What was the understanding and teaching of the church for 1500 years
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Complete
Agreement Of all the early recognized Church Fathers who ever wrote, all who
were written about, concerning every discussion and every debate, in thousands
of surviving documents, over hundreds of years, there is not a single
dissenting authoritative voice on the essential core doctrines of marriage,
divorce and remarriage. Each taught the same doctrine, each held the same
opinion and each enforced the same morals standards you read
here:
12.HermesA.D.
90Hermes was sold into slavery and sent to Rome as a boy. He
was later set free by his owner, a woman called Rhoda. He became known as one
of the authoritative Fathers of the Church and an influential Christian writer,
noted for his detailed description of early Christianity. His surviving book,
“The Shepherd”, was considered to be an inspired book of the Holy Bible until
the fourth century A.D. To quote the translators: “The Shepherd of Hermas is in
form, an apocalypse. It consists of a series of revelation made to Hermas by
the church, who appears in the form of a woman, by the shepherd, the angel of
repentance, and by the great angel who is in charge of Christians. Each
revelation is accompanied by an explanation, and from these it can be seen
though the form of the book is apocalyptic and visionary, its object is
practical and ethical.”
Hermas wrote: "I charge you," said
he, "to guard your chastity, and let no thought enter your heart of another
man's wife, or of fornication, or of similar iniquities; for by doing this you
commit a great sin. But if you always remember your own wife, you will never
sin. For if this thought enter your heart, then you will sin; and if, in like
manner, you think other wicked thoughts, you commit sin. For this thought
isgreat sin in a servant of God. But if any one commit this wicked deed, he
works death for himself. Attend, therefore, and refrain from this thought; for
where purity dwells, there iniquity ought not to enter the heart of a righteous
man." I said to him, "Sir, permit me to ask you a few questions.""Say
on," said he. And I said to him, "Sir, if any one has a wife who trusts in the
Lord, and if he detect her in adultery, does the man sin if he continue to live
with her?"And he said to me, "As long as he remains ignorant of her
sin, the husband commits no transgression in living with her. But if the
husband know that his wife has gone astray, and if the woman does not repent,
but persists in her fornication, and yet the husband continues to live with
her, he also is guilty of her crime, and a sharer in her adultery."
And I
said to him, "What then, sir, is the husband to do, if his wife continue in her
vicious practices?"
And he said, "The husband should put her away, and
remain by himself. But if he put his wife away and marry another, he also
commits adultery."
And I said to him, "What if the woman put away should
repent, and wish to return to her husband: shall she not be taken back by he
husband?"
And he said to me, "Assuredly. If the husband do not take her
back, he sins, and brings a great sin upon himself; for he ought to take back
the sinner who has repented…In this matter man and woman are to be treated
exactly in the same way. –The Shepherd
4:1-10(a)Hermas taught:
1. If a wife
persists in adulterous behavior the “innocent party” may, and should, divorce
in order to separate away from the sins of the offender
2. If a husband
divorces his wife for such a reason he must remain single and not
remarry.
3. If a wife repents of her offence the husband must forgive her
and receive her back as wife.
4. If the husband does not forgive his
repentant wife he brings a great sin upon himself.
5. Men and woman are to
act and be regarded exactly the same in this
matter.
13.
Justin Martyr
A.D.
151
Justin Martyr was one of the great, early theologians
and apologists for the Church. He had the distinction of presenting a defining
explanation and defense of Christianity to Caesar and the Imperial Roman
Senate.
His “Apology for the Christians”, written to refute charges of
sedition to the Roman state, is a magnificent legal testimony of the power of
early Christians to live Holy and pleasing lives in an evil and corrupted
society. Justin was beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to pagan
Gods.
Justin Martyr wrote: “In regards to
chastity, Jesus has this to say: ‘If anyone look at lust at a woman, he has
already before God committed adultery in his heart.’ And, ‘Whoever marries a
woman who has been divorced from another husband, commits adultery.’
“
“According to our teacher, just as they are sinners who contract a second
marriage, even though it is in accord with human law, so also are they sinners
who look with lustful desires at a woman. He repudiates not only one who
actually commits adultery, but even one who wishes to do so; for not only our
actions are manifest to God, but even our thoughts.” (First
Apology 15) (a)
Justin Martyr
taught:
1. To indulge in lust is to be
guilty of adultery of the heart.
2.
Whoever marries a divorced person commits
adultery.
3. Whoever contracts a second
marriage is sinning against God. (while a former spouse
lives)
4. God does not, and the Church
must not, take into account human law when it is in violation of God’s
law.
5. God judges motives and intentions,
private thought life and actions. All is known and exposed to the God with
which we have to do.14.
Clement of
Alexandria
A.D.208Titus Flavius Clemens,
known as Clement of Alexandria, was a Greek theologian who served as head of
the famous Catechetical School in Alexandria. His writings were designed to
guide mature Christians to a more perfect knowledge of God and a pure moral
character. His defense of the faith exhorted morals, kindness and patience. He
taught that the thoughts and will of God in the Scriptures exhorts, educates
and perfects the true Christian. Many scholars believe he founded the great
Alexandrian School of Theology. He is listed as a martyr for his
faith.
Clement of Alexandria wrote:
That scripture
counsels marriage, however, and never allows any release from the union, is
expressly contained in the law: “You shall not divorce a wife, except for
reason of adultery.” And it regards as adultery the marriage of a spouse, while
the one from whom a separation was made is still alive. “Whoever takes a
divorced woman as wife commits adultery,” it says; for “if anyone divorce his
wife, he debauches her;” that is, he compels her to commit adultery. And not
only does he that divorces her become the cause of this, but also he that takes
the woman and gives her the opportunity of sinning; for if he did not take her,
she would return to her husband.”(Miscellanies 2:23:145:3)
(a)Clement of Alexandria taught:
1. The
Scriptures encourage Christians to enter a marriage relationship.
2. The
marriage union covenant is permanent and does not allow anyone to be released
from the union.
3. The only legitimate reason for divorce is adultery,
otherwise separation is prohibited. A remarriage while a former spouse lives is
living in the state of adultery, therefore expressly forbidden in
Scripture.
4. A man who divorces his wife violates and corrupts her, for if
she remarries, for any reason except for the death of her husband, she becomes
an adulteress. 5. The one who marries a divorced spouse sins not only by
committing adultery with another’s spouse but also sins against God by acting
as an impediment to reconciliation of the original marriage.
6. If the
divorced spouse had remained single she would have, if possible returned the
first union. 15.
Origen
A.D.
248
Origen is known as the most accomplished and significant
theologian of the early Church. As a student and exegete of the Old and New
Testaments, he influenced the critical thinking of the Church in his day to
such an extent that his works still have major impact on doctrine and practice.
He was the first teacher known to use the “allegorical” method of Scriptural
interpretation. It is estimated that he wrote some 5,000 thesis, tracts,
epistles and books in his lifetime of service. Much of his work concentrated on
refuting dangerous error and heresy. Origen was imprisoned during the reign of
Emperor Decius. He was tortured to such an extent that he died from his ordeal
after being released.Origen wrote:
For
confessedly he who puts away his wife when she is not a fornicator, makes her
an adulteress, so far as it lies with him, for if, "when the husband is living
she shall be called an adulteress if she be joined to another man;" and when by
putting her away, he gives to her the excuse of a second marriage, very plainly
in this way he makes her an adulteress…
Just as a woman is an adulteress,
even though she seems to be married to a man, while a former husband yet lives,
so also the man who seems to marry who has been divorced does not marry her,
but, according to the declaration of our Savior, he commits adultery with
her.(Commentaries on Matthew 14) (a) Origen taught:
1.
A man that divorces his wife who is not guilty of fornication causes
her to become an adulteress if she remarries, and the man that marries her is
an adulterer.
2. The marriage covenant between a man and a
woman is permanent, as long as both husband and wife are alive.
3.
No matter what the legal circumstances may appear to be to the contrary,
a remarriage relationship when either or both parties are divorced, while a
former partner lives, is adultery.
4. The intimate
relations between the man and the woman remarried while former spouses still
live are adulterous, and considered sin.
5. A remarriage is
not an actual marriage whatsoever, but disguised
adultery.16.
Basil the Great
A.D.
375
Basil was born in Caesarea and educated in Athens. He is
considered one of the great Fathers and Doctors of the Church. His writings
include “On the Holy Spirit” and “Moralia.” He was asked by the Church to help
defend against the Arian heretical doctrines and subsequently became Bishop of
Caesarea in 370.
Basil became Basil the Great because of his outstanding
personal integrity and holiness as well as his brilliance as a theologian and
defender of the faith.
Basil the Great wrote:
The man
who has deserted his wife and goes to another is himself an adulterer because
he makes her commit adultery; and the woman who live with him is an adulteress,
because she has caused another woman’s husband to come over to her…The woman
who lives with an adulterer is an adulteress the whole time.
The woman who
has been abandoned by her husband, ought, in my judgment, to remain as she is.
The Lord said, “If any one leave his wife, saving for the cause of fornication,
he causes her to commit adultery;” thus, by calling her adulteress, He excludes
her from intercourse with another man. For how can the man being guilty, as
having caused adultery, and the woman, go without blame, when she is called an
adulteress by the Lord for having intercourse with another man? A
man who marries another man’s wife who has been taken away from him will be
charged with adultery… - Amphilochius 199 (a) Basil
Taught:
1. A man that deserts his wife and she remarries another makes his
wife commit adultery.
2. The woman who a divorced man marries is guilty of
adultery.
3. The second woman is guilty of taking another woman’s
husband.
4. An adulterous relationship is continuous adultery, not a onetime
sin.
5. An abandoned wife is to remain as she is and not remarry.
6. an
abandoned woman that takes another man and has sexual intercourse with him is
committing adultery.
7. If a man is guilty of adultery, so is a woman.
8. It is a serious offence for a woman to take another woman’s husband and
will be charged with adultery.
9. It is a serious offence for a man to take
another man’s wife and will be charged with adultery.
17.
Ambrose of Milan
A.D. 387
Ambrose is
known as one of the four original Doctors of the Church. Born in Germany and
educated in Rome, he was asked to be Bishop of Milan because of his
extraordinary kindness and wisdom, earning him the love and esteem of his
people. History records that he publicly confronted rebuked and led to
repentance Caesar Theodosius over the slaughtering of thousands of
Thessalonians.
He wrote major treatises on Christian morality and personal
Holiness, warning against adopting the world’s standards. He was by all
accounts a most extraordinary man, equal to his times. He was influential in
bringing Augustine into a saving personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and
receiving him into the Body of Christ.
Ambrose of Milan wrote:
But what shall I say about chastity, when only one and no second
union is allowed? As regards marriage, the law is, not to marry again, nor to
seek union with another wife. It seems strange to many why impediment should be
caused by a second marriage entered on before baptism, so as to prevent
election to the clerical office, and to the reception of the gift of
ordination; seeing that even crimes are not wont to stand in the way, if they
have been put away in the sacrament of baptism. But we must learn, that in
baptism sin can be forgiven, but law cannot be abolished. In the case of
marriage there is no sin, but there is a law. Whatever sin there is can be put
away, whatever law there is cannot be laid aside in marriage. - On the
duties of Clergy:1:257 (a) And what else did John have in mind but what is
virtuous, so that he could not endure a wicked union even in the king's case,
saying: "It is not lawful for thee to have her to wife."118 He could have been
silent, had he not thought it unseemly for himself not to speak the truth for
fear of death, or to make the prophetic office yield to the king, or to indulge
in flattery. He knew well that he would die as he was against the king, but he
preferred virtue to safety. Yet what is more expedient than the suffering which
brought glory to the saint. - On the duties of Clergy, 3:89 (a) No one
is permitted to know a woman other than his wife. The marital right is given
you for this reason: lest you fall in a snare and sin with a strange woman. “If
you are bound to a wife do not seek a divorce,” for you are not permitted,
while your wife lives to marry another.” – Abraham 1:57:59 (a) You
dismiss your wife, therefore, as if by right and without being charged with
wrongdoing; and you suppose it is proper for you to do so because no human law
forbids it; but divine law forbids it. Anyone who obeys men should stand in awe
of God. Hear the Word of the Lord, which even they who propose our laws must
obey: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” – Commentary
on Luke, Sec. 8:5 (a) Ambrose of Milan taught: 1. Sex
is a marital right that is limited to one’s own husband or wife. Legitimate
sexual relations with one’s spouse protects from sexual sin.
2.
Extramarital sex is sin and a snare that will catch and kill.
3. It is forbidden by God for a spouse to divorce and to
remarry another.
4. Ambrose interprets Paul’s writings in
Corinthians to mean that it is forbidden for a man or woman to remarry another
while a former or earlier spouse lives.
5. It is a wrong
understanding to believe that it is simply one’s right to divorce a spouse.
Even though human law may permit such a thing, God strictly forbids it.
6. Anyone who follows human customs and laws regarding
marriage, divorce and remarriage, instead of Divine laws should stand in
fearful awe of God.
7. All lawmakers, in and out of the
Church are warned, to their peril, to hear and obey the Word of the Lord.
8. Jesus’ command is reaffirmed: “What God has joined
together, let no man put asunder.”
9. Conversion to
Christianity forgives past sin but does not nullify or set aside God’s laws.
18. Jerome
A.D. 396
Jerome was
another great Father and Doctor of the early Church whose most important work
was the translation of the Bible into Latin (The Vulgate). He wrote works
defending the Church from Jovinian, Vigilantius and Pelagianism heretics that
were threatening the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jerome
wrote:
In explaining the testimony of the apostle, "The wife
hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise, also, the
husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife," we have subjoined the
following: "The entire question relates to those who are living in wedlock,
whether it is lawful for them to put away their wives, a thing which the Lord
also has forbidden in the Gospel. Following the decision of the Lord the
apostle teaches that a wife must not be put away saving for fornication, and
that, if she has been put away, she cannot during the lifetime of her husband
marry another man, or, at any rate, that she ought, if possible, to be
reconciled to her husband. In another verse he speaks to the same effect: `The
wife is bound ...as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she
is loosed from the law of her husband; she is at liberty to be married to, whom
she will; only in the Lord. I find joined to your letter of inquiries a short
paper containing the following words: "ask him,(that is me,) whether a woman
who has left her husband on the ground that he is an adulterer and sodomite and
has found herself compelled to take another may in the lifetime of him whom she
first left be in communion with the church without doing penance for her
fault." As I read the case put I recall the verse "they make excuses for their
sins." We are all indulgent to our own faults; and what our own will leads us
to do we attribute to a necessity of nature. It is as though a young man were
to say, "I am over-borne by my body, the glow of nature kindles my passions,
the structure of my frame and its reproductive organs call for sexual
intercourse." Or again a murderer might say, "I was in want, I stood in need of
food, I had nothing to cover me. If i shed the blood of another, it was to save
myself from dying of cold and hunger." Tell the sister, therefore, who thus
enquires of me concerning her condition, not my sentence but that of the
apostle. "Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law,) how
that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which
hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth; but
if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then, if,
while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an
adulteress." And in another place: "the wife is bound by the law as long as her
husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to
whom she will; only in the Lord." The apostle has thus cut away every plea and
has clearly declared that, if a woman marries again while her husband is
living, she is an adulteress. You must not speak to me of the violence of a
ravisher, a mother's pleading, a father's bidding, the influence of relatives,
the insolence and the intrigues of servants, household losses. A husband may be
an adulterer or a sodomite, he may be stained with every crime and may have
been left by his wife because of his sins; yet he is still her husband and, so
long as he lives, she may not marry another. The apostle does not promulgate
this decree on his own authority but on that of Christ who speaks in him. For
he has followed the words of Christ in the gospel: "whosoever shall put away
his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery:
and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery." Mark what
he says: "whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery."
Whether she has put away her husband or her husband her, the man who marries
her is still an adulterer. I have not been able quite to determine what it is
that she means by the words "has found herself compelled" to marry again. What
is this compulsion of which she speaks? Was she overborne by a crowd and
ravished against her will? If so, why has she not, thus victimized,
subsequently put away her ravisher? Let her read the books of Moses and she
will find that if violence is offered to a betrothed virgin in a city and she
does not cry out, she is punished as an adulteress: but if she is forced in the
field, she is innocent of sin and her ravisher alone is amenable to the laws.
Therefore if your sister, who, as she says, has been forced into a second
union, wishes to receive the body of Christ and not to be accounted an
adulteress, let her do penance; so far at least as from the time she begins to
repent to have no farther intercourse with that second husband who ought to be
called not a husband but an adulterer. If this seems hard to her and if she
cannot leave one whom she has once loved and will not prefer the Lord to
sensual pleasure, let her hear the declaration of the apostle: "ye cannot drink
the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's
table and of the table of devils," and in another place: "what communion hath
light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? –Letters
55, 58 (a)
Jerome taught:
1. The Lord has
forbidden divorce and remarriage in the gospel.
2.
Christians must stop making excuses for and trying to find
justification for divorce and remarriage. None of it stands before God, and
must not be considered at all when applying the Word of God in the Church or to
our individual lives.
3. A marriage is for life, and no
matter what a spouse turns out to be, or how they may act, or the sins they
commit, the covenant remains fully in effect. God does not divide the one flesh
relationship.
4. A spouse that is separated or divorced for
any reason, no matter how provoked, or how circumstances came to be as they
are, is still bound to the marriage covenant, and cannot be remarried to
another, as long as both live.
19.
Augustine
A.D. 419
Augustine is
widely regarded to be the single greatest Church leader and theologian between
the time of the Apostles of Jesus Christ, and the reformation period, and
perhaps beyond. His personal testimony of seeking and finding God after an
early life of sin is as fresh and new today, and as transparently Spirit filled
as it was then. His place in the Church, among his peers, can be compared to
what Paul’s was among the Apostles. He rigorously and effectively defended the
faith from enemies on all sides. His writings are credited with influencing to
an enormous extent the thinking of the great leaders of the reformation.
Augustine wrote:
This we now say, that, according to
this condition of being born and dying, which we know, and in which we have
been created, the marriage of male and female is some good, the compact whereof
divine Scripture so commends, as that neither is it allowed one put away by her
husband to marry, so long as her husband lives; nor is it allowed one put away
by his wife to marry another, unless she who have separated from him be dead.
Our Lord, therefore, in order to confirm that principle, that a wife should not
lightly be put away, made the single exception of fornication; but enjoins that
all other annoyances, if any such should happen to spring up, be borne with
fortitude for the sake of conjugal fidelity and for the sake of chastity; and
he also calls that man an adulterer who should marry her that has been divorced
by her husband. And the Apostle Paul shows the limit of this state of affairs,
for he says it is to be observed as long as her husband liveth; but on the
husband’s death he gives permission to marry. For he himself also held by this
rule, and therein brings forward not his own advice, as in the case of some of
his admonitions, but a command by the Lord when he says: “And unto the married
I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her
husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.” I believe that, according
to a similar rule, if he shall put her away, he is to remain unmarried, or be
reconciled to his wife. -Commentaries on the Sermon on the Mount, Harmony
of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels (a) For whosoever putteth away his
wife except for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery. To
such a degree is that marriage compact entered upon be a holy Sacrament, that
it is not made void even by separation itself, since so long as her husband
lives, even by whom she hath been left, she commits adultery in the case where
she marries another, and he who hath left her is the cause of this evil. But I
marvel, if, if it be allowed to put away a wife who is an adulteress, so it be
allowed, having put her away, to marry another. For holy Scripture makes a hard
knot in this matter in that the apostle says, that, by commandment of the Lord,
the wife ought not to depart from her husband, but, in case she shall have
departed to remain unmarried, or to be reconciled to her husband…I can not see
how the man can have permission to marry another, in the case where he left an
adulteress, when a woman can not be married to another when she left an
adulterer. Seeing that the compact of marriage is not done away with by an
intervening divorce, so that they continue as wedded persons one to another,
even after separation, and commit adultery with those with whom they be joined,
even after their own divorce, either the woman with the man, or the man with a
woman. Neither can it rightly be held that a husband who dismisses his wife
because of fornication and marries another does not commit adultery. For there
is also adultery on the part of those who, after the repudiation of their
former wives because of fornication, marry others… No one is so unreasonable to
say that a man who marries a woman whose husband has dismissed her because of
fornication is not an adulterer, while maintaining that a man who marries a
woman dismissed without the ground of fornication is an adulterer. Both of
these men are guilty of adultery. -Adulterous Marriages 1:9:9 (a) A
spouse, therefore, is lawfully dismissed for cause of adultery, but the laws of
chastity remains. That is why a man is guilty of adultery if he marries a woman
who has been dismissed even for this very reason of adultery. -ibid.,
2:4:4 (a) A woman begins to be the wife of no later husband unless she has
ceased to be the wife of a former one. She will cease to be the wife of a
former one, however, if that husband should die, not if he commit adultery.
–ibed, 2:4:3 (a) Therefore to serve two or more (men), so to pass over
from a living husband into marriage with another, was neither lawful then (in
the Old Testament), nor is it lawful now, nor will it ever be lawful. To
apostatize from the One God, and to go into adulteress superstitions of
another, is ever an evil. -On the Holy Spirit; Doctrinal Treatises; Moral
Treatises. (a) Augustine taught:
1. It cannot be
rightly held by those wishing to believe so that anyone who divorces their
spouse for adultery and then marries another is in the will of God and avoids
the sin of adultery.
2. It is adultery to marry another if
someone is divorced and then chooses a new husband or wife.
3.
Whether or not a spouse commits adultery or fornication does not matter
insofar as remarriage is concerned. Whoever remarries while a divorced spouse
lives is in the state and sin of adultery.
4. When a spouse
remarries according to the law of the land, after a divorce, they are still
married to the former spouse as long as that spouse lives. Therefore the sexual
and intimate relationship they have with a new spouse is simply engaging in a
forbidden relationship by sinning with a person they are not married to in the
eyes of God and the Church. Chastity refers to sexual abstinence. To have
sexual relations with a remarried spouse is to be living in sin, in direct
disobedience to God’s Word.
5. A spouse can if they must,
divorce their husband or wife who is guilty of adultery, but must not have a
relationship with another as long as the original partner lives, for they are
still in a binding life long covenant with them.
6. It is
forbidden for a man or woman, even if they themselves were never previously
married, to marry or have sexual relations with a divorced person whose spouse
is still alive. They would be guilty of having sexual relations with another
person’s spouse, which is the very definition of the sin of adultery.
7. It never has been lawful, it is not now lawful, and it
never will be lawful to divorce and remarry. To say and do otherwise is to
adopt the adulterous superstitions of a different God than the one to which we
have to do.20.
Summary of Early Church Doctrine on Marriage,
Divorce and Remarriage 90 A.D. – 419 A.D. 1.
If a spouse persists in adulterous behavior and there is no other alternative,
the marriage relationship can be terminated by the innocent party.
(Hermes, Clement, Jerome, Augustine)
2.
Spouses that are divorced for any reason must remain celibate and single as
long as both spouses live. Remarriage is expressly prohibited.
(Hermes, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose,
Jerome, Augustine)
3. To indulge in lust with the mind is
to be guilty of adultery of the heart. (Justin Martyr)
4. Whoever marries a divorced person commits adultery.
(Hermes, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose,
Jerome, Augustine)
5. Whoever contracts a second marriage,
whether a Christian or not, while a former spouse lives is sinning against God.
(Justin Martyr, Ambrose)
6. God does not,
and the Church must not, take into account human law when it is in violation of
God’s law. (Justin Martyr, Origen, Ambrose)
7. God judges motives and intentions, private thought life
and actions. (Justin Martyr)
8. The
marriage covenant between a man and a woman is permanent, as long as both
husband and wife are alive. (Clement, Origen, Ambrose, Jerome,
Augustine)
9. It is a serious offence against God to take
another person’s spouse. (Basil)
10. The
Church must charge all persons who are in possession of another living person’s
former husband or wife with adultery. (Basil)
11. Sexual relations are a marital right that is limited
to one’s own husband or wife. (Hermes, Justin Martyr, Clement,
Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
12. Sexual
relations with one’s legitimate spouse protects from sexual sin.
(Ambrose)
13. Marriage and sexual
relations with a remarried spouse while a former spouse lives is the sin of
adultery. (Hermes, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil,
Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
14. It is a serious mistake to
believe that it is simply one’s right to divorce a spouse and take another.
Even though human law may permit such a thing, God strictly forbids it, and
cannot, and will not honor it. (Clement, Origen, Ambrose,
Jerome, Augustine)
15. Anyone who follows human customs and
laws regarding marriage, divorce and remarriage, instead of God’s Divine
instructions should stand in fearful awe of God Himself.
(Clement, Ambrose)
16. All lawmakers, in
and out of the Church are warned, to their peril, to hear and obey the Word of
the Lord in regard to His commands on marriage and divorce.
(Ambrose)
17. Christians are to stop
making excuses and trying to find justification for divorce and remarriage.
There are no valid reasons acceptable to God. (Jerome,
Augustine)
18. A marriage is for life. No matter what a
spouse turns out to be, or how they may act, what they do or don’t do, or the
sins they commit, the covenant remains fully in effect. A remarriage while a
former spouse lives is not marriage at all, but sinful adultery. God does not
divide the one flesh relationship except by physical death.
(Hermes, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
19. Marriage is a lifelong covenant that will never be
invalidated by God while both parties live. (Hermes, Justin
Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Augustine)
20. It
never has been lawful, it is not now lawful, and it never will be lawful to
divorce and remarry. To say and do otherwise is to worship and adopt the
adulterous superstitions of a different God than the one to which we have to
do. (Augustine)
