In follow-up to my post on October 22, “Divorce and Remarriage,” I wanted to call your attention to David Instone-Brewer’s blog where he provides a response to a number of criticisms related to his CT article on October 5. To follow his responses, you need to follow each of the posts addressed on the left hand side of the page. For example, one of his posts is entitled “Jesus silent about other grounds.” To read this post, you simply need to click on it and you are next taken to his discussion. To read his response to John Piper’s view of divorce, click the post “John Piper on Divorce” and you are then taken to this post. Since God fearing people have reflected different interpretative slants on divorce and remarriage over many years of Jewish and Christian history, I appreciated the charitable spirit in which Instone-Brewer articulated his differences with the position that Piper holds. David Instone-Brewer’s responses are engaging and you will profit by reading them.

I have been following with intrigue three recent articles on divorce and remarriage. Initially on October 5, 2007, Christianity Today posted an article by David Instone-Brewer, “What God Has Joined.” This CT article is a condensation of two earlier books that Instone-Brewer had written: Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible and Divorce and Remarriage in the Church. To this article, John Piper wrote a strong response in disagreement with Instone-Brewer, “Tragically Widening the Grounds of Legitimate Divorce.” Piper’s disagreement with the position that Instone-Brewer supports is also reflected in three chapters of an earlier book, What Jesus Demands of the World (you should also note Instone-Brewer’s response to Piper’s criticisms, “More from David Instone-Brewer on Divorce“). To thicken the plot, Andreas Köstenberger responded to both articles by challenging both Instone-Brewer’s and Piper’s interpretation of Matthew 19:9 [show]Matthew 19:9 [9]And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."(1) (ESV) Footnotes 1. [19:9] Some manuscripts add 'and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery'; other manuscripts 'except for sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery'
, “Clarifying the NT Teaching on Divorce.” Like Instone-Brewer and Piper, Köstenberger also wrote a previous book dealing with this subject, God, Marriage, and Family.

Because this is such a significant issue in our culture, I would suggest that you read these works. And, while you are reading these, you should also add an earlier article by Joe M. Sprinkle, “Old Testament Perspective on Divorce and Remarriage,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40 (December 1997): 529–50. While Sprinkle was doing his research for this article, Gordon P. Hugenberger wrote what is IMNSHO a definitive work on Malachi 2:10-16 [show]Malachi 2:10-16 Judah Profaned the Covenant [10]Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? [11]Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. [12]May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant(1) of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts! [13]And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. [14]But you say, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. [15]Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?(2) And what was the one God(3) seeking?(4) Godly offspring. So guard yourselves(5) in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. [16]"For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,(6) says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers(7) his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless." (ESV) Footnotes 1. [2:12] Hebrew 'any who wakes and answers' 2. [2:15] Hebrew 'in it' 3. [2:15] Hebrew 'the one' 4. [2:15] Or 'And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking?' 5. [2:15] Or 'So take care'; also verse 16 6. [2:16] Hebrew 'who hates and divorces' 7. [2:16] Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1-4); or '"The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers'
: Marriage as a Covenant: Biblical Law and Ethics as Developed from Malachi. In many heated debates that I have heard over the years about God’s opposition to all divorce, the use of God’s hatred of divorce in Malachi 2:16 [show]Malachi 2:16 [16]"For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,(1) says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers(2) his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless." (ESV) Footnotes 1. [2:16] Hebrew 'who hates and divorces' 2. [2:16] Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1-4); or '"The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers'
is the coup de grâce in some of these exchanges. Whatever else Hugenberger demonstrates, he cogently argues that Malachi 2:16 ESV [show]Malachi 2:16 [16]"For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,(1) says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers(2) his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless." (ESV) Footnotes 1. [2:16] Hebrew 'who hates and divorces' 2. [2:16] Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1-4); or '"The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers'
cannot be used as the coup de grâce on all divorce. While the point of this post is not to solve all the biblical issues with marriage, divorce and remarriage, the point is to challenge you to study these issues. We are called to preach the gospel of Christ to a fallen world, comprised of all types of sinners many of whom have experienced the negative impact of fractured families, and to edify a church made up of regenerated sinners, with a growing number who have experienced the unfortunate ramifications associated with divorce. We must synthesize what the whole counsel of God has to say on the subjects of marriage, divorce, and remarriage and then be able to biblically proclaim what God has to say on these subjects. May God help us to be biblically informed and effectively teach his biblical truth on these subjects.