Remarriage (27)
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Jesus therefore opposed how mainstream Judaism before, during, and after his earthly ministry viewed divorce and remarriage.Remarriage in Early Christianity, 82, Eerdmans
Remarriage is categorically censured as a matter of priestly holiness in one sector of Second Temple Judaism. While divorce was permitted, the Qumran scrolls in multiple places warn against illicit remarriage;Remarriage in Early Christianity, 51-52, Eerdmans
Many scholars now consider the Damascus Document fragment 4Qdf 3 10-15 decisive evidence that CD IV, 20-21 should indeed be interpreted in terms of a prohibition of remarriage while the first wife was still alive (and not strictly polygyny)Remarriage in Early Christianity, Eerdmans, 50
Christian authors as early as Tertullian openly promoted the tradition of the univira and the idea that widows must remain single and not remarry. He exhorted his own wife to remain ad univiratum as a widow. A number of Christian epitaphs likewise celebrate the univira in their ranks (CIL 10.7196; ICLV 1581). The Roman ideal was thus reprised in Latin Christianity in the WestRemarriage in Early Christianity, Eerdmans, 43
Language associated with the univira tradition parallels the apostle Paul's in Rom 7:1-3 and 1 Cor 7:39... The wife is subject to the husband while he lives, and only his death brings about freedom. In the tradition of the univira, the wife does not avail herself of that freedom.Remarriage in Early Christianity, Eerdmans, 42
concerning those who apprehend their wives in adultery... they be counseled not to take other wives while their own wives are still living, even if the latter are adulterous
A baptized woman who leaves an adulterous husband who has been baptized, for another man, may not marry him. If she does, she may not receive communion until her former husband dies, unless she is seriously ill.
he is an adulterer who takes a wife who has been sent away by her husband; and so is he who has, aside from the crime of adultery, put a wife away that he may take another. God did not intend for that 'one flesh' to be separated and torn apart.
a separation without return should not afford any occasion to a stranger
So that all who, by human law are twice married, are in the eye of our Master sinners, and those who look upon a woman to lust after her.First Apology
But if he put his wife away and marry another, he also commits adultery.Shepherd of Hermas, Commandments, 4 Chapter 1
In allowing divorce under these circumstances, it is striking, nevertheless, that Matthew does not say that the aggrieved husband could remarry. The absolute form of Jesus's teaching in Mark and Luke warns against simply assuming that the divorced husband enjoys that freedom.Remarriage in Early Christianity, 157
Jesus's logic is that if the woman was divorced because of πορνεία, then she would already be an adulteress (and no one should marry an adulteress). If she was divorced for some other reason, the divorce was unlawful (since πορνεία is the only legitimate reason), and the woman is not free to marry another.Remarriage in Early Christianity, 153
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crucially, "second marriages" are discussed frequently and explicitly in the context of widows but never in the context of divorce. That absence is conspicuous and telling.Remarriage in Early Christianity, 279
Despite the Pauline texts explicitly allowing it, if the remarriage of widows required extensive discussion and justification, how much more would remarriage after divorce had that been viewed as an option?Remarriage in Early Christianity, 279
a person should either remain as he was born, or be content with one marriage; for a second marriage is only a specious adulteryPlea for the Christians (AD 177)
Out of necessity, the innocent wife is made (i.e., caused to become) an adulteress by marrying another man. In other words, God's will for the original marital union renders any subsequent union adulterous, despite the legality of the divorce, the declared freedom to remarry in the divorce certificate, and the divorced wife's innocence.Remarriage in Early Christianity, 149
Jesus teaching in both Mark and Luke would have been taken as shocking, countercultural, and absolute. These authors would have needed to provide their reading indication that divorce would be acceptable in certain instances. After the absolute statements, the readers could not be expected to assume it.Remarriage in Early Christianity, 104, Eerdmans
Craig Keener claims with respect to Matthew's Gospel: "If the divorce is valid, so is the remarriage.... To argue that remarriage is forbidden after a valid divorce is to argue on the basis of an inference not stated in the text."And Marries Another, 44
For its original audience, Luke 16:18 would have made clear that there was to be no remarriage for either partner of a divorce, without exception.Remarriage in the Early Church, 102
One must take each gospel on its own terms and not hastily interject or overlay another gospel's context onto it. For that matter, Jesus's absolute prohibition in Mark 10:11 is of remarriage after the divorce. The Matthean exception clauses may pertain only to the prohibition against divorce, which would imply just as absolute a prohibition of remarriage there as well.Remarriage in the Early Church, 98
An interpretation of Mark that finds its inspiration in the exception clauses of Matthew is problematic and unlikely. First, the Pharisees' question in Mark 10:2 is whether divorce is at all lawful. Mark's Jesus does not respond by permitting divorce in instances of sexual sin but implies that divorce is against God's will and command, period.Remarriage in the Early Church, 98
despite the almost universal tendency on the part of NT exegetes to explain Jesus' prohibition of divorce against the "background" of the debate between the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel, this tendency may actually be a prime example of the anachronistic use of later texts to explain earlier ones. That is, a text written down for the first time at the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. (the Mishna) is called upon to educate a teaching of Jesus reaching back to the early part of the 1st century A.D., with written attestation in the 50s by Paul and ca. 70 by Mark. Considering the dearth of any clear attestation of the dispute over the grounds of divorce between the Houses in the pre-70 period, we would do well, at least initially, to explain Jesus' teaching on divorce soley in light of what is truly prior to and contemporary with the Palestinian Judaism of the 1st century A.D.Law and Love, 95
In a world of widespread divorce and remarriage, Paul's Jesus taught that the marital bond had long-term implications. If divorced, remarriage was not an option.Remarriage in Early Christianity, 67, Eerdmans
If an unbelieving husband divorces his wife, she is no longer bound to her husband, but she is still bound to the law of God. The freedom of a deserted believer does not imply the freedom to marry.Divorce Myth, 87
Frequently a young pastor will perform a wedding for a divorcee before he has thoroughly considered what the Bible says about the subject. Then some time later the young pastor sits down to examine the teaching of Jesus on the matter of divorce and remarriage. Typically, he will assume he is right until proven wrong, so he concludes that divorce and remarriage is permitted under certain circumstances. His only other alternative is to admit his error and recognize its consequences in the lives of those whose wedding he performed.The Divorce Myth, 12-13
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