Questions of religion in divorce issue (1)

Denis Bradford (February 2) claims there are two citations in the Bible which prove that Jesus was in favour of divorce on the ground of fornication. I would like to elaborate on the context of these claims, so that readers who are unfamiliar with Jesus’s teachings will not be misled into believing that he was in fact in favour of divorce.

I shall use Mr Bradford’s citations and a few he may inadvertently have left out to help clarify the situation.

Mt 5:31-32: “It is also said: anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But I say to you, everyone who divorces his wife, except for the case of fornication, makes her an adulteress, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Mt 19:3-9: Some Pharisees approached him, and to test him they said, “Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?” (v3) Jesus answered: “Now I say to you, the man who divorces his wife – I am not speaking of fornication – and marries another is guilty of adultery.” (v9).

The writ that Jesus is referring to is based on OT Law (Lev 24:1-4).

It was a written bill of divorcement (Kettubba) a document made available as a means of protection for the woman to assure another man of her freedom to remarry.

The fornication Jesus alludes to in Mt 5:32 and 19:9 refers to an incestuous union, which was also forbidden in OT Law (Lev 18) – such union would not qualify for a divorce but an application for nullity or an annulment.

Jesus was living in a time of male superiority with no rights for the woman, except what her family could or would enforce. In Jesus’s time the woman was not considered but Jesus went beyond the law and rules out divorce also for a woman.

“The man who divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.” (Mk 10:12).

This teaching of Jesus was later of immense help to newly baptised Gentiles who were used to and lived within pagan cultures. Jesus was well aware that divorce was deeply painful.

His intent was not to cause more pain but to retain the highest ideal between a husband and wife based on the will of God (Mt 19:8), i.e. a covenant for life based on mutual love, a bond that reflects the bond between God and His people.

Jesus held to a very high doctrine on the indissolubility of marriage, a position probably unparalleled in his day, though to be fair even the prophet Malachi denounces easy divorce in moving terms, stressing the covenant relationship in marriage willed by God. (Mal 2:13-16).

With regard to 1 Cor 10-17, which Mr Bradford also cites in order to butress his argument, this refers to a text which addresses a totally different theme. Paul was addressing the problem of idolatry, trying to help the relatively new Corinthian Christian community with its many problems, anxieties and dilemmas pertaining to the sacrificial and liturgical feasts and cults. (We have to remember that before being baptised, Corinthian Christians were immersed in and used to follow pagan culture).

As a point of interest it was not only Jesus who was against divorce but also Aristotle the great Greek philosopher and scientist who based most of his arguments on the principle of logic. This was way before the time of Jesus (384-322). Aristotle once remarked: “Divorce is to family what civil war is to the state.” So there we have it from both sides of the divide.