One Last Thing

As it turns out, my cousin, Dan Heimbach, is a Professor of Christian Ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. My mom showed me a book he has written entitled True Sexual Morality which examines biblical sexual morality and how far we (as in "we Christians" even) have strayed from a biblical view on the topic. (By the way, contrary to "popular opinion", the Bible is not "all over the place" on the topic.) So, I asked Dr. Heimbach (it just seems odd to think of my cousin that way, but, hey, my brother has the same title, so why should it seem funny?) about some of the content (which I'll blog about later). It's always interesting when you can ask the author of a book, "What did you mean here when you said ...?" Then I asked him to take a look at my blog at the posts about divorce and remarriage and give me his input. (You know ... a "professor of Christian Ethics" ought to have input on the ethics of divorce and remarriage from a Christian point of view. He did.) It was a pleasant and interesting conversation and he confirmed largely what I wrote. Then I asked him my "tough question" and, as it turned out, his reply matched precisely my view. He noted, however, that I never gave my view on that question in my blog. So, since I failed to comment on it before and since he encouraged me by concluding as I did ... here it is.

If you've read my blog, you know that I believe that divorce is wrong. I see no grounds for any Christian to initiate a divorce. (I'm not talking about things done to you. I'm talking about divorcing someone.) As such, you would conclude that remarriage is off the table, and you'd (largely) be right. However, years ago when I was researching the subject (in Scripture), I came across this:

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. (1 Cor 7:27-28).

Now, I'm not shy about taking hard stands, so if Scripture teaches "Thou shalt not ever remarry" then I'd take that stand. But here I run up against something ... else. Here I run up against my "tough question".

The subject is marriage. Paul suggests (not "commands") that no one get married because times are tough and marriage is a distraction. Fine. He mentions in 1 Cor 7:10-16 that a Christian spouse should stay with a non-Christian spouse, but that if that non-Christian spouse leaves, "the brother or the sister is not under bondage." So here we are at verse 27 with the same language. "Are you bound to a wife?" Paul compares two conditions in which you might find yourself. You may be married ("bound to a wife") or you may be divorced ("released from a wife"). I say divorced because of the language of the text. You can't be "released" if you were never "bound". You can be "free", but not "released". That term requires a previous binding. So Paul says, "If you marry, you have not sinned." (He also lays out the third possibility -- unmarried. If a virgin marries, she hasn't sinned either.) The sentence "If you marry, you have not sinned" refers to someone in the previous verse. Clearly we can eliminate the married person, leaving us with the "released" person. This person was told "Do not seek a wife" and then comforted: "But if you marry, you have not sinned."

So, where does that leave me? I believe that there are no grounds for divorce to the Christian. I have already eliminated adultery and desertion. No grounds at all. I still hold that no Christian should ever under any circumstance initiate a divorce. So what do I do with this new "tough question"? When I read the previous passage (1 Cor 7:10-16), I notice a lack of action on the part of the believer. They don't do anything. They don't divorce the non-believer. They don't make them stay. "Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases" (1 Cor 7:15). I would hold, then, that, while I still maintain that no Christian should ever initiate a divorce and while it is best to remarry the spouse who left if possible, I would hold that a Christian who is divorced by a non-Christian is allowed to remarry (as long as the new spouse is a believer).

Now, these are very limited conditions and not optimum, I would argue, but I find this the only way to make sense out of the passage as it is written. So, as I've contended in the past, Christianity (like life) is not cut and dried. And, once again, I find myself walking a very thin line. But, that's how I see it.