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I recently saw the following posted on the Internet by a
gospel preacher: "In last week's feature lesson, we focused upon
Matthew 19:1-9, where Jesus was asked by the Pharisees if a man could
divorce his wife for just any reason." This man posted this even after
he was shown that Jesus did not use either of the Greek words for
divorce, apostasion or lusis. What word Jesus used was the word for put
away, or separation, which is apoluo.
A careful study of the context (applying good hermeneuitics) will
reveal that apoluo, as used by Jesus, did not mean the divorce itself,
as defined by Moses (Deut. 24:1-3) and as we understand it today.
We would not accept this "lazy" or "loose" translating
of the Greek by some in denominations to justify certain unscriptural
positions, would we? Of course not! So why do so many allow and accept
the same behavior when it comes to matters regarding marriage and
divorce?
Just because a person says that sprinkling or pouring
means the same thing as baptism (immersion) does not make it true. One
who has been sprinkled or poured has only been sprinkled or poured.
They have not submitted to biblical baptism (immersion) - they have
only gotten wet! Their sins have not been washed away (Acts 22:16)
because they have failed to follow the commands of the Lord. Just
because the dictionary defines the word church as a building does NOT mean
that the church (ekklesia) that Jesus built is a building! The ekklesia
is the community of believers that comprises the body of Christ!
When it comes to matters of marriage and divorce how can
we just sit by idly while many preachers continue to teach that apoluo means divorce, and claim
that Jesus taught that the divorced could never marry anyone other than
their spouse "unless for fornication"? Apoluo does not mean divorce! It
means to put away, repudiate, or send away from the house.
(Denominationally influenced scholars say apoluo means divorce in some
contexts, but that is for you and I to determine.) Apoluo (send away) is a part of
the divorce process set up by Moses in Deuteronomy 24:1-3 - "When a man
taketh a wife, and marrieth her, then it shall be, if she find no favor
in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he
shall write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and
send her out of his house."
Notice that in order for a man to obtain a legal divorce
he had to do three things: 1) Write a bill of divorcement; 2) Give it
to his wife; and 3) Send her out of his house. If all a man did was apoluo his wife (put away, or send
her out of his house) then he was still legally married to that
woman. [With these facts in mind Jesus' teaching in Matt. 5:32;
19:9 is not hard to understand nor to accept and practice. ]
Moses also wrote the reason WHY a man was to follow
these procedures: It was so that the woman WOULD BE FREE TO MARRY
ANOTHER MAN: "And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and
be another man's wife." (Deuteronomy 24:2) The traditionalists would
have us believe that Jesus CHANGED the Law of Moses, when He did not.
If apoluo means
divorce, as we understand the term, then its Hebrew equivalent must
also mean divorce. The Hebrew equivalent of the Greek apoluo is shalach. Therefore, Deuteronomy
24:1 would have to be translated thusly: "When a man taketh a wife, and
marrieth her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes,
because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write
her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and divorce her."
This sloppy translation has the man divorcing his wife twice! Now how
ridiculous is that? Unfortunately for those wishing to perpetuate the
man-made doctrine that forbids those who are legally divorced from
getting married, there will be s day of reckconing when it will be
understood that their doctrine was NOT what Moses wrote, nor what Jesus
said! Apostasion in the Greek (the writing of the bill of divorcement)
is the same as kriythuwth in the Hebrew. One was not considered
divorced simply by separating (sending from the house [shalach] in the
Hebrew, anymore than one was considered divorced simply by separating
(putting away, or sending from the house [apolou] in the Greek.
Even today we would not consider one divorced simply because one has
separated! We, too, demand that the couple go through the legal process
and obtain the divorce documents and have them served.
It is also quite telling that the traditionalists tell
us that a man and woman who are divorced and married to another spouse
must divorce in order to please God! Then and only then can they marry
each other again! This, however, flies completely against the word of
God. God said He found such practices an abomination, i.e., a man
taking back a woman that had been married to another: "And if the
latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and give
it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband
die, who took her to be his wife; her former husband, who sent her
away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled;
for that is abomination before Jehovah: and thou shalt not cause the
land to sin, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance."
(Deuteronomy 24:3-4)
This preacher I had reference at the beginning of this
article also wrote the following: "Jesus went on to declare that one
who divorces his spouse and remarries is guilty of the sin of continual
adultery…." Is this statement in agreement with what the Law of Moses
said? Would Jesus have been rightly referred to as keeping the Law of
Moses perfectly IF He had taught CONTRARY to the Law?
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