Proposition: The teaching of the New Testament only permits the one who has divorced his spouse for fornication and one whose spouse has died, to remarry.
Definition of Proposition:
By teaching, I mean, that which was provided by God to assist humankind to be able to impart to other people the mind of God.
By New Testament I mean, the twenty-seven books from Matthew thru Revelation.
By only permits I mean, though one is divorced and loosed from his/her spouse according to the laws of the land, he is not scripturally loosed by God and free to marry another without sin.
By divorced I mean, that the laws of the land have given one a legal dissolution from his spouse so that he may legally marry another without committing bigamy.
By for fornication I mean, (from the Greek porneia [porneia] in the New Testament) a general or generic term which means, “sex between unmarried people, homosexuality Jude 7; bestiality, incest, adultery (I Corinthians 5:1). (W. E. Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words). Every kind of sexual immorality.
Simply put, unless one divorces his/her mate for sexual immorality or one’s mate has died, he may not, with God’s approval, marry another.
As I pointed out in the last negative, there was not a single person who was said to be unmarried that brother Waters proved was divorced. However, according to I Corinthians 7:27-28 Paul said, “Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. 28But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned…” There were those who were told to not “seek to be loosed.” In this context, there is no doubt that this statement was talking about divorce. However we must understand that some were loosed from a husband or wife without being free to marry another. In other words, the word loosed must be understood according to context. In the immediate context Paul said, “art thou bound to a wife, seek not to be loosed.” Art thou loosed from a wife seek not a wife. But if thou marry, thou has not sinned.
Now why would I make such a statement? Let’s look at verse 39. “The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord” (I Corinthians 7:39). Here Paul tells of a woman who is not only married to a man but also bound by the law to him AS LONG AS HE SHALL LIVE.
In Romans 7:1-4 I read, “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” To what law were they dead? Romans 7:7 “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” What law said, “Thou shalt not covet”? It was the tenth of the ten commandments given to Moses at Mt Sinai.
The point of these passages is to show how long one is bound to the Law of Moses. He illustrates it by bringing to their remembrance what they already knew about the marriage law. He concludes it by saying, “ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.” You will observe that he did not say the law was dead, but that they were DEAD TO THE LAW. He likened their “death” to the law to the death of the husband in verse 3, that they might be married to another, even Christ.
Paul said in Colossians 3:3, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” The reason they were no longer under the Law of Moses is because when they were “dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:5); they were “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20); “buried with Him in baptism” (Colossians 2:12); and are now “dead to sin” (Romans 6:2) by the “body” = death, burial and resurrection, of Christ. Hence they were no longer bound to the Law of Moses.
That one can be bound to one person and married to another is clearly shown in Mark 6:17-18. “For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her. 18For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.” Thus she was bound to one (still Phillip’s wife) but married to another (Herod).
According to Scripture, there are only two classes of people who are no longer bound by law to their first spouse. One whose spouse has died (Romans 7:2-3) and one who has put away his wife for fornication (Matthew 5:32 ; 19:9). All others commit adultery when they remarry – brother Waters to the contrary notwithstanding.
See the entire debate in one file: http://www.totalhealth.bz/smith-waters-divorce-complete.pdf