The Simple Truth

Regarding the Question “Who may marry?”
Audio with Power Point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y01VAqGEicU

A.  If you are a disciple of Jesus in the next 10 minutes, you could well learn something that could benefit you, a   

      friend or family member greatly. 

1. Please stay with us to the end as we answer the question “WHO MAY MARRY?”.

2. Our concern on this matter is only what the Bible teaches.

3. If you are enlightened, please like and share for the benefit of others.

B. What is my view on divorce and marriage?

1. Before I answer this, understand that I gave up the view I was taught in my youth, which is that the divorced commit adultery upon marriage.

2. I gave up that view because of the numerous hermeneutical problems associated with it.

B. All should be able to see that it does not make sense that God would punish someone with a life of celibacy

     for making a bad choice for a marriage partner in their youth, and there is scripture condemning such    

     action:

Proverbs 17:26 “to punish the just is not good”

Gil – “Evildoers indeed should be punished; but to punish the righteous also, as well as them, is far from being commendable.”

Proverbs 17:15  “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.”

Body

I. Faithful men and women in the church, and those who would like to be saved, who were divorced but have married again are regularly and systematically being condemned and punished (if they believe this false doctrine and capitulate) by being taught that they have no right to marriage and are living in adultery or will if they marry.

1. The Scriptures condemn such action as well as those who are guilty of commanding it.

1. The apostle Paul, in his letter to Timothy, put “forbidding to marry” into the category of “doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1-3).

1. This text begins with “in the latter times some shall depart from the faith.”

2. Based on the context, is “forbidding to marry” evil whenever it is imposed no matter on whom it is imposed?

1. Indeed, it is so evil that the result, according to the text, is that those guilty have departed from the faith.
2. Faith comes by hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17).

1. Thus, we should have faith that a divorced person is free to marry because of Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 7.
2. He said in verse 2: “To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”
3. Then, regarding the “unmarried,” (includes those divorced) he commanded to “let them marry” (verses 8, 9).
4. Just in case some might fail to get the message, he (a few verses later) contrasted those “bound” (married) with those “loosed” (divorced) and said they (the loosed) do not sin if they marry (1 Cor. 7:27, 28).
5. All attempts to pervert this passage, and others, so that people cannot see the truth that destroys the traditional teaching that forbids marriage, fail miserably in honorable debate. 

2. One truth that traditional teachers are completely unable to give an answer to is that the men in Jesus’ day could have more than one wife.

1. This is troubling for them because they pervert Jesus’ teaching to apply to MEN (who are divorced) and forbid marriage for men.

1. Jesus did not say these men committed

adultery in divorcing a woman and marrying another.

2. Divorce is what the woman wanted, as opposed to being “put away” (sent away) and thus being unable to marry.

3. Jesus’ concern was the action of the men who sent away a wife but refused to divorce her, according to the command of Moses.

4. He said such a man “committeth adultery against her” (Mark 10:11).

2. Sadly, brethren today are not seeing the truth here and say the man’s adultery, if he divorces or is divorced, is WITH the person he marries. 

1. No scripture supports that assertion.
2. If Jesus forbad marriage for a woman after divorce (because divorce did not end the marriage) then would it not apply to the men? 

3. Yet there was no consequence for the men who divorced, other than their relationship with God for how they treated their women.

1. They were not told to remain celibate.
2. Nevertheless, preachers today are misapplying Jesus’ teaching and making it applicable to both men and women.

2. The view I now hold is very simple and easy to affirm in honorable discussion, as it is solidly supported by scripture.

1. The passage that was the focal point of discussion between Jesus and Jews who sought to destroy Him is Deuteronomy 24:1-2.

1. Jesus referred His detractors to it when He said, “What did Moses command you?” (Mark 10:3).

2. The text states that after the woman was given a certificate of divorcement, “she may go and be another man’s wife.”

3.  God confirmed that this was not just Moses’ teaching but His teaching when He used it Himself in divorcing Israel (Jer. 3:8).

4. This was the law in effect that Jesus was obligated to teach and defend, which He did faithfully.

5. To have taught contrary to it would have been sin.

6. This passage makes it very clear that divorce ends marriage.

2. And so, the Bible’s answer to the question “Who may marry?” is emphatic – divorce ends marriage, which means a divorced couple are no longer bound to each other and are free to marry.

II. Contrary to popular teaching, Jesus did not say the woman who is divorced would commit adultery if she

     married another.

1. Had he done so He would have contradicted the Law and given the Jews a legitimate reason to kill him.

2. He said a "put away" woman would commit adultery if she married another, and this is true because that action (putting away) is not divorce.

3. Thus, the woman Jesus described would commit adultery upon marrying because she was NOT divorced, rather than because she was divorced.

4. A mere “putting away” (sending out) or permanent separation was not divorce and:

1. The “sending away” did not free the woman.

2. She was not loosed.

3. Apoluo is the key Greek word.

4. Though often errantly translated as divorce, that is NOT what the word means.

5. It was used that way by people who did not believe or respect the Law of Moses, but not by Jesus or the apostles.
    

Conclusion

1. I urge preachers and elders to stop driving people away from God and the church by telling them their legal marriage is adultery and that they must divorce and live celibate.

1. This is clearly “forbidding to marry,” which, as mentioned previously, Paul put into the category of “doctrines of devils.”  

2. Such teaching discourages evangelism because many hours are often wasted when the potential converts (wanting to be saved) who have been divorced are given the ultimatum.  

2. What I’ve shared with you is the truth.

1. It is simple, believable, and easy to see and understand.

2. However, because of peer pressure and job security if you are a preacher, it might not be easy to accept and take a stand for truth.

3. Compare what we just presented with the traditional view.

1. The traditional view is laden with problems,

as it has: Moses commanding what God did not want, Jesus contradicting Moses, Paul contradicting Jesus, and Christians teaching an unjust and unfair doctrine and charging that Jesus requires it.

2. And again, it has Jesus contradicting the Law that allowed the divorced woman to “go and be another man’s wife.”

1. Before teaching on the evil of putting away Jesus made it clear he was NOT changing the Law when he said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt. 5:17, 18).

2. Yet brethren falsely assert that Jesus took issue with Moses (the Law giver) and changed the law.

3. But if Jesus changed the Law: 
     1) He sinned and thus could not be the Savior and

           2)  He lied in saying it would not change before “all is fulfilled”; and

                3) God lied in saying Jesus had no sin.

  4) Unfortunately, many brethren have not listened and falsely assert that Jesus changed the law when He was dealing with the Jewish false notions as to how they thought the Law allowed them to treat their wives.

       5) The thought that any Christian would be willing to accept the teaching that forbids marriage, and the consequences we have noted, and continue with their tradition is disheartening.  

For further study of this issue I invite you to visit my website that contains a vast amount of information, to include articles that deal with virtually every aspect and question related to this subject, study materials, tracts, videos, audios, debates, and books: www.TotalHealth.bz

I have a 278-page book called Put Away But Not Divorced that can be ordered from me or from Amazon:
 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1943245754Rob

RobertWaters@yahoo.com