Memphis Dwight
Member
Didn't one version of the John Lennon song Imagine contain a line: imagine there's no commentaries on marriage and divorce? I dunno, maybe.
Just think for a moment where we'd be if there were not all these ideas connected to the passages that are usually refererred to as MDR or marriage divorce & remarriage.
There are so many little man made ideas that have been repeated so often that they seem almost a part of the biblical texts themselves. And to question them is tantamount to questioning the words of Christ.
But if you should feel so daring today, I invite you to step into the world of the iconoclast for a few moments. And let us examine but one of several of these concepts that may not actually be rooted in the teachings of Christ but rather within the imaginations of men.
The psalmist speaks praise for the blessed man that meditates upon God's law day and night. Ps 1:2. With that in mind, I've looked at the four places in the gospels known as MDR and have a question regarding the notion of living in adultery.
To preface my question: We've heard the zealous preacher and his condemnation of those that live in adultery and the usual sequence of events that led up to this perpetual state. First there was what is known as an unscriptural divorce. What followed that was an unscriptural remarriage. And with both of those events accomplished, the man and woman are carrying on in adultery that does not end until they either divorce or sleep in separate beds.
Now when the proponent of this teaching is pressed for scriptural support of his hypothesis, he will inevitably point to the MDR passages. And he will offer his subtle paraphrased version of them as if they are written like this: Whososever has put away his wife and has married another doth commit adultery. But that is not the actual verse(s). It looks pretty close to what the MDR verses say but is in fact a revision. Lets look very closely at the verb tenses in the ACTUAL verses. Let us ask of the text certain questions. Such as, does the text say that the man has already put away his wife? Does the text say that the man has already accomplished the act of marrying another?
To bring my point home, lets look at Young's Literal Translation of Luke 16:18.
`Every one who is sending away his wife, and marrying another, doth commit adultery; and every one who is marrying her sent away from a husband doth commit adultery.
So if grammar counts for anything, what is the lesson to be learned here? Without going into what constitutes an Every Cause divorce and all that, who is the man that Doth Commit Adultery?
Is it the man that has sent away and has married ?
Or is it the man that IS sending away and IS marrying?
Now if the correct answer is this 2nd choice, then where does the notion that those that have divorced and remarried are now living in adultery come from?
I'm just trying to get down to the bottom of this.
Without going into what the adultery consists of, whether it be a way of breaking the contractual obligations of the marriage or it be the physical sex act, when is it going on?
To be sure, the word DOTH is the equivalent of our modern english DOES. So when the verse says he DOTH commit adultery, we would see that as DOES commit adultery. But when is the adultery going on?
From my most basic understanding of grammar, the "DOES COMMIT" must be tied to the verb tenses in the first half of the verse. So whoever IS sending and MARRYING is the one that DOTH.
So how can anyone credibly make the claim that the adultery here is NOT covenant breaking but
is happening after the divorce and remarriage?
blessings,
Memphis Dwight.
Just think for a moment where we'd be if there were not all these ideas connected to the passages that are usually refererred to as MDR or marriage divorce & remarriage.
There are so many little man made ideas that have been repeated so often that they seem almost a part of the biblical texts themselves. And to question them is tantamount to questioning the words of Christ.
But if you should feel so daring today, I invite you to step into the world of the iconoclast for a few moments. And let us examine but one of several of these concepts that may not actually be rooted in the teachings of Christ but rather within the imaginations of men.
The psalmist speaks praise for the blessed man that meditates upon God's law day and night. Ps 1:2. With that in mind, I've looked at the four places in the gospels known as MDR and have a question regarding the notion of living in adultery.
To preface my question: We've heard the zealous preacher and his condemnation of those that live in adultery and the usual sequence of events that led up to this perpetual state. First there was what is known as an unscriptural divorce. What followed that was an unscriptural remarriage. And with both of those events accomplished, the man and woman are carrying on in adultery that does not end until they either divorce or sleep in separate beds.
Now when the proponent of this teaching is pressed for scriptural support of his hypothesis, he will inevitably point to the MDR passages. And he will offer his subtle paraphrased version of them as if they are written like this: Whososever has put away his wife and has married another doth commit adultery. But that is not the actual verse(s). It looks pretty close to what the MDR verses say but is in fact a revision. Lets look very closely at the verb tenses in the ACTUAL verses. Let us ask of the text certain questions. Such as, does the text say that the man has already put away his wife? Does the text say that the man has already accomplished the act of marrying another?
To bring my point home, lets look at Young's Literal Translation of Luke 16:18.
`Every one who is sending away his wife, and marrying another, doth commit adultery; and every one who is marrying her sent away from a husband doth commit adultery.
So if grammar counts for anything, what is the lesson to be learned here? Without going into what constitutes an Every Cause divorce and all that, who is the man that Doth Commit Adultery?
Is it the man that has sent away and has married ?
Or is it the man that IS sending away and IS marrying?
Now if the correct answer is this 2nd choice, then where does the notion that those that have divorced and remarried are now living in adultery come from?
I'm just trying to get down to the bottom of this.
Without going into what the adultery consists of, whether it be a way of breaking the contractual obligations of the marriage or it be the physical sex act, when is it going on?
To be sure, the word DOTH is the equivalent of our modern english DOES. So when the verse says he DOTH commit adultery, we would see that as DOES commit adultery. But when is the adultery going on?
From my most basic understanding of grammar, the "DOES COMMIT" must be tied to the verb tenses in the first half of the verse. So whoever IS sending and MARRYING is the one that DOTH.
So how can anyone credibly make the claim that the adultery here is NOT covenant breaking but
is happening after the divorce and remarriage?
blessings,
Memphis Dwight.