Below are the marriage situations we have been discussing in class. Please look them over, talk between yourselves and families. Feel free to click "comment" to add comments or ask questions.

Jim and Nancy divorce

Jim and Nancy

 

 

              Jim and Nancy have been married for 5 years. Jim and Nancy were both non-Christians when they were married. Since their marriage Jim has become a believer, but Nancy has not. Jim loves Nancy and wants her to become a believer with all his heart. He has suggested Bible study together, but she has politely declined. Jim has started attending our church. He has put Nancy on the prayer chain asking us to pray for her salvation.

              As time passes Jim becomes more and more involved with church and less and less involved with Nancy. They grow distant because Jim is interested in the things of God, and Nancy is not. Nancy still wants to be married to Jim, but the relationship becomes extremely difficult.

              Jim confides in you that he feels as if he has been spiritually abandoned by Nancy and believes that per 1 Cor. 7:8-16 he believes that he has cause for divorce. He will continue to pray for Nancy and says he will reconcile the day she becomes a believer.

 

 

1. Based upon 1 Cor. 7:8-16 what would your advice to Jim be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Is there anything you would suggest to Jim with regards to reaching out to his wife with the gospel?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Does Jim have biblical cause to divorce his wife? If so, why, if not, why not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. How should the church try to help people in situations like Jim's? Is there anything our church should be doing for both Jim and Nancy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jennifer and Tom Divorce

Jennifer and Tom

 

 

              Jennifer and Tom have been married for ten years. Two years ago, Tom lost his job and was forced to make a career change. This became an extreme source of stress for Tom.  Jennifer noticed a definite change in Tom. He has stopped attending church. Over the next year, he started verbally and emotionally abusing both Jennifer and their two children. He never spends time with his kids. And when he does he yells at them and calls them “stupid kids.” Tom’s attitude towards Jennifer is worse. He tries to control everything she does. Each time she goes to shopping he always criticizes how much she spends. She told Tom she would try to get job to try to take the stress of Tom but Tom said that was the stupidest idea he had ever heard. He yelled at her and said “I make the money around here and I always will.”

              Six months ago Jennifer had enough. She separated from Tom and began living with her Mom and Dad in Marysville. She started attending our church. While at church, she met a wonderful Christian man, Jim. He is everything Tom is not. He is considerate. He loves the kids and spending time with them. He treats Jennifer like a Queen.

              Jennifer confides in you that she and this new beau are considering a life together and that she is thinking about divorcing Tom.

 

 

1.    Based upon Matthew 19:3-10; Mark 10: 2-9; Luke 16:18; and 1 Cor. 7:8-16 does Jennifer have biblical cause to divorce Tom? If so why, if not, why not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.    Jennifer is sure that the course she has chosen is God’s will since Jim is such a godly man. They pray together each night. He has begun a Bible study with her kids, something Tom has never done. What would your advice to Jennifer be about Jim?

 

 

 

 

3.    How has the church failed in the case of Jennifer and Tom? What actions could the church have taken to avoid the situation that now exists?

 

 

 

 

4.    What would your advice to Jennifer be about the possibility of divorcing Tom?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott and Louise divorce

Scott and Louise

 

 

              Scott and Louise have been married for twenty years. Scott is a deacon in the church. About six months ago Scott abruptly stopped coming to church. A female friend of Louise discovered that Louise suspects Scott is having an affair. A couple of months go by and the church discovers that Scott is indeed having and affair. He resigns from both his position as deacon and his church membership. He begins living with the “other woman” and announces he intends on divorcing Louise to marry her.

 

1.    Based upon Matthew 19:3-9; Mark 10: 2-9; Luke 16:18; and Matt. 18 15-17 what should be the church’s response to Scott’s sin? Does it make a difference that he resigned his membership from the church?

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.    How should the church minister to Louise? What advice would your group give Louise about the current situation with her husband?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.    Let’s say that Scott does indeed marry this other woman, is Louise free to remarry?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.    Its been two years, and Scott realizes that he has sinned against Christ, the church, and Louise. He desires to seek forgiveness and restitution. What will this look like now that he is remarried?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John and Sandy divorce

John and Sandy

 

 

              John and Sandy are a couple who met at our church.  They fell in love and want to be married.. Both are new Christians. In their non-Christian lives both had previously been married.  The spouses of both John and Sandy are now remarried.

 

 

 

 

1.    Based upon Matt. 19:3-9; Mark 10: 2-9; and Luke 16:18 can John and Sandy biblically remarry?

 

 

 

 

2.    What advice would you give John and Sandy based upon 1 Cor. 7:27-28?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.    Are there any issues that your group can think may need to be resolved in their previous marriages before they get married to each other?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.    In such a situation how would you introduce the possibility of remaining single as Paul encourages in 1 Cor. 7?

 

 

 

 

Pauls teaching on divorce for the blog

1. Paul’s teaching on divorce in 1 Cor. 7: 8-16.

a. Paul teaches teaching is in full agreement with the teaching of Christ. A wife must not seek to leave the marriage relationship through divorce and neither should the husband. To do so would be breaking the commandment of the Lord and thus be in sin.

b. Even in the case of a believer being married to an unbeliever the marriage bond is sacred and should be preserved.

c. If an unbelieving spouse leaves however the believer is to allow the marriage to be dissolved. God allows for this situation. Paul said “not the Lord but I” because Christ did not address this issue specifically in the gospels, Paul addresses it here. In such cases the believing spouse is “not under bondage” to such a commitment and may remarry, but only in the Lord (to another believer).

d. In 1 Cor. 7 Paul identifies four different classes of people as it regards the marriage bond:

i. The married (v. 10): Those currently in the bond of marriage.

ii. Virgins (v. 25): Those who have never been married.

iii. Unmarried (Gr. Agamos) (v. 8): Those who were previously married but are now divorced.

iv. Widows (v. 8): Those who were previously married but whose spouses have passed away

e. Is divorce permitted per Jesus words in Matt. 19 and Luke 16:18? The answer seems to be yes based upon Paul’s teaching in v. 8. But he shows a better way than remarriage:

i. “It is good form them to remain even as I, that is a single state. If you are widowed or divorced the best course is to remain unmarried.

ii. “Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife” v. 27.

3. Vv. 28-35 Paul instructs the unmarried and virgins about the blessedness of serving Christ in a single state