Contact Us
Respond to The Christian Examiner
What we choose to do on earth determines where we will spend eternity. There are only two places where we can go after this life is over. We will live in either Heaven or Hell. Let us take a few moments to study this important subject and take heed to what the word of God teaches.
In the beginning, God gave man the ability to choose between right and wrong. After he created man, God said to him,
"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," (Genesis 2:16-17).
Even Eve, whom God created for man, realized the difference between right and wrong. She said,
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, 'Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die,'" (Genesis 3:2-3).
Unfortunately, Adam and Eve chose to sin.
Later in the Old Testament, we read a profound statement made by Joshua. In rebuking the Israelites for desiring to follow after other gods, he said,
"Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD," (Joshua 24:14-15).
Here again, we notice a distinction made between right and wrong. Following after other gods leads one to Hell, while following after the Lord leads one to Heaven.
Jesus, in the New Testament, also teaches this distinction. He says,
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it," (Matthew 7:13-14).
The gate that is straight and narrow, is the one that leads to Heaven, while the one which is wide and broad, leads to Hell. We must also be reminded that we will all be judged according to how we live on this earth. Paul says that
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad, (2 Corinthians 5:10).
What are some things that will send us to Hell? What are some things that will lead us to Heaven? The answer to both of these and similar questions, is found in Galatians 5:16-25. Paul says,
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Where are you headed today? Will the things that you are doing today lead you to Heaven where life is eternal, or to Hell, where there is everlasting punishment? You hold your eternal destiny in your hands. Whom do you serve now? Is it the Lord, or Satan?
Ira Mikell
ira@thechristianexaminer.com
In our last edition we began examining Deuteronomy 24:1-4, and we noted that even though this is a text from the Old Testament it is still highly relevant because of its bearing on Matthew 19:3-9 and therefore what God expects of mankind regarding marriage, divorce, and remarriage. We spent the majority of our time, however, examining the text itself and the discrepancies between the various translations and the texts in the ancient languages. We determined from this study that the rendering of the passage as the English Standard Version (ESV) has done is probably the most accurate translation of Deuteronomy 24:1-4:
"When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance."
Let us now first examine exactly what this passage is teaching us in regards to the Israelite laws of marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and then let us apply this knowledge to the situation presented to us in Matthew 19:3-9.
This passage here represents a "situational law," which is a law that is in effect in certain given circumstances. We may not be immediately aware of it, but we live with many, many laws in our country that operate in the very same way. As an example, those of us who are drivers are aware of the speed limit and we are also aware that in the region of a school there will be signs with a posted lower speed limit, and sometimes these signs read "20 mph on school days when children are present." If we were to flesh out this statement into a full law, it would look similar to this:
If you are driving near this school and if it is a school day and if children are present, you will go 20 miles per hour.
There are many things that we can see in this type of law. One of the most important points is that all of the conditions must be in effect for the law to apply. If, for instance, there are children present on a Saturday, this law is not in effect; this is also true if it is a school day yet no children are present. In those circumstances the normal speed limit will apply; only when it is both a school day and when children are present will the law regarding the 20 mph speed limit be in effect.
This very same thing is true about Deuteronomy 24:1-4. We have seen from the previous edition that the first three verses represent the "protasis," or the circumstance under which the law will apply, and the first clause of verse 4 represents the "apodosis," or the legislation that is given in this circumstance. We can therefore analyze the text in the following manner:
This exercise above may seem obvious to many people, as well it should, but it is important for us to analyze the text properly and to clearly map out what this text is telling us. What have we seen from the above?
Having set out the above, let us now continue to analyze the text and some truths from the Old and New Testaments to further understand what we can gain from Deuteronomy 24:1-4 in regards to the discussion of Matthew 19:
They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?"
He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so."
We noted in our last edition that the fact that Jesus corrects the Pharisees regarding the nature of Moses' discussion of divorce-- notably, that it was a concession and not a command. It is important, however, that the Pharisees speak of Deuteronomy 24:1 and Jesus does not deny that this verse concedes the Israelites the ability to divorce. It may be noted, however, that we just said that the divorce is part of the larger situation that involves a command at the end, and that the divorce is not explicitly commanded or explictly legitimated in the text. This is very true. It must be noted, however, that there is no verse in the Law of Moses that forbids divorce, and, save for priests, there is no law that forbids a man from marrying a divorced woman. It is also significant that in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 the situation is addressed regarding one or even two divorces and yet Moses does not condemn anyone for the divorces or considers it a sin in any way; the only legislation given is that the first husband cannot have her again after she has been the wife of another. There is no value judgment against either the first or the second husband nor against the woman herself. This fact-- along with the discussion in Matthew 19:7-8-- demonstrates that in this passage we have Moses' concession to the Israelites showing that they could divorce their wives.
What, then, shall we say about her defilement? It appears that since the object of the legislation is the first husband that the woman is defiled to him and to him alone since she has been the wife of another. This makes sense contextually since the practice of a man remarrying his wife after she has been the wife of another is called an abomination before the LORD in verse 4. If the defilement were from the divorce at all, we would have to wonder why it would likewise not be wrong for the man to remarry his wife if she did not marry another? Or why a woman is not defiled when she marries the other man, and, in the same line of thinking, why a woman is not defiled when she marries a man after her first husband died? The defilement, therefore, does not find its source in the woman being divorced but in relation to the first husband since his ex-wife has also been the wife of another. As it has been stated above, the text gives no indication of any condemnation for the woman taking a third husband or more, and if the defilement were universal and not specific to one man, we would see that all subsequent marriages-- and even the second marriage itself-- would be wrong. Moses says no such thing, and therefore neither shall we.
Now that we have thoroughly analyzed Deuteronomy 24:1-4, what shall we say? We have seen that Moses' legislation states essentially that a man cannot remarry a wife who has after their divorce been the spouse of another. This passage concedes to the Israelites the ability for them to divorce their wives and, save the priests, the ability for a man to marry a divorced woman. Let us now look at Matthew 19:3-9 and apply what we have learned.
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?"
He answered, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?"
He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."
It must first be stated that the question of divorce was very contentious in Israel in the first century CE. Influential teachers of the past couple of centuries, including Hillel and Shammai and the schools that developed around them, spent much time discussing what Moses intended for marriage and divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1-4, arguing over what constituted an "unclean thing" and many other such arguments. The Pharisees, therefore, come to Jesus with this question regarding divorce not to learn His belief but in fact to trap Him, very much like they did in Matthew 22:15-22:
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his talk. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"
But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax."
And they brought him a denarius.
And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"
They said, "Caesar's."
Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
As the Pharisees thought in Matthew 22:15-22 that they could trap Jesus with whatever answer He would give (for, in their minds, if He said that the Jews should pay taxes they would say that He supported the Roman oppression of the Jewish people, and if He said that the Jews ought not pay taxes, they would say that He was preaching sedition against Rome), so they could trap Him in whatever answer He would give regarding divorce: if He asserted that divorce could occur for any reason, they would point to the "unclean thing" in Deuteronomy 24:1 and demand an explanation; if He said that divorces could not occur for any reason, they would point to Moses' lack of condemnation in Deuteronomy 24:1, just as they in fact did in verse 7 of chapter 19. Jesus' answer, however, confounded the Pharisees just as His answer in Matthew 22:15-22 did also, for Jesus at the same time affirmed the truths of the two major schools of thought regarding divorce, the school of Hillel and the school of Shammai. Jesus affirms that under the Law of Moses divorce was permitted-- "suffered" as He says in verse 8-- just as Hillel's school would; but, with Shammai, Jesus affirms that God's original plan for marriage, as established in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:24, was one man one woman for life and that the only legitimate cause of divorce was "sexual immorality." The Pharisees could do nothing with this answer.
It must also be noted that there are some who attempt to make semantical arguments regarding the words used by the Pharisees and Jesus in Matthew 19:7-8:
They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?"
He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so."
It is believed that the Greek word apoluo, used by Jesus in verse 8, is a different and separate concept from the Greek biblion apostasiou used by the Pharisees as a quotation from Deuteronomy 24:1-4, and therefore that Jesus was only condemning divorces done "improperly," defined as those done without the giving of a "certificate of divorce," the biblion apostasiou. There is a significant problem with this position: the Greek Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 does not include the word apoluo at all, nor would it be demanded by a comparable word in the Hebrew text. Jesus' use of the word apoluo in verse 8, therefore, is independent from Deuteronomy 24:1-4, and it is impossible for Jesus to mean that Moses literally spoke of apoluo in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 when he never spoke the word! Jesus' use of apoluo, therefore, refers to the concept of and execution of the divorce procedure discussed by Moses in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Therefore, when Jesus says in verse 8 that "Because of the hardness of your heart Moses suffered you to divorce [apoluo] your wives; but from the beginning this has not been so," He refers to the exactly repeated phrase, "he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her away from his house," in Deuteronomy 24 verses 1 and 3, with the term apoluo, and establishes that Moses did in fact suffer the Israelites to be able to do this thing.
Now, returning to the text itself: what is the interplay here between the Pharisees and Jesus? The Pharisees first ask the general question in verse 3, devised to trap Him, on whether or not a man can divorce his wife for any reason. Jesus responds with the Scriptures in verses 4 and 5, Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24, and concludes in verse 6 that whatever God has joined man ought not separate. The Pharisees, realizing that Jesus is effectively saying that divorces ought not happen, then in verse 7 appeal directly to Deuteronomy 24:1, and ask how what Jesus says can be when Moses "commanded" a man to "give her a certificate of divorce and to send her away." Jesus returns immediately in verse 8 and says that Moses suffered the Israelites to divorce their wives, not that Moses commanded it, and then establishes that "from the beginning--" Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden-- "this has not been so." Jesus concludes His discussion with the Pharisees with the declaration of the new "old" (since it was in effect in the Garden) law regarding marriage in verse 9, that anyone who divorces their spouse for any reason save sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery.
Our conclusions regarding Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and how it relates to Matthew 19:3-9:
Let no man be deceived: it is God's intention for marriage to be one man and one woman for life. The only concessions are for the death of a spouse (Romans 7:1-4) and divorce for the reason of sexual immorality (Matthew 19:9). This is the law instituted by Christ that was actually instituted in the Garden of Eden, but because of the hardness of the hearts of the Israelites, God for a time conceded to them the ability to divorce their spouses in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. This concession, however, is by no means the rule, and we must recognize and teach the difference in teachings and affirm that Jesus' words in Matthew 19:9 are true for every believer and non-believer in the world today.
May we constantly hold fast to the truth of the Gospel of Christ in regards to marriage, divorce, and remarriage.
Ethan R. Longhenry
ethan@thechristianexaminer.com
www.deusvitae.com
Thank you for examining the materials from The Christian Examiner. If you have any questions or comments regarding anything you have read here, or you desire more information, please feel free to e-mail us at tce@thechristianexaminer.com. Thanks!
Please click here to return to the main page for Volume IV, or please click here to return to the main page for The Christian Examiner.