A Personal Note
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, before you begin, I want you to
know that I have not yet attained the high calling to which God has called me,
to be in perfect obedience and faithfulness to Him. I struggle daily against
the temptations of selfishness, pride, anger, self-pity and all the other sins
of the flesh. When I speak of the evils
of the age, I am often speaking to that which I have known personally. When I
refer to the great need of repentance and personal Holiness before God, I
include my own continuing need each and every day to do the same. When I speak
about the Church, I do not mean any individual denomination, or even any particular
theological construct, but the true, universal body of believers in the Great
and Glorious God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I also know that He is able to restore the Church if we will but seek
Him with all our hearts! “I pray He will use this humble work to bless you and
help you to further understand the God with which we have to do.” – Stephen
Wilcox
Restoration of Christian Marriage
(Revised October 2005)
By
Rev. Stephen W. Wilcox
1.
My
fellow Christians,
As we
experience what it is like to live in the world at the beginning of the third
millennium it's only right and proper that we should evaluate where we stand in
the true faith handed down to us by the Church of Jesus Christ and the written
Word of God. Indeed, we are strictly
commanded to do such an evaluation by the Apostle Paul when he said:
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in
the faith; test yourselves, Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you -
unless of course, you fail the test?" (2 Cor. 13:5 NIV)
It is
essential that we take the Apostle's command seriously and subject ourselves to
God's plumb line, His revealed written Word, the Holy Bible. This work is an
attempt to do just that in an area of Christian morality.
Knowledgeable
reformation minded Christians are concerned about many aspects of the lowered standards
and conduct displayed in much of the present day Church. Being prompted by the
Holy Spirit, many have spoken out, putting forward suggested corrective remedial
actions worthy of the most sincere consideration. Notwithstanding the many
crises’ facing the Church, this particular reformation plea is purposely
focused on the marriage, divorce and remarriage issues, which are so central to
Christian morality and holiness in this generation
2.
The Key to the Front Door of the Church
The primary building block of society is the
biblical based male - female family unit. It is what separates us from a
complete social and spiritual breakdown.
Without it we are threatened with an
unrestricted immoral free for all of hate, lust and selfishness not unlike that
of
Brothers
and Sisters, when God designed the world, He knew what choices our race, and
what we as individuals would make. He
created mankind, as both male and female, making each sex different, but in
complementary ways. Where one sex was
weak He made the other strong. That is
why "opposites attract" in
courtship. However, because of our fallen natures, these same beneficial differences
between a man and his wife will always become the basis for friction,
disagreement and estrangement without the sanctifying influence of the Holy
Spirit.
When
mankind fell and inherited a sinful predisposition, the basis for a balanced,
equal relationship between male and female fell with it. The resultant separation caused by sin broke
not only the backbone of the intimate friendship between God and man, but also
between a man and wife. The seeds of
unrepentant sin and the full-grown death crop it produces are always at the
center of every broken home.
Behind
each divorce lie the broken laws and the rejected love of God. This is why there can be no solution to the present
collapse of morality within the Church except by the pure application of the
Word of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing else will do!
When
God, the Father revealed the Mystery of Salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord
by his atoning death and resurrection, he provided the means of escape from the
eternal consequences of our individual sin into a state of unending fellowship
with him. Everything changed!
This miracle is attained freely by sincerely asking
God to forgive us for our sins and turning our lives over to him. God then forgives us of our sins by laying
the penalty for them on Jesus Christ. There is nothing we can do beyond that
point to earn or merit our salvation. He
freely breathes new life into our dead souls thereby giving birth to the Spirit
of God within us.
This supernatural act of spiritual creation
reconstitutes us from being dead in our sins, translating us into eternal
spirit beings capable of intimate relationship with him. With this “conversion” all things become new
in Christ Jesus. Through His shed blood,
He heals and restores the friendship with Him that we had lost because of our
sin and rebellion. He changes our whole nature, deep inside, and leads us into
a closer and closer walk with Him.
5.
Life
A “relationship” with God that does not have Jesus
Christ at its center, leading into Holy and Spirit filled living, is not a real
saving relationship at all. A man or
woman who has had a soul saving encounter with Jesus Christ will joyfully wish
to follow and obey Him. If this is not
the case, then they have attained a mere counterfeit faith, a useless
forgery. For as He said:
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they
follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can
snatch them out of my hand. My Father,
who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my
Father’s hand. I and the Father are
one.” (John
10: 27 – 30 NIV)
Before the Father sent us his Holy Spirit, we were
unable to live for Him as we should, for sin had an irresistible hold on us. But Jesus Christ changed the rules and the
power supply with His death and resurrection.
We no longer have the excuse or a reason to continue to sin against God
and each other. Each of us has all the power in the universe available for us
to appropriate His power into our lives so we may obey him.
6.
A Need for True Reformation
Today,
in almost all forms of Christian persuasion, the validity of the Word of God,
the unique leadership of the first apostles, and even the authority of Jesus
Christ are being questioned and redefined along liberal lines. With very few denominational exceptions,
historical Christian beliefs regarding entertainment, sexual sin, and
separation from the world are no longer commonly taught, accepted or practiced
among Christians.
Consequently,
an epidemic of immorality is sweeping away a large part of the Church. The resultant corruptions of its teachings
are compromising the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is being taught and modeled to
the nations. Much of the Church is falling away from many of the core Biblical
doctrines and beliefs as the memory of past revivals and holiness reformations slip
further into the distant past. The author of Judges described such a
time this way:
"In
those days
The low
moral and ethical standards of the Church, as defined by the only measurable
benchmark, the divorce rate, exceed that of much of the unbelieving pagan
world. According to one of the latest divorce statistical studies (d), there is a significantly higher
divorce rate amongst those identifying themselves as "born again"
Christians, than the rest of society as a whole, even amongst those claiming to
be atheists and agnostics. Another survey has the divorce rate in the whole Church
identical to that of the world.
Evangelical Churches, proud of their “Bible Believing” theology most
often take the lead in the divorce increase (d).
According
to the latest statistics, in the “Bible belt” of
Such
statistics come as no surprise to those who have been scientifically tracking
the trends. For a number of years the levels of “Christian” ethical behavior in
areas involving honesty, integrity and sanctity of life have matched or led the
freefall of those practiced in society as a whole. Notwithstanding expectations to the contrary,
there is little real difference in the lifestyle choices that these
“Christians” make on a daily basis, than those who openly follow their own
fallen natures without restraint.
If these
polling measurements reflect anything even close to reality, it goes without
saying that both the majority of those claiming new life in Christ, and those
that do not, share common moral principles and levels of Godliness, contrary to
God’s Word.
When we
consider that public morality itself is at its lowest point in modern history,
is it really unjust that social popular opinion has judged our Savior, the
Church and Christians so severely as of late?
For the last few decades we have been increasingly ridiculed by many
outside of the Church as being both dishonest and hypocritical. Now, widespread immorality and marital
unfaithfulness are being rightfully added to the charges as well. This will not
be the end of it either. Sin breeds sin. The worst is yet to come.
These
negative perceptions are not illusions created by those who hate God and the
Church, but rather the harsh truth of those who must depend on us to lead them
to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, or be forever lost in eternal
punishment. Jesus Christ provided for, we were commissioned with, and they
expect and deserve much better than we are delivering.
8.
Missing the Mark
The
Church has lost the respect of the society it has been commissioned to
transform, along with the power and authority of the Living God needed to
accomplish such a task. The failure is not found in the Gospel of Christ, but
in the Church’s refusal to live according to the Divine message it was given to
model and teach.
Most of
us do not need to have social scientists telling us what we ourselves have
seen, felt and experienced in our own families and local Church bodies. The evidence of a great falling away from God
by the Church as we have known it is everywhere. Something is wrong, terribly and
overwhelmingly wrong! I suggest we now
look back behind us to a period at the beginning of the Christian Church, when
Christians were still swimming in the living water, long before the Church
became corrupted and confused.
9.
The Authoritative Teachings of the
Early Church on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage
The early Fathers of our faith were much more
personally familiar with the culture and context of New Testament times than we
are today. I do not, however, hold to
the belief that the authority of the Church Fathers can be equal to that held
by the Apostles who were personally appointed and taught by our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. In my view, their teachings do not add to, take away, or
supplement the inspired Word of God contained in the Holy Bible. They claimed the same limitations for the
authority of their teachings.
10
Ignatius
In 110 A.D, while on his way in chains to
Even
though he was revered as a great Church leader, he was careful not to infer
special “apostolic status” either to himself or to his writings as divinely
inspired Scripture. He positions himself, the Christians in
If, as
some maintain, the Church was intended by God to have leaders operating in the
office of “Apostle” beyond the lifetimes of the original disciples and Paul, it
seems that the early Church knew nothing about it. In fact, as shown here, quite the opposite
was the case:
Ignatius
wrote:
“I do not issue orders to you, as if
I were some great person. For though I am bound for the name of Christ, I am
not yet perfect in Jesus Christ. For now I begin to be a disciple, and I speak
to you as fellow-disciples with me. For it was needful for me to have been
stirred up by you in faith, exhortation, patience, and long-suffering.”
“But inasmuch as love suffers me not
to be silent in regard to you, I have therefore taken upon me first
to exhort you that you would all run together in accordance with the will of
God. For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the manifested will of the
Father; as also bishops, settled everywhere to the utmost bounds of the earth,
are so by the will of Jesus Christ.” (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians) (a)
Their doctrinal
position statements were based on the same Biblical sources we use today, as
well as additional direct interpretations and clarifications passed on to them
by the Apostles and their immediate successors. Even though not first hand,
they give an accurate portrayal of what Jesus taught, early Christians
practiced, and what the Apostles believed and enforced throughout the Body of
Christ.
Those Church
Fathers who were in positions of responsible authority, called and appointed by
God to serve His Church, were required as shepherds of His sheep, to walk as He
walked, and to talk as He talked. Their words are good counsel, and should be
weighted most heavily in today’s court of Christian opinion, but in no wise
should their teachings be considered infallible or without possible error. They were after all, as we are, privileged to
be standard bearers and light holders for the God of the Universe in their
generations, but who were, like us, faulty sinners saved by Grace.
However,
those first Christians were close to ground zero, at the very epicenter of the
Christian earthquake that shook the world.
This proximity in time and place to the ministry of Jesus Christ and His
personally appointed Apostles gave them a much clearer vantage point than we ourselves
enjoy. We can only look back through their writings, to evaluate their legacy
by the lives they lived, and the fruit of their labours.
These
men of God had the initial responsibility to accurately define and defend what
the teachings and redemption Gospel of Jesus Christ meant, not only to the
millions of lost in their world, but also to the billions in ours. They had
their theology rooted in Christ, their lives poured out in their present, and
their minds looking to the future.
11.
Complete Agreement
Of all
the early recognized Church Fathers who ever wrote, all who were written about,
concerning every discussion and every debate, in thousands of surviving
documents, over hundreds of years, there is not a single dissenting authoritative
voice on the essential core doctrines of marriage, divorce and remarriage. Each
taught the same doctrine, each held the same opinion and each enforced the same
morals standards you read here:
12.
Hermes
A.D. 90
Hermes was sold into slavery and sent to
“What then shall the husband do, if
the wife continue in this disposition of adultery? Let him divorce her, and let the
husband remain single. But if he
divorces his wife and marry another, he too commits adultery.” (The Shepherd
4:1:6) (a)
Hermes
taught:
1.
If a spouse persists in adulterous behavior the
innocent party can terminate the marriage.
2. If a
spouse divorces for cause, they must remain single. Remarriage is expressly prohibited.
3. If a
spouse remarries, the “innocent” party is guilty of the same kind of adultery
as the original offender and will be treated accordingly.
13.
Justin Martyr
A.D. 151
Justin
Martyr was one of the great, early theologians and apologists for the Church.
He had the distinction of presenting a defining explanation and defense of
Christianity to Caesar and the Imperial Roman Senate.
His
“Apology for the Christians”, written to refute charges of sedition to the
Roman state, is a magnificent legal testimony of the power of early Christians
to live Holy and pleasing lives in an evil and corrupted society. Justin was
beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to pagan Gods.
“In regards to chastity, Jesus has
this to say: ‘If anyone look at lust at a woman, he has already before God
committed adultery in his heart.’ And, ‘Whoever marries a woman who has been
divorced from another husband, commits adultery.’ “
“According to our teacher, just as
they are sinners who contract a second marriage, even though it is in accord
with human law, so also are they sinners who look with lustful desires at a
woman. He repudiates not only one who
actually commits adultery, but even one who wishes to do so; for not only our
actions are manifest to God, but even our thoughts.” (First Apology 15) (a)
Justin
Martyr taught:
1.
To indulge in lust is to be guilty of adultery of
the heart.
2.
Whoever marries a divorced person commits adultery.
3.
Whoever contracts a second marriage is sinning
against God. (while a former spouse lives)
4.
God does not, and the Church must not, take into
account human law when it is in violation of God’s law.
5.
God judges motives and intentions, private thought
life and actions. All is known and exposed to the God with which we have to do.
14.
Clement of
A.D.208
Titus Flavius Clemens, known as Clement of
Alexandria, was a Greek theologian who served as head of the famous
He taught that the thoughts and will of God in the
Scriptures exhorts, educates and perfects the true Christian. Many scholars
believe he founded the great Alexandrian
“That scripture counsels marriage,
however, and never allows any release from the union, is expressly contained in
the law: ‘You shall not divorce a wife, except for reason of adultery.’ And it
regards as adultery the marriage of a spouse, while the one from whom a
separation was made is still alive.”
‘Whoever takes a divorced woman as
wife commits adultery,’ it says; for ‘if anyone divorce his wife, he debauches
her;’ that is, he compels her to commit adultery.”
“And not only does he that divorces
her become the cause of this, but also he that takes the woman and gives her
the opportunity of sinning; for if he did not take her, she would return to her
husband.” (Miscellanies 2:23:145:3) (a)
Clement
taught:
1.
The Scriptures encourage Christians to enter a
marriage relationship.
2.
The marriage union covenant is permanent and does
not allow anyone to be released from the union.
3.
The only legitimate reason for divorce is adultery,
otherwise separation is prohibited. A remarriage while a former spouse lives is
living in the state of adultery, therefore expressly forbidden in Scripture.
4.
A man who divorces his wife violates and corrupts
her, for if she remarries, for any reason except for the death of her husband,
she becomes an adulteress.
5.
The one who marries a divorced spouse sins not only
by committing adultery with another’s spouse but also sins against God by
acting as an impediment to reconciliation of the original marriage.
6.
If the divorced spouse had remained single she
would have, if possible returned the first union.
15.
Origen
A.D. 248
Origen is known as the most
accomplished and significant theologian of the early Church. As a student and
exegete of the Old and New Testaments, he influenced the critical thinking of
the Church in his day to such an extent that his works still have major impact
on doctrine and practice. He was the
first teacher known to use the “allegorical” method of Scriptural
interpretation.
It is estimated that he wrote
some 5,000 thesis, tracts, epistles and books in his lifetime of service. Much
of his work concentrated on refuting dangerous error and heresy. Origen was
imprisoned during the reign of Emperor Decius.
He was tortured to such an extent that he died from his ordeal after
being released.
“Just as a woman is an adulteress,
even though she seems to be married to a man, while a former husband yet lives,
so also the man who seems to marry who has been divorced does not marry her, but,
according to the declaration of our Savior, he commits adultery with her.” (Commentaries on
Matthew 14:24) (a)
Origen
taught:
1.
The marriage covenant between a man and a woman is
permanent, as long as both husband and wife are alive.
2.
No matter what the legal circumstances may appear
to be to the contrary, a remarriage relationship when either or both parties
are divorced, while a former partner lives, is adultery.
3.
The intimate relations between the man and the
woman remarried under these circumstances are adulterous, and considered sin.
16.
Basil the Great
A.D. 375
Basil was born in
Basil became Basil the Great because of his
outstanding personal integrity and holiness as well as his brilliance as a
theologian and defender of the faith.
“A man who marries another man’s wife
who has been taken away from him will be charged with adultery…” (Letter to
Amphilochius 199:37) (a)
Basil
teaches:
1.
It is a serious offence against God to take another
person’s spouse.
2.
The Church must charge a person who is in
possession of another person’s husband or wife with adultery. (Having sexual relations with someone else’s
spouse)
17.
Ambrose of
A.D. 387