37
What Jesus Really Said Putting Away the Mistranslations About Divorce Presented by Dan Knight Minister of Church Life Overland Park Church of Christ [email protected]
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What Jesus Really Said
Putting Away the Mistranslations About Divorce
Presented byDan Knight
Minister of Church LifeOverland Park Church of Christ
danknightopcofcorg
Voltaire
ldquoDivorce probably dates from the same time as marriage I think though that marriage is a few weeks older that is to say that a man fought with this wife after a fortnight beat her after a month and that they separated after living together for six weeksrdquo (quoted by Roderick Phillips in Untying the Knot A Short History of Divorce p 252)
Divorce is the opposite of a marriage ceremony The latter begins a marriage the former ends it
Definition of Divorce
Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
Biblically divorce goes back to the time of Abraham (Genesis 21)14Early the next morning Abraham took some
food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba
Three Steps
Time for a Language Clarification
shalach = send = שלחaway
ת ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
The Law of Moses introduced a new concept The Divorce Certificate
ldquoDavid Instone-Brewer ldquoAs originally intended the Pentateuch gave women greater freedom than any other ancient Near Easter law It gave divorced women the documentary evidence of their divorce which enabled them to remarry without fear of counterclaims some time in the future from their former husbandsrdquo Divorce amp Remarriage in the Bible p 31
What were the mosaic provisions
If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deuteronomy 241)
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Voltaire
ldquoDivorce probably dates from the same time as marriage I think though that marriage is a few weeks older that is to say that a man fought with this wife after a fortnight beat her after a month and that they separated after living together for six weeksrdquo (quoted by Roderick Phillips in Untying the Knot A Short History of Divorce p 252)
Divorce is the opposite of a marriage ceremony The latter begins a marriage the former ends it
Definition of Divorce
Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
Biblically divorce goes back to the time of Abraham (Genesis 21)14Early the next morning Abraham took some
food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba
Three Steps
Time for a Language Clarification
shalach = send = שלחaway
ת ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
The Law of Moses introduced a new concept The Divorce Certificate
ldquoDavid Instone-Brewer ldquoAs originally intended the Pentateuch gave women greater freedom than any other ancient Near Easter law It gave divorced women the documentary evidence of their divorce which enabled them to remarry without fear of counterclaims some time in the future from their former husbandsrdquo Divorce amp Remarriage in the Bible p 31
What were the mosaic provisions
If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deuteronomy 241)
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Divorce is the opposite of a marriage ceremony The latter begins a marriage the former ends it
Definition of Divorce
Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
Biblically divorce goes back to the time of Abraham (Genesis 21)14Early the next morning Abraham took some
food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba
Three Steps
Time for a Language Clarification
shalach = send = שלחaway
ת ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
The Law of Moses introduced a new concept The Divorce Certificate
ldquoDavid Instone-Brewer ldquoAs originally intended the Pentateuch gave women greater freedom than any other ancient Near Easter law It gave divorced women the documentary evidence of their divorce which enabled them to remarry without fear of counterclaims some time in the future from their former husbandsrdquo Divorce amp Remarriage in the Bible p 31
What were the mosaic provisions
If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deuteronomy 241)
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
Biblically divorce goes back to the time of Abraham (Genesis 21)14Early the next morning Abraham took some
food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba
Three Steps
Time for a Language Clarification
shalach = send = שלחaway
ת ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
The Law of Moses introduced a new concept The Divorce Certificate
ldquoDavid Instone-Brewer ldquoAs originally intended the Pentateuch gave women greater freedom than any other ancient Near Easter law It gave divorced women the documentary evidence of their divorce which enabled them to remarry without fear of counterclaims some time in the future from their former husbandsrdquo Divorce amp Remarriage in the Bible p 31
What were the mosaic provisions
If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deuteronomy 241)
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Biblically divorce goes back to the time of Abraham (Genesis 21)14Early the next morning Abraham took some
food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba
Three Steps
Time for a Language Clarification
shalach = send = שלחaway
ת ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
The Law of Moses introduced a new concept The Divorce Certificate
ldquoDavid Instone-Brewer ldquoAs originally intended the Pentateuch gave women greater freedom than any other ancient Near Easter law It gave divorced women the documentary evidence of their divorce which enabled them to remarry without fear of counterclaims some time in the future from their former husbandsrdquo Divorce amp Remarriage in the Bible p 31
What were the mosaic provisions
If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deuteronomy 241)
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Three Steps
Time for a Language Clarification
shalach = send = שלחaway
ת ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
The Law of Moses introduced a new concept The Divorce Certificate
ldquoDavid Instone-Brewer ldquoAs originally intended the Pentateuch gave women greater freedom than any other ancient Near Easter law It gave divorced women the documentary evidence of their divorce which enabled them to remarry without fear of counterclaims some time in the future from their former husbandsrdquo Divorce amp Remarriage in the Bible p 31
What were the mosaic provisions
If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deuteronomy 241)
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Time for a Language Clarification
shalach = send = שלחaway
ת ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
The Law of Moses introduced a new concept The Divorce Certificate
ldquoDavid Instone-Brewer ldquoAs originally intended the Pentateuch gave women greater freedom than any other ancient Near Easter law It gave divorced women the documentary evidence of their divorce which enabled them to remarry without fear of counterclaims some time in the future from their former husbandsrdquo Divorce amp Remarriage in the Bible p 31
What were the mosaic provisions
If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deuteronomy 241)
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
The Law of Moses introduced a new concept The Divorce Certificate
ldquoDavid Instone-Brewer ldquoAs originally intended the Pentateuch gave women greater freedom than any other ancient Near Easter law It gave divorced women the documentary evidence of their divorce which enabled them to remarry without fear of counterclaims some time in the future from their former husbandsrdquo Divorce amp Remarriage in the Bible p 31
What were the mosaic provisions
If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deuteronomy 241)
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
What were the mosaic provisions
If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deuteronomy 241)
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Could a man send her away without a certificate
On one conditionDeuteronomy 2213 ndash 20 13If a man takes a wife and after sleeping with her
dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name saying ldquoI married this woman but when I approached her I did not find proof of her virginityrdquo 15then the young womanrsquos father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Deut 22 continued16Her father will say to the elders ldquoI gave my daughter
in marriage to this man but he dislikes her 17Now he has slandered her and said lsquoI did not find your daughter to be a virginrsquo But here is the proof of my daughterrsquos virginityrdquo Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels a of silver and give them to the young womanrsquos father because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Deut 22 continued
She shall continue to be his wife he must not divorce her as long as he lives
20If however the charge is true and no proof of the young womanrsquos virginity can be found 21she shall be brought to the door of her fatherrsquos house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her fatherrsquos house You must purge the evil from among you
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
In other words
if she was guilty of fornication the man did not need to give her a certificate of divorce
Note In practice this became an ldquoannulmentrdquo instead of a capital offense Case in point Matthew 119
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Matthew 119
18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce [Grk apoluo] her quietly
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Time for another language lesson
A Hebrewת1 ריתו kerithuth = divorce = כ
shalach = send away = שלח2
B Greek
1 apostasion = apostasion = divorce
2 apoluw = apoluo = send away
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Back to Joseph amp Mary
bull They were betrothed but not married A divorce certificate was not necessary for breaking a betrothal in the Second Temple Period (536BC ndash 70AD)
bull Even if it were it would not have been required because of Maryrsquos ldquosinrdquo
bull He only needed to apoluo (send her away)
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Peter ZaasWhile biblical law makes no provision for divorce in the case of a
broken betrothal rabbinic law famously does The Mishna for example so unselfconsciously assumes that a betrothal constitutes a marriage15 so far as divorce is concerned that contemporary scholars who get the point at all16 generally read the rabbinic legal situation back into the biblical one and conclude that biblical law requires a get to dissolve a betrothal as well17
16Neither Keener Brown nor Davies and Allison bother asking why Joseph needs to divorce Mary at all
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Peter Zaas ndash 2 Recently Michael Satlow in his 2001 volume Jewish Marriage in
Antiquity11 notes that Matthew reflects a rabbinic rather than a biblical view of Jewish law in this matter Specifying examples from the Hebrew Bible12 and from the Elephantine papyri13 Satlow concludes that while financial damages may be assessed when a betrothed woman is acquired by someone else the law does not obligate a divorce
hellipduring the entire Second Temple period (most) Jews neither customarily ldquobetrothedrsquo (in the biblical sense) nor
did they even have a firm understanding of what such a betrothal would mean14
The law does not mandate a divorce to terminate a betrothal nor is a divorce possible if we extend Satlowrsquos conclusion to its logical conclusion when there is no marriage
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
What Jesus Really Said
Before reading Matthew 531 ndash 32 use your imagination and pretend you have never read this passage before today I will read it using the words ldquosend awayrdquo for apoluo and ldquodivorcerdquo for apostasian
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Mt 531 ᾿Ερρεθη δε ὅτι ὅς ἂν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου δοτω αυτη αποστασιον
Mt 532 ᾿Εγω δε λεγω υμιν ὅτι ὅς ἄν απολυση
την γυναικα αυτου παρεκτος λογου πορνειας
ποιει αυτην μοιχασθαι και ὃς εαν
απολελυμενην γαμηση μοιχαται
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Consistent with S on the M
Old Testament Jesusrsquo wordsAnger is okay but donrsquot murder
Anger is equal to Murder
ldquoRacardquo is a harsh word but not condemnable
ldquoRacardquo puts you in risk of Hell
You can lust but donrsquot commit adultery
Lust is adultery committed in your heart
If you send her away give her a divorce certificate
Remarriage without a divorce is adultery
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Review Three StepsCan we send away our
wives for any reason
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Matthew 191 ndash 9 NIVr 1 When Jesus finished saying these things he left Galilee He went into
the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River 2 Large crowds followed him He healed them there 3 Some Pharisees came to put him to the test They asked Does the Law allow a man to send away his wife for any reason at all
4 Jesus replied Havent you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and femalemdash(Genesis 127) 5 He said Thats why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife The two will become onemdash(Genesis 224) 6 They are no longer two but one So a man must not separate what God has joined together
7 They asked Then why did Moses command that a man can give his wife a letter of divorce and send her away
8 Jesus replied Moses let you send away your wives because you were stubborn But it was not this way from the beginning 9 Here is what I tell you Anyone who sends away his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery A man may send away his wife only if she has not been faithful [Greek ndash fornication] to him
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Instone-Brewer
bull The meaning of the answer that Jesus gave has been the subject of much debate mainly because it is inherently difficult hellip It appears to be illogical because it charges a person who remarries with the very specific crime of ldquoadulteryrdquo which a remarried person is not guilty of in any known legal system p 148
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Dialogue PhariseesJesusException if shersquos been
promiscuous
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Responses to this ldquotheoryrdquo
Three main responses1Donrsquot agree2Have to study it more3Agree
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
The ldquostudy more responserdquo
The NIV paraphrases the question the Pharisees raise for the Pharisees actually do not ask about divorce but about putting away (which is how the King James and American Standard Versions rightly translate the Greek term apoluein) It is possible that the Pharisees are not asking about whether one could divorce
his wife (which the Law clearly permitted cf Deut 241-4
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
The ldquostudy more responserdquo ndash 2
Ezra 10) but about whether one could abandon his wife without divorcing her In other words the question may involve a man who doesnrsquot want to divorce his wife legally but merely wants to abandon her (remember that divorce was expensive in antiquity too)
Extreme Discipleship Following Jesus from
the Gospel of Mark p 166
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Instone-BrewerThe many changes in divorce law during the
Intertestamental period added up to greater rights for women but also greater instability of marriage Divorce became more common and both men and women started to be able to demand a divorce The reforms of Simeon ben Shetah tried to discourage divorce among Jews but they also resulted in greater financial security for divorced women and so divorce was no longer perceived as calamitous or cruel All
these changes form the background for the debate in Judaism concerning the
grounds for divorce p 84
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Instone-Brewer
The divorce certificate was therefore both a disincentive to divorce as well as a benefit to a divorced woman Without the law of the certificate of divorce a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights
Instone-Brewer David Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Grand Rapids
MI Eerdmans 2002 p 33
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
The Disagree Response
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Gordon Wenham
ldquo[T]he early church is free from this problem for in that view when Jesus uses the word apolyein it always means lsquoseparate fromrsquordquo
Remarriage After Divorce in Todayrsquos Church p 55 note 21 Mark Strauss Editor
(Wenhamrsquos section is entitled ldquoNo Remarriage After Divorcerdquo)
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Instone-Brewer
bull Therefore [according to the Jewish leaders] a woman who had remarried and whose divorce was discovered to have been invalid could not continue to be married to either husband and any children she had by them since the time of the ldquoadulteryrdquo were considered as illegitimate p 129
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Instone-Brewer
bull Jesus however refused to recognize the validity of this type of divorce [In all the synoptic accounts] the only detail that remains is Jesusrsquo assertion that remarriage after an invalid divorce is adulterous The reason for this is now clear This was the only point at which Jesus differed with everyone
else in Judaism p 167
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
The Scholarly RunaroundApoluo means
send away
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
What if Five Christian Stances on Divorce
Other causes that are permitted usually the four Arsquos
ldquoIf the facts were on your side yours would be a very neat solutionrdquo [e-mail from David Instone-Brewer]
Two Best Books
Two Best Books
