Is divorce allowable from a Biblical perspective?

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Question: Is divorce allowable from a Biblical perspective?

ATP: It all depends on the cause.

Jesus was clear that divorcing a spouse who has committed adultery is allowable. A person is free to divorce an adulterous spouse and is free to remarry without either action being sin.

1 Corinthians 7 gives us another category of so-called "Biblical divorce". It says that if an unbeliever refuses to stay in a marriage with a believer, the believer isn’t "bound."

That is, if the believer is divorced by an unbeliever who has abandoned the marriage, the divorce is not a sin for the believer and the believer is free to remarry.

There is the possibility that 1 Corinthians 7 should also be applied to the marriage of two believers as well. It is much too complicated to take up in this brief article, but there is strong evidence that "abandonment" is the key issue in 1 Corinthians 7, not whether the marriage is between a believer and an unbeliever. If that is correct, it would suggest that the abandoned party even in a marriage between two believers, is free to remarry without it being sin.

One must be careful here about opening Pandora’s box, as people may feel free to divorce for any reason, which was exactly what Jesus spoke against, but it is not an irresponsible interpretation of the 1 Corinthians passage to suggest that abandoment is the key principle being spoken of, rather than whether the marriage is between a believer and unbeliever. The question in either case becomes, "What constitutes abandonment?"

Is it enough that a person is willing to live in the same house with another person? I don't think so, but where is the line that determines when functional abandonment as taken place? There is no easy answer to that question.

That having been said, it is more important for us to focus on building and holding together healthy marriages, than to concentrate on "escape clauses." God would prefer that all marriages work and hold together, founded on a relationship with Him.

Unfortunately as we also know, there are individuals who through their infidelity do great damage to their spouse and to their children. God allows divorce as an option for the victimized spouse in such cases.

What does it mean to have a personal relationship with God?

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Question: What does it mean to have a personal relationship with God? How do I know if I have one? I do want one, but don't know if I have one or not.

A Reader, USA


ATP: That is truly a great question. Most people, in quiet moments when they aren't under pressure to go along with the crowd, will admit that they think about God and who God might be, and whether or not they can know him.

Even a very antagonistic toward God atheist admits by his opposition that his life is defined by his/her lack of a relationship with God. Dr. J. Edwin Orr called such people "believers in reverse." Funny! But sad at the same time.

I Timothy 2: 5 says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Man's relationship with God is damaged because of sin. We are separated from him on a relational level because of that sin. On our own or by our own efforts, we have no way to repair what is broken. God is perfect and his standard in measuring sin, is to compare our actions agains perfection. As we know all too well, none of us measures up to that.

But God is more than "perfect" in his actions, he is a just God on the one hand, and gracious God on the other.

His justice demands that sin be paid for. We are wired that way too. We don't like it when injustice happens. We want justice to prevail. So does God, only he demands perfect justice, not the justice that we human beings carry out.

But thankfully in addition to being just, God is also gracious. It is by his grace that God provided a way for us to be forgiven of our sins through Christ, and for our broken relationship with him to be restored.

God chose to place all our sins on Christ. Christ who was and is perfect, was the "perfect" debt payer. His payment for our sins takes care of God's righteous demand that sin be paid for. It is similar to having some one pay off a debt that we owe, even though we incurred the debt instead of them. The debt is declared "forgiven."

When we repent of our sin and turn to God asking for forgiveness through Christ, our "sin debt" is declared forgiven.

As Paul told Timothy, "There is one mediator between God and man." Only through Christ can our broken relationship be mediated and restored.

So to have a personal relationship with God, a person must receive God's forgiveness through Christ. Jesus' death opened the way for people to have access to God. God will not allow access any other way.

If you have received Christ into your life as Lord and Savior, trusting in his death and resurrection alone for your salvation, you do have a personal relationship with God and are promised eternal joy in heaven.

A large part of the Christian life then, is developing that existing relationship by studying what God has said in the Bible, and applying the Bible to our lives. Some have the relationship, but simply haven't gotten to know God well. These are just as assured of heaven as some one who knows God intimately.

Please explain 2 Samuel 15:7 and why 40 years is recorded in the King James Version rather than 4 years.

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Question:In the KJV 2 Samuel 15:7 the Bible says that "...after 40 years Absalom..." As far as I know David was king forty years and Absalom wan't banish from the presence of the king for that long or was him?

Please explain to me about 2 Samuel 15:7.

In Christ,

MS


ATP: MS, thanks for the question. MS, there are two possibilities to explain the passage.

One is a simple one: that there was a minor copyists error that caused 40 to be written where 4 should have been. For example in the ancient manuscript called the Septuagint (an ancient Greek translation from the Hebrew that was done about 250 years before the time of Christ) the number is recorded as 4, not 40.

So it is possible simply that the copies of the ancient documents the King James translators used in 1611 had a minor typographical error in them. That does not mean that the original manuscripts of the ancient documents were in error.

As I noted, a translation that was done as long ago as 250 years before the time of Christ, uses the number 4, rather than 40. So clearly, under this likely scenario, there were ancient Hebrew manuscripts used by the Greek translators, that had the number 4 instead of 40 in them.

A second possibility is that the 40 is counting from some other time rather than the beginning of David’s reign. Perhaps the counting began with David being anointed to be kind for example, rather than when he actually took over rule of Israel years after the point of his anointing.

However, it seems most likely that there was a simple copyists error and that the number 4 is the correct number.

I hope this helps! Thanks for writing in! If there are any other questions I can help with, please let me know!