This is the eighth episode in a series that overviews the content of my book Divorce Your Remarriage. I am Chris Iverson and in this episode I answer the question, is it biblically permissible to divorce for safety?

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This is the seventh episode in a series that overviews the content of my book Divorce Your Remarriage. I am Chris Iverson and in this episode I discuss the application of the Bible to specific marriage, divorce, and remarriage scenarios.

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This is the sixth episode in a series that overviews the content of my book Divorce Your Remarriage. I am Chris Iverson and in this episode I tackle 1 Corinthians 7.  Paul contradicts the Corinthian theory that celibacy is required.  He says that it is sin, not sex, that is to be avoided and therefore, sex within marriage is permissible. To avoid sin, marriage is a necessary institution since not everyone has the gift of celibacy.  He writes to widows and widowers in verses 8-9, to the married in verses 10-24, to the betrothed in 25-38, and he summarizes the rule in verses 39-40 that a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives.  The text outside the passage to the married (verses 10-24) are unable to provide permission to divorce or remarry since verses 1-9 and 25-40 are not speaking to the married.  Within the text to the married (verses 10-24), I show why “to the rest” in verse 12 does not narrow Jesus’ teaching to believer-believer marriages and why “not enslaved” in verse 15 does not mean “not married”, but rather means “not encumbered from serving God” as Paul’s analogy to slavery illuminates in verse 21.  However, I share my interpretation that spousal abuse is analogous to an unbeliever departing and, due to Paul’s use of the phrase “in such cases”, verse 15 allows the use of the least separating means possible to escape unsafe marriage environments.

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This is the fifth episode in a series that overviews the content of my book Divorce Your Remarriage. I am Chris Iverson and in this episode I cover Romans 7:1-6.  I show that, contrary to mainstream conservative evangelical thought, this passage teaches about divorce and remarriage, despite its main message about the law.  In this text, Paul articulates a concept understood by the church at Rome.  Remarriage while the first spouse is alive is a continual state of adultery regardless of legal divorce.

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This is the fourth episode in a series that overviews the content of my book Divorce Your Remarriage. I am Chris Iverson and in this episode I cover the exception clause as found in Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9.  First, the exception clause is an exception, not a setting aside of the question, not a mistranslation that should say “not even for fornication”, and not a mere description of “when” someone became an adulterer or adulteress.  Second, when the condition for the exception clause is met, it permits divorce and remarriage, not just divorce.  Third, it’s not for fornication during betrothal nor does it refer to incest, since those concepts are not in the passages and therefore, Jesus’ audience would have no way of knowing that’s what He intended.  Fourth, in the two passages with the exception clause, the man divorces his wife.  The exception clause does not envision the man gaining the moral right to divorce and remarry because he cheated on his wife.  That makes no moral sense.  Fifth, the exception clause is not for the wife cheating on the husband (innocent party to adultery view).  While that is the most popular interpretation, it fails since it permits divorce for adultery but not for worse conduct, it allows an impossibility where the innocent party is no longer married after the divorce yet the guilty party is still married after divorce (therefore the guilty party’s remarriage is adultery), it would only let the husband divorce and remarry if the wife cheated but it wouldn’t let the wife divorce and remarry for the husband cheating since Jesus never flips the genders with the exception clause and Jesus’ audience around 30 AD would assume the genders are not to be flipped, and most of all, Matthew 19:7-8 specifically rejects divorce and remarriage for adultery. 

What does the exception clause mean?  The exception clause imagines a man marrying a divorced woman.  Jesus clarifies this in the second moral formulation in Matthew 5:32.  Their marriage is “porneia” since it is a type of adultery, i.e. an adulterous remarriage.  Therefore, the exception clause permits a man or a woman to divorce and remarry if their first marriage was an adulterous remarriage due to their first spouse having been previously married.  This is based on the premise that an invalid marriage, once it has been divorced/annulled, does not limit a person’s future marriage options.

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This is the third episode in a series that overviews the content of my book Divorce Your Remarriage. I am Chris Iverson and in this episode I cover the passages in the gospels that provide Jesus’ teaching on divorce and remarriage: Matthew 5:32, Matthew 19:3-12, Mark 10:2-12, and Luke 16:18.  However, I leave the exception clause, Romans 7, and I Corinthians 7 for future episodes.  This episode includes discussion about Deuteronomy 24, the Talmud, the rabbis Hillel and Shammai, and the Essenes view as written in the Damascus Document.  I identify and resolve the tension between the teaching of Jesus and Moses on this subject.  The debate in Matthew 19 is not between the Hillel and Shammai views, but rather between the Hillel and Essene views.  Jesus rejects the Hillel framing that centers on Deuteronomy 24 and instead approves the Essene view that Genesis is the key text on this subject.  Therefore, the divorce and remarriage moral formulations Jesus taught should be understood as absolutist exceptionless conclusions based on Genesis, not a restatement of Deuteronomy 24:1.  Naturally, this brings up a great question for the next episode: If Jesus’ taught against any exceptions, what does the exception clause mean?

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This is the second episode in a series that overviews the content of my book Divorce Your Remarriage. I am Chris Iverson and in this episode I discuss the 4 theories of marriage: contract, covenant, family, and sacramental (actually sacramental and natural).  I disagree with the mainstream conservative evangelical theory that the nature of a marriage is a covenant.  If the nature of marriage was a covenant, then two would remain two.  However, since two are made one, the nature of marriage must not be covenantal.  I defend the position that, while marriage is entered through a covenant agreement, the nature of marriage is family.  Since marriage is family, marriage is undivorceable.  Just as one cannot “un-sibling” their brother or sister, so one cannot “un-spouse” (divorce), their husband or wife.  While a government recognized divorce can be secured so that the government, society, etc. believes the marriage to be dissolved, God does not view the marriage as dissolved.  The spouses are still married in God’s sight even after the divorce.  This is why a remarriage is adultery (while the first valid spouse is alive).

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I am author Chris Iverson and in this episode I start a series that will provide an overview of the content in my book: Divorce Your Remarriage. I share the reason why a ministry’s divorce and remarriage interpretation is a primary issue (not a secondary issue).  I cover some marriage 101 from the Bible.  Finally, I discuss the critical distinction between moral permissibility and validity that is necessary to have an intelligent understanding and discussion of this issue.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FH9YRS7N/
Donate: https://www.patreon.com/c/divorceyourremarriage/
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Welcome! I am author Chris Iverson and in this inaugural episode, I introduce my divorce and remarriage interpretation, my book Divorce Your Remarriage, my journey to this interpretation, and my commentary on the dialog within conservative evangelicalism about it, including how students and pastors deserve a more robust alternative to the mainstream modern interpretations of the biblical texts.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FH9YRS7N/
Donate: https://www.patreon.com/c/divorceyourremarriage/
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Email: [email protected]

Timestamps:
00:00 Purpose of DYR podcast and book
03:16 Interpretation of divorce and remarriage scriptures
06:18 My journey to this interpretation
14:51 D&R is an important topic
16:35 Objective of DYR podcast and book
17:58 Importance of charitable disagreement
19:42 Evangelicalism serves communion to polygamists
21:46 Overblown fear in evangelicalism
23:08 Conclusion