The Christian and Divorce I to blog

The Christian and Divorce

 

 

 

1.   The Biblical passages on Divorce:

a.    Matt. 5:32: “but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for {the} reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

b.    Matt. 19: 9  "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."

c.    Mark 10: 11-12 “And He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.’"

d.    Luke 16:18 "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.”

2.   Interpretive Issues:

a.    The Greek word for “unchastity” and “immorality” in the exception clauses in Matthew is “pornias” which is a general rule for immorality not “moicheuios” which is the specific word for adultery.

b.    The exception clause occurs only in Matthew, which was the gospel to the Jews. It does not appear in Luke or Mark. Which means the Gentile readers of Mark (the Romans) and Luke (The Greeks) had no exception at all. All divorce was prohibited.

c.    In Acts 15:29 the same Greek word, pornias is used with what may be a unique meaning. Read…what is the problem with this passage…would Paul be exhorting apparently obedient Gentile Christians to abstain from sexual immorality? They would have already been abstaining. Some believe therefore that this passage has a restricted meaning to pornias. Here it is believed to be an exhortation to abstain from marriage to near relatives.

3.   Interpretations of the Exception Clause:

a.    The exception clause is speaking of adultery in marriage. If one partner commits adultery the other partner is free to divorce and remarry.

i. Problem: The word is immorality and not adultery.

ii.                      Problem: The passage says does not give the divorced person freedom to remarry. Just the opposite is true

iii.                    Problem: Mark and Luke contain no exception clause.

b.    The exception clause is speaking of the marriage of believing Christians, if the divorce took place before you became a believer the divorce is forgiven when you come to Christ and the new believer is free to remarry.

i. Problem: In most of the passages examined the Lord quotes the creation account in support of marriage. In marriage God joins even unbelievers together in a one flesh union. Marriage is for all Adam’s children, not simply believers. This means the restriction would be in effect over unbelievers as well.

c.    The exception clause is speaking of the Jewish period of betrothal (one year period under contract between families). It only applied to Jewish people. There is therefore no exception for divorce today (in accordance with Mark and Luke’s gospels).

i. Problem: This interpretation depends upon a culturally restrictive meaning of pornias in Matthew’s gospel unique to the Jews. This is practically impossible to prove.

ii.                      The possible restrictive meaning in Acts 15:29 is not indicative of a restrictive meaning in Matthew since the audiences are polar opposites (Acts to Gentiles, Matthew to Jews)

d.    Divorce is never God’s will. God takes no pleasure in divorce in anyway. The scripture says God hate divorce (Malachi 2:16).  God desires each partner to persevere in marriage regardless of the circumstances. In marriage God brings two people together into a one-flesh union (Mark 10:7-9). Divorce rips this union apart and is never a good thing. God however permits divorce in the case of sexual immorality on the part of one party. This is permission not a command and should never be entered into lightly.

 

 

Gods Grant of Repentence Part I

God's Grant of Repentance

Part I

 

 

 

              When we last left our friend Sally she had just been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a personal decision of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sally has indeed exercised faith in our Lord. But something else happened concurrently with Sally's faith, and this is repentance. Paul instructs Timothy “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth...” 1 Tim. 2:25. It is God who grants repentance unto salvation. To understand repentance as it relates to the salvation of person in the age of grace however, we must understand how God uses this term in the Scriptures. There are five separate acts of repentance outlined in Scripture. These are: 1.  National repentance on the part of Israel (and one other nation)  in the Old Testament. 2. The repentance of Israel called for by Christ, John the Baptist, and the apostles in the New Testament. 3. The repentance the apostles called Israelites to directly after the day of Pentecost and in the early part of the book of acts. 4. The repentance of believing Christians. 5. And the repentance that leads to salvation of the human soul. It is this last one that is really the subject of our investigation. In order to understand this we must understand all the other acts of repentance to guard ourselves against convoluting God's teaching and wrongly dividing the word of truth.

              I will begin by giving a very general definition of repentance. I will give a more specific definition of repentance unto salvation in the age of grace (in which we are living now) in my next article. Our general definition is: Repentance is a turn to, or a return to God. Let's now examine the five separate acts of repentance given in Scripture with this definition in mind.

              The nation of Israel repented and turned back to God. “The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. When the sons of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them...” Judges 3: 7-9. This repentance was the turning of the nation back to God. It is not meant to speak of the turning of an individual Israelite in salvation toward God. The Hebrew word is Shubh which means: to turn, to turn about, and to return.

              Very closely related to this is the preaching of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles during the ministry of Christ on earth. John said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” Matt. 3:2. Jesus said, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” Matt. 4:17. The ministry of John and Jesus was to turn the nation of Israel back to God in preparation for the beginning of the promised Kingdom of Messiah. Of course we know that the nation refused the call to repentance and rejected the kingdom.

              The ministry of the apostles in the first part of Acts echoes the ministry of Jesus and John.  Peter said to the Jews gathered to him on the day of Pentecost “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified.... Peter {said} to them, 'Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'” Acts 2:36, 38. Peter called Israel to repent. Why? In his next sermon Peter says, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until {the} period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time” Acts 3:19-21. Peter knew Israel's repentance would be a sign that the kingdom would come. Peter was preaching repentance to Israel. The difference between this and the O.T. call to repentance was that this call also had the salvation of the individual Jewish person in view; for that matter it was the primary goal of the preaching. The call of Peter was a call to both the national salvation of Israel and the personal salvation of Jewish people.

              But Israel also refused this call to repentance as well. Paul, after the Jews began contradicting the message of the gospel said, “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, 'It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.'” As time went on it became obvious to the apostles that Israel had rejected God's call to repentance so much so that Paul in Romans 11:25 said, “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in...” Two things are clear. The ministry of the gospel of grace is primarily to the Gentiles, that is Gentiles are the primary beneficiaries because Israel has been “hardened” to the truth. But equally true is that Israel's eventual repent and restoration is also assured in that the hardening is “partial” not complete.

              As the ministry of the apostles in the book of Acts continues the calls to repentance diminish and the calls to believe increase. Paul said to the Philippian jailer “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Does this mean that repentance is not necessary for salvation?

              The answer to this question is of course, no. Repentance is spoken of in a believers salvation in Luke 24:46-47 Jesus said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” It is spoken of by Paul when he said “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all {people} everywhere should repent...” Acts 17:30. And again, as we have quoted in 1 Tim. 2:25 “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth...” 

              In each of these cases however the word repentance is used as a figure of speech   where the part us substituted for a whole. This means, in the uses above, the word repentance is substituted for the whole of  salvation. This is obvious from the context if we ask is it simply repentance that is being proclaimed by the apostles or is it also the necessity of being born again, of faith toward God, of justification, etc? Is God simply declaring that all men should simply repent or should they also believe in Christ? Of course all would be included in the single term. There is good reason for this and we will examine it in our next article.

 

              The last act of repentance used in the Word of God is the repentance of believers after falling into sin. In the book of Revelation Jesus says to believers at Laodicea  “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent” Rev. 3:19. The repentance of believers however is not a repetition of the repentance of the human soul at salvation. This happens only once and is never repeated.

              In examining the teaching of God's Word on repentance it is important to understand the different acts of repentance in Scripture in order to understand more clearly the one act of repentance at salvation. It is this act that we will examine in next months article.

 

             

             

Gods Grant of Repentence Part III

God's Grant of Repentance

Part III

Changing Your Mind about Jesus

 

 

 

              Biblical repentance involves a change of mind about God, Christ, sin, and self. The most important aspect of this change of mind is a change of mind about God and Christ.

              On the day of Pentecost, Peter instructed the Jews “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38. This is a famous passage but it is important to remember the context. These are the same Jews who, less than three months before, had cried for Jesus to be crucified; many of whom were convinced by their own Chief Priests that Jesus was a malefactor and a false prophet. Well did they deserve Peter's statement “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified.” Acts 2:36.

              Peter is calling them to a radical change. Until this moment in their lives, their assessment of Jesus was that of a false prophet who deserved to be crucified. In their  minds, God had condemned Christ to be crucified. Now, Peter calls them to a change of mind and heart. To believe, instead, that God had sent Jesus as the Christ, and that God had sent Him to be the Savior of Israel. He calls them to believe exactly the opposite of their previous belief.  The fact that they were already “... pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles 'Brethren, what shall we do...'”(Acts 2:37) showed that God had already granted them true repentance.

              God turns the hearts of those born again toward Himself. In so doing, their hearts are forever changed about the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Gods Grant of Repentence Part II

God's Grant of Repentance

Part II

 

 

 

              There are five separate acts of repentance detailed in Scripture. We examined four in my last article. The subject of this article, and the next few, will be, repentance unto salvation in the age of grace.

              Let's begin by giving a more precise definition of repentance during the age of grace. Repentance is; that act of God whereby He causes the regenerated sinner, in his conscious life, to turn to Him in repentance and faith, in response, the regenerate sinner, through the grace of God, turns to God in repentance and faith. Louis Berkhof Systematic Theology, p. 483. Biblical repentance includes a change of mind that results in a change of the direction of the soul. The direction of the soul is entirely reversed. The innate course of the human soul is away from God and the things of God and toward sin and the things of sin. In repentance this is forever reversed. The direction of the soul of a believer is toward God and the things of God and away from sin and the things of sin.

              Paul instructs Timothy “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth...” 1 Tim. 2:25. It is God who grants repentance unto salvation.  God grants repentance unto man and man repents. The emphasis however, must be on God granting repentance. Repentance is not something we can invent. Man may generate the appearance of repentance. Preachers may elicit very emotional responses from their congregations that a have the pretense of true repentance. But this is not repentance. Repentance  is only granted by God to those who He has chosen for salvation. It is true that “... having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all men everywhere should repent...” Acts 17:30. But it is equally true that only those chosen by God will repent unto to salvation “ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined {to become} conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” Romans 8:28-30.

              Repentance starts with God and ends with man. It is a work of God in the human heart and can never be produced by man. It is part of the order of salvation and the resurrection of the human soul from death to life; eternal life in Christ.

Gods Grant of Repentence Part IV

God's Grant of Repentance

Part IV

Changing Your Mind about Sin

 

 

 

              Biblical repentance involves a change of mind about God, Christ, sin, and self. Repentance most certainly involves a change of mind about sin.

              On the day of Pentecost, the Jews were convicted by Peter’s sermon of their sin of crucifying our Lord Jesus. Luke documents their reaction, “Now when they heard {this,} they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" Acts 2:37. The word for “pierced” is the Greek word katanyssomai, which means to prick, to pain the mind sharply; it is especially used of deep sorrow. (Thayer’s A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament). True repentance always includes sorrow for sin.

              In my last article I said repentance is primarily the change of mind about the person of Jesus Christ. It is turning to Christ and away from sin. But turning to Christ must involve departing from sin because in it you are turning to Christ from a life of sin. You cannot turn to Christ and stay in a life of sin. This is impossible. As the apostle Paul said “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.” 1 Thess.1:9.  The repentance granted the Thessalonians by God would have involved deep sorrow for their life of sin in idolatry.

              The repentance God grants involves the whole human person, mind will, and emotions. In Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, each of these elements is evident. He presents to their minds God’s truth concerning Christ being the Son of God, their rejection and crucifixion of Him (vv. 15-36). They react with emotion of deep contrition and sorrow (v. 37). Peter then calls them to exercise their will by making a personal decision to repent. “Peter {said} to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (v. 38).

              The true repentance God grants involves a change of mind about sin that produces a godly sorrow in the hearts of those chosen by God that leads them to make a personal decision of repentance unto salvation.

The Normal Christian Life

As I was thinking about how to begin this series about what a normal Christian life looks like God intervened. He asked me this question. If someone were able to look at your whole life today, every aspect of it, would they be able to tell that Jesus Christ was the center of your life? That Jesus defined your life.

My answer would of course be; no. To be sure if someone were observing my life that day they would certainly at least have seen that Jesus was a part of my life. I try to take time at lunch to read my Bible and pray. I pray with and for people at work. But would they be able to say Jesus defined my life or was the center of my life, no I don’t think so.

Have you ever seen the movie Gladiator? In it, the protagonist Maximus (isn’t that a great guys name, Maximus?) looks at what Rome has become and he declares; “Marcus Arelius had a dream that was Rome and this is not it!” I am convinced that Jesus Christ would say I have a plan for the life of my people, for Christians, and the life that you are living is not it!!!

We are satisfied with Jesus being a convenient side dish on the plate of our lives. Jesus is there to bless the plans we have for our lives. To bless our education so that we can get a good job, to buy a house so that we can have babies, payoff our house and retire in comfort, hopefully to some warm climate south of us. We want to be able to send our kids to College (and because we really love Jesus we hope it will be a Christian College of course). And after they get out of College they get to start the same process in their lives. Hopefully, we want them to do just a little bit better than us financially of course.

In the course of this we go to church to ask Jesus to continue to bless us. We do pray for the salvation of others, and that is honest, we want them to be saved. And we participate in committees and potlucks and the like. And everything is fine, right? Is this what the Christian life should really be about? Is this an example of a normal Christian life?

I believe that in a normal Christian life Jesus calls us to a radical commitment to Himself and the kingdom of God! This commitment looks much different than our lives ( I’m including my life as well). Jesus wants to be the main dish of our lives. Our lives are to be defined by our relationship to Jesus Christ.

Turn in your Bibles to Mark 8: 27-38.

In verse 29 Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. This is great news for Peter. It means his plans for life, his highest hopes were about to come true. Because he was the leader of the disciples of the Christ. It means that his highest and best plans for life would finally be realized. A great new home in Jerusalem when Jesus took over. Jesus would bring back and exceed the riches of the kingdom of Saul and David. It means his family would never want for anything again. His would be a dynasty that would continue in Jesus kingdom forever. Jesus being the Christ ensured that his dreams were about to come true!

Then comes verse 30. Then Jesus said to tell no one. Wait just a minute Peter thinks, we should be telling everyone. Tell everyone that you are the Christ and that the kingdom of God would certainly suddenly appear. Jesus we need to tell everyone!

Then it gets worse. Then Jesus says, plainly says in verse 31 that he was going to die. That the Messiah, the Christ would be put to death! Unthinkable. What happens to me if that happens? What about my highest dreams? You’re here to make them come true aren’t you? This is unacceptable! Peter rebukes Jesus in v. 32. Get that Peter rebukes Jesus. He basically says this is definitely not the plan Jesus! I know the plan and this is not it! You can’t die.

Jesus then rebukes Peter in v.33. Because Peter was being used as an instrument of Satan and not of God. He was setting his mind on man’s interest (his interest) and not on God’s.

When we look at Jesus as someone who exists to make all our dreams come true, when we look at Him as a Jeanie to give us as many wishes as we want, when we see Him as existing for our sake instead of us existing for His sake then we have got our Christian lives entirely upside down. We are living upside down Christianity.

Jesus shows His disciples the remedy for this in vv. 34-38. He shows them what the normal Christian life is not a life of self-indulgence but a life of self denial. v, 34

Disciples of Jesus deny themselves take up the cross of death and follow after Christ.

- In the garden Adam and Eve traded their supreme love of God for supreme love of self. They became something different. In believing the lie of the ages that they could be their own Gods they became supremely concerned with indulging and living for themselves and abandoned entirely their love for God.

- A Christian, a disciple of Jesus, a Christian living the normal Christian life, is someone who believes the truth of the gospel and has rejected the lie of the ages.

- He does not seek to save the self-interest of his own life. His life is not centered on his own interest.

- He has given up a life of self-interest for the sake of Jesus Christ and the gospel. v.35

- A disciple of Jesus living a normal Christian life views life as it really is. He knows that if he can gain the whole world in indulging self-interest in pursuing the lie that he will lose any hope of real life, life in Christ. He abandons all for Christ. vv36-37.

- He is willing to live the life of Christ and proclaim His word regardless of the cost.

What does the typical life of an evangelical Christian in America, in the Northwest, in our town look like? I mean, not what it should be, but what does it usually look like? What does the American Christian life look like?

The church in America has not called the people of God to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow after Jesus. Instead the church has become complicit in proliferating the American Christian life.

- The church encourages the gaining of possessions “Rich Dad Poor Dad…”

- The church is agreeable to congregations that attend, give money, and participate in committees.

- The rest of their lives, how they earn their money, how they spend their time, how they raise their children is their business as long as it does not obviously conflict with the word of God.

- When it does conflict with the word of God the best course is to ask the person to leave the congregation quietly.

The church is content with congregations that make Jesus and His teaching a part, albeit an important part of their lives.

A Normal Christian Life

What does a normal Christian life look like? I mean a normal Christian life according to the Word of God. I am not sure that we know. But I know I want to find out. The purpose of this blog is to find out what it means to live the Christian life according to Scripture.