Particularly interesting is the way Paul's summary of God's teaching (verses 3 and 4) fits with the remarks attributed to Jesus in the Gospels (verses 1 and 2). 22 JESUS AND DIVORCE THE EARLY VIEW OF THE CHURCH 23 doctrine, must be placed next to the teaching of the New.
CHAPTER TWO The Early Church View
3-9 and Parallels Maffhew 19: 3-9
However, in light of verse 12, Davies believes that a better alternative is to understand “this statement” in verse 11 as referring to the disciples' words in verse 10: “it is better not to marry.” First, in Matthew's Gospel, a number of different words are used to convey the common theme of the disciples.
9 in the Light of 5: 32
7 Erasmus's humanistic concerns are evident in his approach and interpretation of the divorce texts. The results of Erasmus' interpretation of the divorce texts began the process that gradually isolated him from both camps.
CHAPTER FOUR Modern Defences of the
Murray's second line of defense for the Erasmian view arises from his understanding of the function of the exclusion clause. The last point is the mainstay of the Erasmian view, as it is defended today.
CHAPTER FIVE
Genesis 1 and 2
This would include the permission of marriage and the social and legal customs of the time (cf. The correct understanding of the relationship 'one flesh' in Genesis 2:24 as indicating the establishment of a new kinship unit or family is explained in the biblical law regarding forbidden unions (cf. Murray in his defense of the Erasmusian view of divorce and remarriage holds that the divorce reflected in this passage resulted in the dissolution of the marriage bond.
Divorces in the Mosaic economy did not actually result in “the dissolution of the bond of marriage,” and to follow Murray's reasoning, the “divorce” Jesus spoke of did not result in the dissolution of marriage either. Following Yaron, he says that Deuteronomy 24 actually regards the restoration of the first marriage as a form of incest. This will in turn be followed by an analysis of the other lines of defense put forward in the fourth chapter.
CHAPTER SIX
But the exception sounds better [our course] in the middle of the Greek sentence and is the right place for it.5. In any case, the testimony of the Fathers can only be secondary support for the teaching found in the New Testament. David Field, in a useful survey of the voices involved in the contemporary divorce debate, argues that.
How then can anyone claim that the word 'divorce', given the exception in verse 9, carries the meaning of simple divorce. Divorce is used of complete divorce with the right of remarriage on the lips of the Pharisees in Matthew 19:3, 7. Paul's qualified exhortation stands in the way of R. H. Charles's understanding of the New Testament teaching on divorce.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The first variation of the illicit marriage view received authoritative support through the study of J. It is possible that the Jerusalem decree was formulated in light of the situation in which Gentile converts, intermarried, were offending the conscience of Jewish believers. There are some good arguments in favor of this change in view of illicit marriages.
The variation between marriages will be taken into account in the criticism of the version of the forbidden degrees that follows. This is potentially devastating to the rabbinic interpretation of the divorce texts, for this view is virtually based on the belief that porneiu in the Jerusalem decree denotes incestuous. The problem of the exact meaning of porneiu in the Jerusalem Decree has no simple solution.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Another critical problem with the view that porneiu in the Matthean exception texts corresponds to Hebrew zenfit is the near certainty that logou porneius (thing or matter of unchastity) in Matthew 5:32 is a cryptic reference to the Shammai school of reading. of 'erwut d&ir (the nakedness of a thing) in Deuteronomy 24: 1. It resolves the conflict between the Gospel accounts of Jesus' teaching without resorting to the twisted logic of the Erasmian view. The case of a woman's unfaithfulness to her fiance during the time between the making of the marriage covenant and the consummation of the marriage is dealt with in Deuteronomy 22:23-27.
The Lodge on Divorce is formulated as a paragraph of law, intended to be obeyed by members of the Church. From the philological point of view, therefore, there are very strong arguments against this interpretation of the clauses as allowing divorce in the case where the woman was guilty of adultery.*'. If the Sitz im Leben of the exclusion clauses is the life of Jesus, then the betrothal view has an even better chance of being correct than the illicit marriage view.
CHAPTER NINE
Apart from these texts, the word appears in only two other places in Greek literature of the period. One of the most important considerations in the preteritive or "no comment" view concerns the meaning of logos porneius ("thing of unchastity") in Matthew 5:32 and porneius in 19:9. The last point we want to say in favor of the preteritive view is the appearance of Jesus' teaching activity in the Gospels.
This distinction affects our interpretations of the remarks that Jesus makes in public. The same principles as discussed in Chapter 6 in the critique of the Erasmus view apply here. We believe that Lovestam, quoted earlier in this chapter, has clearly articulated the precise meaning of the exception clauses in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jewish marriage customs are the background.
CHAPTER TEN
It must be admitted that if the Erasmian interpretation of the exception clauses is accepted, critical scholars cannot be blamed for cutting out the clauses or attributing their presence to the hand of Matthew who supposedly found the absolute nature of Jesus. Although they have sometimes accused the gospel text of confusion where there is none,7 scholars who hold the traditional-historical view have rendered the gospels a great service: they have provided the necessary pressure to see that either the Erasmian interpretation must be abandoned or that a new view of inspiration must be accepted in order to take account of the historical developments that supposedly took place in the transmission of Jesus' teaching.8 However, the latter option confronts the evangelicals with problems of an even more serious nature . The problems were fully detailed earlier in chapter 6 in the criticism of the Erasmian view.
After He totally condemned the Pharisees' positions in verses 3-8, He suddenly withdraws in verse 9 and accepts the validity of the Shammaite position. The Mosaic regulation then appears next as an objection to this decision, and it is very properly put into the mouths of the antagonists. For the above reasons, more recent critics of tradition have abandoned the Erasmian interpretation of the exception clauses.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
5:29-30); to take up their cross, which is God's will for their lives, and follow Christ at all costs (Mark 8:34); and to believe that 'whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it' (Matt. We believe that you must see that your present marriage now is God's will with you. In the world of the fall, God's redemptive work involves a service to God - not necessarily a technical service, but a service according to God's will, according to God's purpose and in God's discipleship - which means that part of life, if not all are to be lived temporarily outside the ordinary patterns of God's created order.
Happiness, when attained, is a gift from God and cannot be attained, nor can human life be fulfilled, where there is conflict with God's stated will or a vague refusal to see that true happiness and fulfillment stand alone in a primary commitment to God's kingdom and righteousness. For God's sake, some people may have to give up marriage, some may have to put it in a new perspective, and some who have broken their marriage may have to abstain from marriage. He gave them a moral standard which, by the grace of God, He expected His disciples to live up to.
APPENDIX
JETS JIS JSNT;Ff fSOT ISS FSKIV LCC LCL MHTLSJ. quadrennial of the American Oriental Society. NICOT New International Commentary on the New Testament New International Commentary on the Old Testament NIDNTT C.
NOTES
Chapter 4
Note that Murray is trying to connect the exception clause to both halves of the conditional clause (the protasis and the apodosis), rather than trying to understand how this negated adverbial phrase qualifies one or the other or both of the verbal actions in the protasis itself (the conditional relative clause). Of the 8 cases they adduce, in which me is in the conditional sentence for hos an (= ean), of which Matt. Crossan, "Divorce and Remarriage in the New Testament," in The Bond of Marriage (ed.
Harris (NIDNTT3: 1195) literally says this "not on the ground of immorality", then mentions the exceptional character of the clause. Davies, 'The Moral Teaching of the Early Church', in The Use of the Old Testament and Other Essays (ed. For further discussion of the principles of tradition criticism see Catchpole's essay on 'The History of Tradition', in Testament Interpretation New Testament Interpretation, ed.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
258 JESUS AND DIVORCE BIBLIOGRAPHY 259 Overview of marriage and ministry in the new temple, by Abel. The Pauline Privilege: Is It Promulgated in the First Sent to the Corinthians.7’ Catholic Biblical Quarterly. Sanctions against adultery in ancient Israelite society, with some reflections on methodology in the study of the.
INDEXES
INDEX OF AUTHORS
SELECTED SCRIPTURE INDEX Old Testament