Christian Marriage, the Second Time Around

Christian Marriage, the Second Time Around

The Marriage Covenant, Divorce and Remarriage

Divorced Christians may marry again without it being sinful, despite what many scholars have said. The Scriptures clearly state that if the bonds of marriage are broken, and the person marries again, he has not sinned. To show this I have written a treatise on the customs, backgrounds and practices of Marriage, Divorce and 'Putting Away' of the Ancient (the time of Moses) and early Christian (first century) Jewish community, as seen from Scripture. This perspective refutes the idea that Christians who divorce are not allowed to remarry.

By David M Harris, B.Sc.

Extracts from the Authorised (King James) Version of the Bible, the rights in which are vested in the Crown, are reproduced by permission of the Crown's patentee, Cambridge University Press.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Summary of Objectives
1.2 Obligations
1.2.1.....Love
1.2.2.....Other Obligations
1.2.3.....Obligations of Friends and Family
1.2.4.....Counseling as a Friend
1.3 Reason for this Treatise
2. Overview
2.1.....Marriage
2.2.....Termination of Marriage
2.3.....Widowhood
2.4.....Divorce
3. Scriptural Considerations
3.1.....Hebrew Law (Torah)
3.2.....Hebrew Scriptures (Tenach - Old Covenant)
3.3.....New Covenant
4.1......HEBREW Words Relating to Separation and Divorce *1
4.2.....GREEK Words Relating to Separation and Divorce *1
5. The Scriptural Meaning of Adultery
5.1.....Dictionary Definition
5.2.....Scriptural Definition
6. The Problem of Poor Logic Applied to Matthew 19:9
6.1.....Definitions
7. Selected words from Strong's Lexical Concordance *1

Comments and Challenges
A1. No Conditions on Marriage Vows

A2. Implicit Scriptural Pronouncement Against Polygamy

A7. Christ allows divorce for fornication

A8. The women in Ezra were clearly divorced

A9. Israel was not permanently rejected

A10. Malachi does not say Bill of Divorcement refused

A12. "Let not" is very strong

A15. Choreo does not appear in 1 Cor. 7:10

A17. Paul does not say "remarriage is not sin"

A22. Adultery is always punished by death

A23. Matt. 5:32 shows the man is the evil-doer

A24. Jesus equates divorce and putting away

B25. 1 Cor. 7:8 does not relate to 1 Cor 7:11

B28. 1 Cor 7:8-9 is completely different to v:10-11

B29. The text jumps from 1 Cor 7:10 back to verse 9

B30. Apoluo and apostasion both mean 'divorce'

B31. The husband's options are different from the wife's

C33. Thorough and sensible

C34. Benefit to marriages between divorced people

C37. Emphasise this does not justify divorce

C39. Fornication is hard to forgive

C40. No justification for divorce

*1 To display the Hebrew and Greek words properly you need the SHEBREW and SGREEK fonts installed on your system. These can be obtained as shareware products from Silver Mountain Software at URL: http://www.silvermnt.com/

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Comments and Challenges
A1. No Conditions on Marriage Vows
A2. Implicit Scriptural Pronouncement Against Polygamy
A7. Christ allows divorce for fornication
A8. The women in Ezra were clearly divorced
A9. Israel was not permanently rejected
A10. Malachi does not say Bill of Divorcement refused
A12. "Let not" is very strong
A15. Choreo does not appear in 1 Cor. 7:10
A17. Paul does not say "remarriage is not sin"
A22. Adultery is always punished by death
A23. Matt. 5:32 shows the man is the evil-doer
A24. Jesus equates divorce and putting away
B25. 1 Cor. 7:8 does not relate to 1 Cor 7:11
B28. 1 Cor 7:8-9 is completely different to v:10-11
B29. The text jumps from 1 Cor 7:10 back to verse 9
B30. Apoluo and apostasion both mean 'divorce'
B31. The husband's options are different from the wife's
C33. Thorough and sensible
C34. Benefit to marriages between divorced people
C37. Emphasise this does not justify divorce
C39. Fornication is hard to forgive
C40. No justification for divorce

Christian Marriage, the Second Time Around
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Created 1999 December 15th
Web Page by David M.Harris, B.Sc.

This page has been accessed times since 2000 January 7th

Last modified 2000-03-23, by David Harris; e-mail david@harris-clan.org