the promise land. For although Israel was promised to enter in, that generation did not. If we continue in sin and unbelief we also will not enter in the promised land of heaven.
 
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Dave-W

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this is a warning to Christians not to harden our hearts in unbelief
Correct. Which means that some believers can and do harden their hearts.
 
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mikesayen

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Correct. Which means that some believers can and do harden their hearts.
Yes, but if a Christian continues in the sin of hardening their heart in sin and unforgiveness, they will be rejected and cast into the fire where the worm never dies. Again, this is a harsh warning to Christians to escape the judgement of doom.
 
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Dave-W

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Yes, but if a Christian continues in the sin of hardening their heart in sin and unforgiveness, they will be rejected and cast into the fire where the worm never dies. Again, this is a harsh warning to Christians to escape the judgement of doom.
True, but that is increasingly off topic; and a major point of contention with our Baptist and Presbyterian brothers who hold to once saved always saved.
 
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mikesayen

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True, but that is increasingly off topic; and a major point of contention with our Baptist and Presbyterian brothers who hold to once saved always saved.
Yes, but this is in the context of the Scripture you quoted. We have a new heart and a new spirit. And scripture says to love our neighbors. Hardening our hearts to divorce our spouse is no longer a valid excuse to put away a repentive spouse. Not saying you, but I hear way too many Christians quoting the hard heart as a valid excuse for divorce.
 
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mikesayen

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Yes, but this is in the context of the Scripture you quoted. We have a new heart and a new spirit. And scripture says to love our neighbors. Hardening our hearts to divorce our spouse is no longer a valid excuse to put away a repentive spouse. Not saying you, but I hear way too many Christians quoting the hard heart as a valid excuse for divorce.
Oh, a good example for you is 1 Cor. 7:10. The woman divorced from her husband but Paul mentions reconcilliation as a means of action for her.
 
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Dave-W

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Hardening our hearts to divorce our spouse is no longer a valid excuse to put away a repentive spouse. Not saying you, but I hear way too many Christians quoting the hard heart as a valid excuse for divorce.
I notice you said a repentive spouse, but what about one who still is a believer but is hard of heart and unrepentant? My dad was a believer and understood the bible to say it was good and proper to beat his wife into "submission." In the name of "discipline" he would spank me with a belt until I was almost unconscious. One time he picked me up by the neck and thew me down the basement stairs. My mom left and divorced him when I was 6 to save both of our lives.

He had been a pastor.
 
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