A Few Points To Consider..
Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
1. Passages dealing with our topic in Matthew 5 and 19 use female pronouns. So, it must be understood that a woman isn’t properly loosed from her husband unless he gives the writ of divorce. She, by law, could not offer a writ of divorce. Thus, unless the writ is from the husband, anyone who marries her commits adultery. (DeVries, 2008)
2. Be careful about creating a doctrine that you preach as cardinal and fundamental prerequisites to fellowship and service. Colossians 2:8 “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
3. 1 Corinthians 7:27-28 “Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.” HAVE YOU BEEN LOOSED, THAT IS, DIVORCED? REMEMBER THIS ISN’T THE SAME AS “PUTTING AWAY!” IF YOU REMARRY, YOU HAVE NOT SINNED!
4. I say, Amen to the following from Dr. DeVries’ book:
“Another goofy doctrine presently found in too many churches, but nowhere in the Bible, is the teaching that if a man (especially a preacher) is divorced and he remarries that he will have “two living wives.”
Having already settled the question that God does indeed recognize second and subsequent marriages in a previous chapter, let’s answer the question as to whether or not the divorced and remarried man is the “Husband of one wife,” or is he a polygamist, having “two living wives,” or possibly even more than two?
Once again, let’s look at I Corinthians 7:27‐28, “Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned.”
According to this scripture, the divorced man has been loosed from his first wife and has not sinned in taking the second. Thus, being married to only one woman, he is the “husband of one wife.”
Another telling point is Deuteronomy 24. God said in verse three that a man may give his wife a “writing of divorcement.” Then, in verse four, God continues by saying she may go out from his house and “be another man’s wife.” If she may be another’s wife according to God, then she is no longer the wife of the first man. From this, a third grade English student with a bad report card may deduce that her first husband no longer has a wife. If he marries again, he then has a wife, not two wives.
The Pharisaical among us are always quick to do word‐studies where convenient and to ignore them when they do not fit their own theology. The phrase “husband of one wife” is translated from the Greek New Testament from the literal phrase “man of one woman.” And every so‐called Fundamentalist who is really not a Fundamentalist but a judgmental Pharisee knows that is true. “The Husband of One Wife” is a “one‐woman‐man.” He is content to have only his one wife that he has now. He is not philandering with the church’s secretary or the deacon’s wife or the girls from the college fellowship. He is committed to his OWN WIFE. Yet, our fundamentalist friends are willing to ignore the whoring, philandering, wife‐stealing infidel, so long as he continues to keep that woman he is running around on at home and is not decent enough to send her away with a “Bill of Divorcement” to someone who might do right by her. I realize the Pharisees in our ranks will not like this chapter, but let them eat cake. So says the Bible, and so it is!” (DeVries, 2008)
One of these days I will stand alone and give an account of myself before the King. You will, also. What am I going to do with God’s call? What are you going to do with those under your care that have God’s call on their life?