Tag Archives: Christianity

Jesus’ Command to Christians: No Divorce


Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to separate from her husband. (But if indeed she is separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to the husband) And a husband is not to divorce his wife.” 1 Corinthians 7:10,11

In First Corinthians, the Apostle Paul confronts sins of the Christians, the saints, at Corinth.

He begins, “I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”

The first sin he confronts is the division caused by a ‘spiritual’ party spirit. “I am of Paul”…”I am of Apollos”…”I am of Cephas”…”I am of Christ.”

The next sin confronted: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you…”

He notes that the Corinthians have become “puffed up” (4:6). That is addressed again in Chapter 13. (Link)

When he comes to marriage, the Apostle Paul clearly distinguishes between his mature advice for the unmarried, and the clear command of Christ Jesus to the married.

“Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to separate from her husband and a husband is not to divorce his wife.”

That is the whole of the Lord’s command, no more, no less. That is the word of the Lord Jesus.

The Corinthians did not know this teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, here, reveals it to them. Today, everyone with a Bible knows this command.

Chapter Seven begins, “Now concerning the things you wrote to me…”

Paul is addressing the situation in Corinth, and thus, in the middle of the quote of our Lord’s explicit command he gives his own command regarding a Corinthian wife who had already left her husband—Greek aorist, i.e. past tense. The New International Greek Testament Commentary notes that “unless the middle clause is placed in parenthesis, the sense becomes confusing, and even risks misleading.”

Many of today’s Christians use that situation to detract from and condone or even to counsel disobedience to our Lord Jesus Christ’s clear command to the church and to the married.

Eric Metaxas interviewed Michael Youssef who confronts the evil gender ideology of our present day while speaking the truth in love. And Metaxas makes an astute observation on the state of our church in America, today:

“Actually, where this all started in the church, I would say, is with divorce….When the church allowed that, or looked the other way, you began to see the creep…the idea that people start saying, ‘you know what, it’s sort of true, you only go around once…let’s not worry too much about right and wrong’…how can you blame somebody with same sex attraction, saying, ‘hey, I don’t want to be celibate…I want to enjoy life’ because the heterosexuals have done precisely that, and that is the failure of the church…”

Metaxas goes on to note his shock at news of friends divorcing, and asks, “Where did you get the idea that this was permissible? What church do you go to? What kind of pastor do you have…?”

Michael Youssef responds to this present day scenario in the church as “exactly the secular thinking.”

JESUS:

“…Do Not Be Conformed to this World…”-Romans 12

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.–Romans 12

“… do not be conformed to this world…”


British professor of theology Michael Reeves points out that “when you are within your culture, you just cannot see outside, it just feels, ‘this is universal'”…thus you may become “…a prisoner of our cultural moment…a prisoner of the age…”

A stark example of this can be seen in the many Christians in the American Colonial era who were slave holders, including members of denominations such as the Quakers. Two startling examples among Christians who stand out as slave owners are Jonathan Edwards, America’s premier theologian, and George Whitefield, the key preacher during the Great Awakening.

In the face of the abolitionists of his day, Jonathan Edwards penned a defense of a pastor who, like himself, owned slaves. Church historian George Marsden quotes Edwards writing: “the Bible expressly allowed slavery and it would not contradict itself.”

Regarding George Whitefield, Prof. Thomas Kidd writes, “Whitefield became connected with slave masters who had converted under his ministry, and though he never publicly retracted his criticisms of the institution, he complied with his wealthy friends’ offers to give him slaves and a South Carolina plantation. More importantly, Whitefield became convinced that he needed slaves to work at a Georgia plantation to fund the operations of his Bethesda orphanage.”

More than that, George Whitefield stood against Georgia’s ban on slavery. Thus, “he became arguably the colony’s leading proponent of slavery’s legalization.”

In spite of these prominent evangelical leaders, every-day Christians did not remain silent.

John Woolman stands out as one superlative example. During this period of the Great Awakening, Woolman’s conscience was unsettled when his employer directed him to write a bill-of-sale for a Negro woman being sold to another Quaker. It was 1742 and John Woolman was twenty-two.

Four years later, in 1746, Woolman wrote an anti-slavery essay, “On Keeping Negroes.” Much of his life, thereafter, was spent traveling among the Quaker Meetings in the Colonies, exhorting them to end this sinful practice among Friends. The end result: By 1776 American Quaker Meetings banned the ownership of slaves among their members.

Still, here in America in 1860, slave owners burned Charles Spurgeon’s printed sermons in protest against his anit-slavery stand. “I do, from my inmost soul, detest slavery anywhere and everywhere, and although I commune at the Lord’s Table with men of all Creeds, yet with a slaveholder, I have no fellowship of any kind.”

Fast forward to Today, and to Michael Reeves’ comment (above) which was in response to my question at the Spurgeon Library Conference. “I find it fascinating as a Brit, hearing that question being put…”

I opined that we do not burn his sermons today, but asked what might be the parallels between those sermon-burning Civil War era Christians and the reaction of American Evangelicals, today, towards Spurgeon’s clear words on war and Christians.

Here is a good summation of Spurgeon’s stand:

The typical American Evangelical response might well be the same as that of Jonathan Edwards (above), paraphrased as, “ “the Bible expressly allowed war and it would not contradict itself.”

Yet, as in John Woolman’s day, there are every-day Christians who do not remain silent. I can tell you of another twenty-two year old who was pricked in conscience and four years later was writing against Christians going off to war.


Here is a summation of my question and the response at the Spurgeon Library Conference.


Romans 12-13 Background and Context

Spurgeon Memes on War and Christians

This is the video of Michael Reeve’s response.

2 Samuel 12:7

I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.–Jesus

Matthew 10

21Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved….

32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

An outrageous example of the bane (the poison) of Memory-Verse-Theology derives from the saying of Jesus, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Ripped from its context, it gives to us Christians the warrant to march off to war and shed blood, a la these self-made, pseudo-theologians who put themselves forward as ‘teachers’ in the Church. [And these same wooden, illiterate literalists do the same with “Buy a sword…” Link ]

The parallel of this saying of Jesus in Luke 14:

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Both these passages address “The Conditions of Discipleship,” or in the title of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous classic, “The Cost of Discipleship.”

Here in Luke (as in Matthew) we see the “hyperbolic form, which is an authentic part of Jesus’ teaching…Nowhere is the diverse character of the Kingdom’s advent seen more clearly than in the severance of family loyalties” a la I. Howard Marshall in the New International Greek Testament Commentary. Such is a noted feature in Jesus’ parables. For examples see “Shock and Awe.” (Link) Hyperbole serves to grab the attention of Jesus’ listeners.

As to this hyperbolic saying in Luke (and in Matthew) about family, surely, any true Christian knows we are to love all people, even our enemies. (Link)

The Rapture’s Self-Contradiction


“God did not appoint us to wrath”–1 Thessalonians 5:9a.

“These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” –Rev. 7

Left Behind enthusiasts, when told that First Thessalonians does not teach their Left Behind scenario (but rather the parousia, the Second Advent) quickly respond with that half of a verse taken from its whole context, which they left behind. “God did not appoint us to wrath”

(Be a disciple of Jesus and read that Verse in CONTEXT, here- LINK)

Social media are replete with Christians crying for that day, while rejecting any thought that they might have to face the great tribulation. “God did not appoint us to wrath.”

Yet, many Left Behinders point to their preparations for those who will be left behind. Years ago, a lady in our church stated that she had videos on her desk for family that would explain why they were left behind when she was gone. R. C. Sproul recounted a tour given by Kathryn Kuhlman of her office. She had a large closet safe with her radio program recordings so that the Gospel would still be preached should the Rapture come in her lifetime. (Apparently, she did not expect all of her staff nor all the Christian radio personnel to be raptured.)

Kevin Sorbo in his movie, The Rise of the Antichrist (2023), is left behind and convinced of the Gospel by a video left behind by the pastor of his ‘raptured’ wife. (Details and review of that movie, here—LINK)

Typically, a Jack Graham Powerpoint sermon, The Blessed Hope, turns Titus’ expectation of the Second Coming into The Rapture. “When the salt and light is (sic) gone, that is, true believers, then decay and darkness sets in….Hell will be unleashed on earth….then, terrible retribution…you don’t want to be left behind for the great tribulation.”

BUT what about those videos and books and letters left behind for families and friends by these Left Behinders? You mean none of them will be saved? What about Kevin Sorbo? Oh, you say, ‘yes, some will be saved during the great tribulation.’

The end result of the Left Behinder’s escape hatch exit to miss the great tribulation is that there will be no salt nor light nor shepherds for those new Christians like the Kevin Sorbos who will be saved after the ‘Rapture’ but who are condemned to suffer God’s wrath a la the Left Behind scenario.

End Result a la Left Behinders: 1) Christians will not suffer God’s wrath (a la the purpose of “Beam me up!” theology)……………………………… 2) New Christians saved during the Great Tribulation will suffer God’s wrath.

From Corrie Ten Boom:

Paul, the Parousia & his Epistles

Pastor Robert Jeffress, one of a few good Bible teachers who promote “the Rapture” on Christian radio, made a clear, insightful point of exegesis: Jesus did not speak of the “Rapture.” But rather, of the Second Coming.

[But Pastor Jeffress does think that Paul did– For Jeffress, the “Rapture” being a distinct, separate event from the Second Coming/Advent]

In Matthew 24, Jesus teaches about “the coming [parousia] of the Son of Man” v. 27, that “all the nations…will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

“…He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect…”

[His elect that were already gathered at a previous ‘Rapture’ ?!]

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul greets his converts with the praise that they “turned to God from idols to server the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven…” (1:10)

These Thessalonians are his hope and joy, to be fulfilled “in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming [parousia].” (2:19)…with the trumpet of God (4:15).”

Paul was clearly drawing on Jesus’ teaching.

F. F. Bruce: “What is called the ‘day of Christ’ in Phil. 2:16 is referred to here as Christ’s Advent [parousia]. This is the earliest occurrence in literature of παρουσία [parousia] in its distinctive Christian sense of the advent of Christ in glory.”

“This Christian sense of παρουσία occurs six times in the Thessalonian letters…” and in 1 Cor. 15:23.

“It occurs four times in… (Matthew’s) discourse (Mat. 24:3, 27, 37, 39).”

“That the Thessalonians had been taught to expect this great event is plain from [1 Thess.] 1:10.” ***

The KEY CONTEXT, of 1 Thessalonians 4:

v.13f But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming [parousia] of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Chapter 5:  Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night *….whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another…

* “…the night the thief was coming…”–Jesus, Matthew 24

Exposition of 1 Thess. 4, Here (LINK)

Give it an honest reading.

***F. F. Bruce, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Word Biblical Commentary, 1982. {Rapturists are oblivious to the fact that Evangelical New Testament scholars and reference works do NOT espouse the Rapture. Not in this noted commentary, nor in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, nor The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, etc.}

Like those Christians who believe in Purgatory, nothing this side of Heaven is apt to convince Left Behinders to truly take the Bible in context on this subject. What we can do is help keep others from being misled as we share God’s word in context.

Parousia. In the NT, parousia, with reference to Christ, refers to Christ’s Second Advent, his Second Coming, “…the coming of Christ at the end-time for the general resurrection, last judgment and the creation of the new heaven and earth.”--The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, s.v. “present” (II:899ff).

N. T. Wright: “Rapture is an American Obsession.” It is not found in the New Testament

There are real consequences to mistaken beliefs. Corrie Ten Boom pointed out one very sad example (the result of American missionaries with their Scofield Bibles):

Holy Week–Hosanna!

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.
–Zechariah 9

Jerusalem and The Passover Feast

The ISBE sets the scene:

Pilgrimage was made annually to Jerusalem for the Passover sacrifice…
Passover in NT temple days was a spectacle of excitement and devotion. Pilgrims near and far ascended to the holy city…
Days before Passover began, Jerusalem was a hubbub…Many pilgrims…arrived early to sell or barter their wares…

And numbers? Josephus’ assessment of 3 million Jews (including the city residents) is considered an “extreme exaggeration” or symbolic. But the throngs of pilgrims would have swelled to well over one hundred thousand.

Jesus and the Crowds

John tells us that “six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was…” (John 12:1), and dined with him and his sisters. This event attracted its own crowd of disciples and others.
“Now [on the next day] when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples” (Mat. 21), to fetch a donkey.
And then, “a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him…” (John 12:12).

So, here is the scene. With crowds of pilgrims converging on Jerusalem from every direction, some pilgrims who have heard of his approach meet Jesus, accompanied by a crowd of disciples, on the road outside of Jerusalem.

[Looking Ahead: As an important side note, let us not overlook the false claim that we may hear about the “crowds” accompanying Jesus outside the city, shouting, “Hosanna”  being  the same people in the “crowd” in the city before Pilate’s seat, shouting “crucify.” Though a popular refrain, it is poor gossip, which pays no attention to the setting, and has no foundation in the text itself. See Holy Week, Beware of Idle Conjecture-Link]

Hosanna

Hosanna is a transliteration [“to represent or spell in the characters of another alphabet” a word from a different language in one’s own language] of the Hebrew word in Psalm 118:25 which is translated, “Save now, I pray, O LORD;…”

W.F. Albright notes, in Matthew (AB) that it “is a prayer for deliverance (“Save now!”); it is not in any way a cry of praise….The meaning of the vocative [“a grammatical case in certain inflected languages to indicate the person…being addressed.”] la was misunderstood quite early, and the Greek translation therefore rendered the vocative O son of David as “to the son of David,”…[italic mine] What we have here, therefore, is an ancient liturgical text, a cry to the anointed king for deliverance”.

Thus, Matthew 21 verse 9: “Hosanna! [Save now!] O son of David…”

We see the same picture in the episode immediately preceding the Triumphal Entry, in the plea of the Two Blind Men (Mat. 20:29-34): “Take pity on us, son of David!”

“Sir, let our eyes be opened.”

Addendum

In the NT, palm branches are only mentioned here on ‘Palm Sunday’ in John, and in Revelation:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with **palm branches** in their hands,  and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!

Here are key texts for Holy Week (Link)…from John for Maundy Thursday…Isaiah for Messiah Suffering…Romans for Good friday…