Participants: Senez Rodriguez (Host), Tom Shepherd
Series Code: HPOV
Program Code: HPOV000042A
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00:16 Welcome to Heaven's Point of View.
00:18 My name is Dr. Senez Rodriguez 00:21 and we are discussing part of the Series, 00:24 Love, Marriage, Sex, and Divorce according to the New Testament. 00:28 Our special guest is Dr. Tom Sheperd, 00:33 he is the Professor of New Testament Interpretation 00:37 at Andrews University, 00:39 so, welcome again, to our discussion. 00:43 Now, we want to learn, Dr. Sheperd, 00:46 what the New Testament teaches about Divorce, 00:51 what passages will we look at today? 00:54 Okay, there are two central passages 00:57 that we'll take a look at over several programs. 01:01 Matthew 19 verses 3 to 12 is a passage 01:08 where Jesus has a discussion with Pharisees 01:12 about the question of divorce 01:13 and 1st Corinthians 7 verses 10 to 16 01:16 is a passage where the Apostle Paul 01:18 also discusses and goes into the topic. 01:22 In the next few discussions 01:24 we will look at Matthew 19 01:25 so, let's turn to Matthew 19 01:27 and read that passage, Matthew 19 verses 3 through 12, 01:32 Matthew 19 verses 3 through 12... 01:37 Okay, it says, like this, 01:41 "The Pharisees also came unto Him, tempting Him, 01:46 and saying unto Him, 'Is it lawful for a man 01:51 to put away his wife for every cause?' 01:54 And He answered and said unto them, 01:57 'Have you not read that He which made them 02:01 at the beginning made them male and female,' 02:06 and said, 'For this cause 02:10 shall a man leave father and mother 02:13 and shall cleave to his wife: 02:16 and they twain shall be one flesh?' 02:20 Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh. 02:26 What therefore God hath joined together, 02:29 let no man put asunder. 02:32 They said unto Him, 'Why did Moses then command 02:36 to give a written a writing of divorcement, 02:39 and to put her away?' 02:42 He said unto them, 'Moses, because of the hardness 02:48 of your hearts, suffered you to put away 02:52 your wife but from the beginning 02:55 it was not so. 02:57 And I say unto you, 02:59 whosoever shall put away his wife, 03:02 except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, 03:07 committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her 03:11 which is put away doth commit adultery. 03:15 His disciples say unto Him, If the case of the man 03:21 be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. 03:25 But He said unto them, 03:26 All men cannot receive this saying, 03:30 save they to whom it is given. 03:34 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born 03:38 from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, 03:43 which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, 03:48 which have made themselves eunuchs 03:51 for the kingdom of heaven's sake. 03:54 He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. " 03:59 Okay, well... it's quite a passage. 04:03 Now, we should place this passage 04:06 within the broader context of the book of Matthew 04:09 so we understand its... where it sits. 04:11 In the Gospel of Matthew, 04:14 the favorite gospel of the church really, 04:17 there are five great sermons of Jesus, 04:20 there is the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 to 7, 04:25 there is the Mission of the Disciples, 04:28 where Jesus describes their mission in chapter 10, 04:30 there is the set of parables 04:33 that He puts together in chapter 13, 04:34 there's the experience of the church life 04:37 or the community's life in chapter 18 04:40 and then there is the apocalyptic discourse 04:42 about the end of the world, 04:44 about the destruction of Jerusalem 04:45 from the end of the world in Matthew 24 and 25 04:48 and some might even extend that back in to Matthew 23, 04:51 each of these 04:53 five great sermons, 04:56 end with the same kinds of words 04:59 when Jesus finished these words, okay. 05:03 So, our passage is right after one of those sermons. 05:07 Jesus, in Matthew spends the majority of His ministry 05:12 in Galilee, but then, here in Matthew 19 05:17 he begins to move toward Jerusalem 05:19 where he will have His triumphal entry 05:22 in chapter 21, and then onward 05:25 to the passion narrative that comes there in Jerusalem, 05:31 so this chapter is a prelude to Jesus arriving in Jerusalem. 05:36 In Mark... the same story 05:37 comes before the triumphal entry in chapter 11, 05:41 of the gospel of Mark, 05:42 now, numerous times in Gospel stories, 05:46 Jesus is in dispute with religious leaders. 05:49 Sadducess, Pharisees, 05:52 teachers of the law... sometimes called scribes. 05:55 At times these parables are told in the context of the 06:00 arguments between Him and these religious leaders, 06:04 so there's a kind of a back and forth 06:06 thrust in power, you know, 06:08 ricochet, back and forth between Him and these leaders. 06:13 Within each of these controversies 06:15 Jesus' teaching which becomes Christian teaching 06:19 is set forth against the backdrop of controversies 06:23 with the religious leaders of Jesus' day, 06:25 so we should beware of making too many assumptions 06:29 about all the Pharisees or all the Sadducees 06:33 just based on the disputes that Jesus has 06:37 with a handful of them in the gospel stories. 06:40 Yes, now, Jesus obviously, 06:43 frequently fights with the Pharisees, 06:46 but who are these people? 06:47 Yeah, that's a good question, 06:50 we should think a little bit about their background. 06:52 The Pharisees were a popular religious group 06:54 in the time of Jesus 06:55 and though there is some question 06:59 of just how powerful they were at that time, 07:01 politically, they don't seem to have been as connected 07:06 as, say, the Sadducees and the Priests, 07:09 when Jesus gets to Jerusalem actually 07:11 the Pharisees disappear in most of the gospels, 07:15 they... not in Jerusalem... 07:17 but when it comes to His passion narrative, 07:20 when He's going to be arrested, 07:21 the Pharisees are hardly mentioned, if at all 07:24 in that Section, so that's more the Elders, 07:27 the Religious Leaders, the Jerusalem Elites 07:29 who bring about His trial but the origin of the Pharisees 07:36 is somewhat obscure, 07:38 they seem to have arisen around the time of the Hasmoneans 07:41 which is about 165 years before Christ, 07:45 during the reign of John Hyrcanus, 07:49 they first had influence over him, 07:52 likely serving as lower officials and functionaries 07:55 but later fell out of favor 07:57 and were maneuvered by a Sadduceesian rival 08:02 the name "Pharisee" comes from the Hebrew 08:07 or Aramaic word, "Perisa" 08:09 and it's an adjective that means, 08:11 separated or distinguished. 08:13 The question is, "What were they separated from?" 08:17 This is actually not the term that they had for themselves 08:19 but this was others that maybe gave them this title. 08:23 Where they separated from politics? 08:25 Where they separated from wickedness? 08:27 Where they separated from the common people? 08:29 The emphasis on purity among them 08:32 would suggest that they were separated from uncleanness 08:34 so, you know, when they argue with Jesus 08:36 that He's not washing His hands, 08:38 and the disciples are eating with unclean things 08:41 and He's associating with sinners 08:44 and tax collectors, 08:46 people that they would not have contact with 08:48 because of the uncleanness. 08:51 They likely believed in the 08:52 influence of Divine activity on human life 08:54 both human freedom and faith, 08:57 so you can have both at the same time. 09:00 Reward and punishment in the afterlife... 09:02 they believed in the resurrection, 09:04 the New Testament tells us that, they stressed tithing, 09:06 ritual purity, Sabbath observance, 09:09 without a lot of interest in civil laws 09:11 and regulations of temple worship 09:13 they almost sound like Seventh-day Adventists... 09:14 Yeah. 09:15 They became the roots of what is today, 09:18 Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinic Judaism out of which 09:21 different parts of Judaism come today, 09:23 so they were a very important group. 09:26 Now, that's very interesting but my question is, 09:29 what was the basis of their dispute with Jesus, 09:32 what was the foundation of the dispute? 09:34 Yeah, so they come to ask Him in Matthew 19 verse 3 09:38 they ask the question, 09:40 "Is it lawful to divorce ones wife for any cause?" 09:43 Hmmm... hmmm... 09:44 And there were two different schools of thought 09:47 or groups of Pharisees, they were called the... 09:50 in Jesus' day, they were called the 09:52 School of Shammai and the School of Hillel. 09:55 So we should describe these two schools, 09:57 these are sub-categories of the Pharisees. 09:59 The School of Shammai, on the subject of divorce, 10:02 believed that divorce should only be 10:06 for marital unfaithfulness. 10:08 They referenced a text in the book of Deuteronomy 10:12 chapter 24 verses 1 and 2, 10:14 that which we'll spend more time looking at 10:16 and this talked about... there's a phrase in there 10:21 that "nakedness of a matter," 10:23 that's kind of a literal translation, 10:26 the nakedness of a matter, and for the School of Shammai, 10:28 the emphasis was on the word "nakedness" 10:31 and that, to them meant "sexual immorality," 10:34 somebody having sex with somebody 10:35 other than their spouse. 10:37 Originally, if we go back to the time of Deuteronomy, 10:40 if we go back to Moses' time, the law, more likely, 10:43 was related to a matter of personal indecency 10:46 because if you were involved in adultery, 10:48 the Law of Moses said that you should be stoned. 10:51 Okay, so, you wouldn't have 10:54 that... you wouldn't have divorce in quite the... 10:58 for those reasons 10:59 necessarily... for adultery 11:01 but after 30 AD, probably there was no 11:04 death penalty for adultery in Judaism 11:06 so, this is the time when Jesus is fighting with these people 11:11 and they're asking Him this very question. 11:13 Now the School of Hillel on the other hand 11:15 they believed that divorce could be for just about anything 11:19 that was distasteful to the husband. 11:20 They took the same phrase, "Nakedness of a matter" 11:24 or indecency of a matter 11:25 and they focused on the word, "matter" 11:28 so, for them if she burned his toast, 11:31 you know, we would say, he could divorce her, 11:35 and so for almost any cause, he could divorce her 11:38 and one of the Rabbis even said 11:41 that if he found somebody who was prettier, 11:43 he could divorce her for that. 11:44 So, some of these people had come to a position 11:47 where marriage... the commitment in marriage 11:51 was diminished and where they were 11:54 doing divorce for trivial reasons. 11:57 There were four reasons among Jews of that day 12:01 for which divorce was more commonly done, 12:05 childlessness, material neglect, 12:07 emotional neglect or unfaithfulness. 12:10 So, these kinds of characteristics were big dice 12:14 I know that you are a Counselor 12:16 and work here at 3abn in counseling 12:19 and have worked with people on divorce, 12:21 what kinds of solutions do you typically recommend? 12:23 We get kind of practical here for a moment, 12:25 we'll look back at the text but... 12:26 Solution for this problem? 12:28 For this problem, yeah. 12:30 Well, I have at least four. Hmmm... hmmm... 12:34 And I would say the number one is: spending time together. 12:41 Okay this is to prevent divorce? To prevent. 12:44 To knock down that path, this is what you need to do: 12:47 spend time together. 12:48 Spending time together in order to be able to share 12:52 feelings, emotions, what happened during the day, 12:56 sharing, because the communication 12:58 is the basis for the establishment of a relationship. 13:01 No communication... no relationship. 13:03 So, it is important and these days 13:06 when people are so busy 13:07 they tend to separate, but also... 13:10 And my wife and I find that... that... 13:12 meal times is a great time for... 13:14 for sharing back and forth, "So how did your day go?" 13:16 "So, what happened to you today?" 13:17 Exactly... exactly... Here's the news of the day. 13:19 Or going for a walk. Or going for a walk... 13:21 So you do exercise and you talk 13:22 so you have two reasons to be together. 13:26 You need to spend time together 13:28 besides time in bed. Absolutely... 13:30 You have to have some other time where you talk 13:33 and you think about the day and you talk together 13:35 and have that relationship. 13:36 Exactly, another important issue is: 13:38 focus on what is positive in your partner 13:41 because, no one is perfect, at least, I am not, 13:45 but because no one is perfect, 13:48 we must focus on what is positive, 13:51 what is good in your partner and mention that... 13:54 the person needs to hear it. They do. 13:56 And express appreciation for that. 13:58 So it's very important, another one is: 14:00 accept the differences that may be... between the two 14:03 because when you have certain things that are 14:07 very different from mine, 14:09 then, your differences can compensate mine. 14:12 And also, very important: worship together, 14:15 particularly for a Christian couple, 14:17 worship together, pray together, 14:19 read the Bible together, 14:21 I think that those are very important. 14:23 We can make a longer list 14:25 but I think that those are very important. 14:26 Sure, I mean, as we talk about divorce in these passages, 14:30 many times people will get the kind of feeling like, 14:33 "Well, there's this reason and there's that reason," 14:36 and they get focused on the small details, 14:38 "Well, do I have Biblical grounds for divorce?" 14:42 And really what they need to focus on is 14:44 trying to preserve and trying to reclaim 14:47 and trying to enhance the experience that they have 14:50 together as a couple and to avoid divorce. 14:52 Exactly. 14:54 Yeah, because God says, "I hate divorce," yeah... okay. 15:01 Now, according to Judaism, what was the standard pattern 15:09 of divorce in Judaism, what was it? 15:11 We said that they had these four different reasons 15:15 that were typical for divorce, just to reiterate, 15:19 those were: childlessness, material neglect, 15:22 emotional neglect and unfaithfulness 15:26 and it's interesting that over about... 15:29 maybe... the past 100 years before Jesus, 15:32 there had been some shifts that were taking place 15:35 in what would be called, "Laws of the dowry" 15:39 and these had an effect on divorce... 15:43 on marriage and divorce 15:44 so, let me just describe a little bit about the concept 15:48 of "dowry," in the original law 15:51 the dowry... they sometimes call the 15:54 "bride price" was a payment to the father of the bride 16:00 it's described here, 16:02 there are successive stages in divorce law in Judaism, 16:05 the last two established by 16:07 somebody named Simeon ben Shetach 16:11 in about the 1st century BC, 16:12 originally, they had the bride price 16:16 or something called Mohar, 16:18 was paid to the father of the bride, 16:20 it was a certain amount for a virgin 16:23 and it was a different amount for a widow 16:25 we kind of look at this today and we say, "Bride price? 16:27 What in the world are you doing with a bride price?" 16:30 Well, it was to illustrate that you were able... 16:33 you were a capable young fellow 16:34 and you were going to be able to take care of this young lady 16:36 and not uncommonly, then, there would be an experience 16:41 that if you broke up, if there was divorce, 16:44 the money would go back to the young lady, 16:47 this law... this original law... 16:50 there was a payment for the father... 16:51 was changed to... it was a payment to the bride. 16:53 okay, so the first change brought... 16:57 was the bride price was paid to the bride 16:59 but kept on reserve at her father's house, 17:02 in the event of a divorce or the death of her husband. 17:05 This still meant that it was costly to marry 17:08 but relatively cost-free to divorce, 17:11 because you pay it first, 17:13 people were reluctant to marry 17:15 but many were too hasty to divorce, 17:18 so it didn't seem to be good practice... 17:19 by this law... so they changed it again, 17:22 and they turned it into "payment into goods" 17:24 so in this case, the "bride price" was turned 17:28 into goods like metal pots or ornaments, 17:30 and the bride took them with her to her husband's house. 17:34 She would also take them away if she was divorced by him 17:38 or widowed, her marriage was still costly 17:41 but divorce was also costly to the husband personally 17:45 because he lost the use of those goods. 17:48 Hmmm... hmmm... 17:50 Now we might tend to think "Oh, that's so monetary for few" 17:53 but, frankly, marriage is not just about sex 17:57 and just about relationships, it's also about monetary things 18:00 and throughout history people have found 18:02 that it's good to be married, 18:04 and that there are beneficial effects both ways, 18:07 then it was changed, differently, still. 18:10 It was changed... the next step was to allow 18:13 the money to be invested in the family business, 18:15 now there was no longer any tangible set of utensils 18:18 but the woman received a sum of money 18:20 if she was divorced, 18:22 the final change was a promise to pay... you notice this... 18:27 in this last step, no money needed to be exchanged 18:29 because this would become 18:31 part of the groom's financial property anyway... 18:33 instead, there was a promise made... 18:36 a contract called "ketubah" 18:38 "to pay the bride a sum on divorce" 18:41 the father would also give a dowry or a gift 18:44 to the bride which could be small or quite large. 18:47 This remained hers and became included in the ketubah 18:51 that the husband had to repay on divorce, 18:53 so the last two changes made marriage much less costly, 18:58 so it was easier to get married, 19:00 but made divorce more costly, 19:01 all right, so, these were all changes taking place 19:05 in the marriage laws in Judaism approximately 100 years 19:08 leading up to the time of Jesus. 19:10 Wow! so the basis of the fight between the Pharisees 19:13 related to... which of these schools? 19:16 Yeah, to which school you belong in, 19:18 whether you belonged in the School of Shammai 19:21 or whether you belong in the School of Hillel, 19:23 the Pharisees disagreed among themselves 19:25 over the matter of divorce 19:27 and so, they came to ask Jesus His opinion, 19:30 so Jesus responds in verses 4 to 6, 19:34 let's read those verses again. 19:37 Matthew 19 verses 4 to 6. Yeah. 19:40 And He answered and said unto them, 19:44 "Have ye not read, that He which made them 19:48 at the beginning 'made them male and female. ' 19:51 and said, 'For this cause 19:54 shall a man leave father and mother, 19:57 and shall cleave to his wife: 19:59 and they twain shall be one flesh?' 20:04 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. 20:09 What therefore God hath joined together, 20:12 let no man put asunder. " 20:15 All right... so this is Jesus' response to them 20:19 and very interestingly combines the Creation accounts 20:26 from Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, He puts them side by side, 20:31 see the story in Genesis 1 20:34 if you read that beautiful Creation story 20:37 focuses attention on God as the Almighty Creator, 20:42 God speaks and it happens and He prepares the world 20:46 and in Genesis 1:26 to 28, the creation of the first people 20:52 is reported, and at the heart of this 20:56 God says, "Let us make man 20:59 in our image and after our likeness," 21:02 theologians have called this the image of God 21:06 or the Latin terminology is "Imago Dei," 21:09 okay, to be made in God's image. 21:12 Jesus, unless He's alluding without specific reference 21:17 focuses attention on the 21:19 maleness and femaleness of the two people, 21:22 that is... to suggest they are two, 21:25 He made them male and female, two... 21:29 then, He draws from the Genesis 2 story 21:32 and that story focuses attention 21:36 on the creation of people, right, in Genesis 2 verse 7 21:40 and God makes the man of the dust of the earth 21:42 breathed into it the breathe of life 21:44 and man becomes a living soul, 21:46 very important foundational concept 21:48 of anthropology in the Bible. 21:50 But He goes on, you know, in that story, 21:53 to the place where they... God says, 21:56 "It's not good for the man to be alone" 21:59 and so... actually the first thing He does is 22:04 He brings the animals for him to name, 22:07 so that the man will see that there's no one like him 22:10 and something happens in the man's heart 22:13 he feels a sense of need then God puts him to sleep. 22:17 God takes a rib, God makes the woman 22:20 and brings her to the man, now, so, 22:23 "it is not good for the man to be alone... " 22:26 is resolved when the woman is made and brought to the man. 22:31 It's interesting that Jesus combines the two stories 22:36 Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 when He's talking about marriage 22:41 He does not seem to emphasize so much 22:44 the idea of the "Imogo Dei" or the image of God 22:48 though that is a key concept of Biblical anthropology, 22:51 but rather, He seems to focus attention 22:54 on this process of two becoming one. 22:57 Now, that's in Genesis 2 by itself 23:00 but Jesus seems to super emphasize it 23:03 by saying that when God originally made them, 23:05 He made them male and female and then 23:07 a man leaves his father and mother 23:10 and the two become one. 23:11 It's important to notice here that Jesus... 23:14 in putting together Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 23:17 has focused attention 23:18 on the maleness and the femaleness of the two people 23:21 that are involved in marriage, they become one flesh. 23:25 This highly implies that Jesus sees the male-female union 23:29 as the standard ruling out same-sex marriage, 23:33 so this passage is not commonly looked at 23:37 or drawn from on the whole question of 23:41 homosexuality and same-sex marriage 23:43 but here Jesus puts the two together 23:46 and emphasizing that maleness and femaleness 23:48 implies this idea that it's the two becoming one. 23:53 Now, Jesus makes His conclusion in verse 6 23:57 so, want to see verse 6 again and He says there 24:01 so they are no longer two but one flesh. 24:05 What, therefore, God has joined together, 24:09 let not man separate. 24:11 The logic Jesus followed in joining Genesis 1 and 2 24:15 is displayed in His conclusion that the man and the woman 24:20 are no longer two, they are one 24:23 and He goes further than this even, 24:27 He indicates that what this really means is that God... 24:31 that God has acted in marriage, the verb is... 24:36 means to yoke together, to put... 24:40 you have two oxen and you put a... 24:43 you put... a yoke over them, 24:46 the yoke helps them work together, 24:48 so that they don't go in opposite directions 24:51 what God has yoked together, okay... 24:54 The term would be used of this, you know, 24:56 oxen that they could work together. 24:59 In marriage, according to Jesus, 25:01 God has yoked together the man and the woman. 25:03 His conclusion is that "what God has joined together, 25:07 or yoked together, 25:08 man should not separate or divide," 25:10 don't take the yoke off, which, of course, would be divorce. 25:15 Jesus' basic stance is to stress the sanctity 25:20 and enduring nature of marriage. 25:22 You see, the Pharisees were coming to Him 25:24 with the wrong question or the wrong perspective, 25:28 they were arguing like, 25:29 "Look, is it okay to divorce for this?" 25:32 "Is it okay to divorce for that?" 25:33 He says, "No... no... no... no... no... no 25:35 you need to think back to the beginning 25:38 that God's original plan 25:40 was for a man and woman to be together 25:42 and what God has joined together that should stay together. " 25:46 So, Jesus' basic stance 25:49 is to stress the sanctity and enduring nature of marriage 25:53 and this is consistent with Malachi chapter 2, 25:56 "Marriage is not something to be entered into trivially, 26:02 flippantly or frivolously, 26:04 it is a serious business where God is at work. " 26:06 Why don't you read for us, 26:07 we'll just close out with Malachi 2 verses 13 to 16, 26:11 13 and... 26:13 13 through 16... Malachi 2 verses 13 through 16, 26:17 Okay, "And this have ye done again, 26:20 covering the altar of the Lord with tears, 26:24 with weeping, and with crying out 26:28 insomuch that He regarded not the offering anymore, 26:33 or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 26:37 Yet you say, Wherefore? 26:40 Because the Lord hath been witness 26:44 between thee and the wife of thy youth, 26:48 against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: 26:52 yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 26:59 And did not he make one? 27:03 Yet had he the residue of the spirit. 27:08 And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. 27:14 Therefore, take heed to your spirit, 27:17 and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 27:24 For the Lord, the God of Israel, 27:28 saith that He hateth putting away: 27:32 for one covereth violence with his garment, 27:36 saith the Lord of hosts: 27:38 therefore take heed to your spirit, 27:40 that ye deal not treacherously. " 27:42 All right, so, this basically is a... God is against divorce 27:48 is what this passage tells us and we've run out of time 27:52 but I'll just say that we'll talk again next time, 27:56 we're glad that you could join us 27:57 and we hope that you'll continue with us in these studies 28:00 about love, marriage, sex, and divorce. 28:03 May God bless you this day. |
Revised 2016-04-14