Innocent party

[DanShaf]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I love your honesty as expressed in the bolded words. My quandary is this... and perhaps it's a far more serious quandary than your own. I'm divorced... and I've discovered that celibacy is obviously not for me. lol Just being honest.

I appreciate your honesty..It reveals such a great need to "see" the scriptures in the way that you do.I do not know who you are ,but myself and our congregation will be praying that God gives you strength to serve Him undefiled.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by DanShaf

I appreciate your honesty..It reveals such a great need to "see" the scriptures in the way that you do.I do not know who you are ,but myself and our congregation will be praying that God gives you strength to serve Him undefiled.

Thank you so much Bro. Dan, I'll never reject a prayer like that. I truly need it. Bless you bro.

I don't fault anyone who doesn't believe in the fullness of Apostolic Authority. However, I believe in it because I can't get around the text. I've heard it described as the power to remit sin through preaching the Gospel, the power to remit sin through baptism, the authority to restore or anathematize, and in your post - the authority to establish doctrine. However, I can't find any of that in the text itself. I take it simply for what it says...

John 20:21-23 (KJV)
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

If I remarry, I'll have to turn to the elders and pray that they will plead the blood of Jesus over me and my second wife. Because I can't just pretend it isn't a sin when the Scriptures appear to be rather clear that it is. I can only turn to my only hope... the power of the blood to be administered through Apostolic Authority.

Hebrews 10:22
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

I believe that this speaks of pleading the blood of Jesus over a penitent saint in prayer to restore them, easing their conscience and restoring their sense of fellowship with God (ministry of reconciliation). Because in context the "sprinkling" (I believe) refers to the sprinkling of blood...

Hebrews 9:19
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,

Hebrews 9:21
Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.

Scripture states that the Spirit, the water, and the blood agree...

1 John 5:8
And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

Each is an agent of divine grace. The Baptism of the Spirit, water baptism, and the pleading of the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from day to day.

Hebrews 9:14
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

[DanShaf]

I know that His grace is sufficient for us,and His strength is made perfect in our weakness..sometimes an imperfect,painful situation in our lives (mine anyway)..keeps me in a position to labor more effectively.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by DanShaf

I know that His grace is sufficient for us,and His strength is made perfect in our weakness..sometimes an imperfect,painful situation in our lives (mine anyway)..keeps me in a position to labor more effectively.

True that.

[plygn]

Originally Posted by Steve Epley

I would never preach a person or use them in leadership positions that have divorced and remarried in the church. I am not even sure they will be saved? I hope they can find mercy.

I'm not going to mention any names but you and I know of several preachers whose wives have left them, committing adultery, but have gone on to remarry and continue to Pastor growing, powerful One God Apostolic churches. Are they out of the will of God and what does this mean for the saints of that church? Also, are men who fellowship with them committing compromise?

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by plygn

I'm not going to mention any names but you and I know of several preachers whose wives have left them, committing adultery, but have gone on to remarry and continue to Pastor growing, powerful One God Apostolic churches. Are they out of the will of God and what does this mean for the saints of that church? Also, are men who fellowship with them committing compromise?

And then there are certain wives, who also shall remain nameless, who divorced for whatever reason (don't care why) and remarried prominent (is there any other kind worthy?) ministers even though their own pet doctrines said that this should have never happened since they were the 'protector of the home'!

[Aquila]

An excellent and thought provoking book on this subject...


Divorce & Remarriage: A Redemptive Theology
http://www.amazon.com/Divorce-Remarr...age+Redemption

What I like about this book is that it is written from a pastoral perspective, not just merely a theological perspective.

[Aquila]

In my opinion divorce and remarriage is ALWAYS adultery. This is because it always adulterates the first marriage covenant regardless of one's grounds for divorce.

However, how we deal with this sinful situation is one of pastoral wisdom and conviction.

Do we offer forgiveness for this "adultery" (a remarriage) if the divorcee(s) have repented of the sins that contributed to the failure of a first marriage, and then bless their new union?

Or do we declare their new union is "adulterous", deny fellowship, and require that they divorced and remain single to restore them?

My overall issue is that regardless of one's theological position on the issue, it must be practically applicable. We can't say something is sin without having a course of action to take. Else we end up with churches declaring that remarriage is a sin, yet they sweep it under the rug and remain silent about it within the congregation.

[Aquila]

Awesome article on divorce and remarriage:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-...position-paper

I personally lean towards this interpretation. I like the last part of the article:

Conclusions and Applications

In the New Testament the question about remarriage after divorce is not determined by:

1.The guilt or innocence of either spouse,
2.Nor by whether either spouse is a believer or not,
3.Nor by whether the divorce happened before or after either spouse's conversion,
4.Nor by the ease or difficulty of living as a single parent for the rest of life on earth,
5.Nor by whether there is adultery or desertion involved,
6.Nor by the on-going reality of the hardness of the human heart,
7.Nor by the cultural permissiveness of the surrounding society.

Rather it is determined by the fact that:

1.Marriage is a "one-flesh" relationship of divine establishment and extraordinary significance in the eyes of God (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:8),
2.Only God, not man, can end this one-flesh relationship (Matthew 19:6; Mark 10:9—this is why remarriage is called adultery by Jesus: he assumes that the first marriage is still binding, Matthew 5:32; Luke 16:18; Mark 10:11),
3.God ends the one-flesh relationship of marriage only through the death of one of the spouses (Romans 7:1-3; 1 Corinthians 7:39),
4.The grace and power of God are promised and sufficient to enable a trusting, divorced Christian to be single all this earthly life if necessary (Matthew 19:10-12,26; 1 Corinthians 10:13),
5.Temporal frustrations and disadvantages are much to be preferred over the disobedience of remarriage, and will yield deep and lasting joy both in this life and the life to come (Matthew 5:29-30).

Those who are already remarried:

1.Should acknowledge that the choice to remarry and the act of entering a second marriage was sin, and confess it as such and seek forgiveness
2.Should not attempt to return to the first partner after entering a second union (see 8.2 above)
3.Should not separate and live as single people thinking that this would result in less sin because all their sexual relations are acts of adultery. The Bible does not give prescriptions for this particular case, but it does treat second marriages as having significant standing in God's eyes. That is, there were promises made and there has been a union formed. It should not have been formed, but it was. It is not to be taken lightly. Promises are to be kept, and the union is to be sanctified to God. While not the ideal state, staying in a second marriage is God's will for a couple and their ongoing relations should not be looked on as adulterous.

Therefore, no church should facilitate a second marriage. However, if a divorcee (or divorcees) remarry on their own, it is not to be taken lightly. Remarriage is always adultery, yet it is a valid and binding commitment. While not the ideal state, it must be viewed as a binding commitment and the sin of adultery should be put under the blood. The blood was shed to atone for sin. The remarried couple should then move on dependent upon divine grace.