wcf chapter 24 - marriage and divorce

Theology of theWestminster Confession

Adult Sunday School

2017

http://www.heritage-pca.org/

http://www.heritage-pca.org/

Marriage and Divorce

Civil Government and Family

WCF 24


Marriage is to be between one man and one woman. It is not lawful for any man to have more than one wife, or for any woman to have more than one husband, at the same time. [WCF 24.1, MESV]

Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife, for the increase of mankind with legitimate offspring and of the church with godly children, and for the prevention of sexual immorality. [WCF 24.1, MESV]

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Defining marriage

• God chooses his words carefully—twice!

• Genesis 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

1. Parental pair is a father and mother

2. Marriage pair is a husband and wife

• A command meant for all humanity (wholly consisting of Adam and Eve in the beginning)

• Tragically, a command rarely kept with any faithfulness

• God’s people engaged in polygamy for centuries

• Other cultures experimented with polyandry

• Contemporary postmodern culture is experimenting with every form of sexual union

• God’s pattern for marriage is a one-flesh union of one man and one woman

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The purposes of marriage

1. For mutual support• Adam did not find any animal that could give

him the help and support he needed

• A wife is necessary for marriage!

2. For reproduction of the human race• Parenting is important

• Sometimes Christians cannot have children

• Must be an extraordinary reason to refuse to have children

Marriage is a “fruitful friendship”

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The purposes of marriage

3. For church growth• Malachi 2:15-16 Did he not make them one, with a portion of

the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. "For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless."

• God wants his people to have godly children

• God sees Christian families as an important for church growth

• Seeking a godly offspring is additionally challenging to achieve in the context of divorce

Godly children as marriage fruit is a church growth mandate

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The purpose of marriage

4. For sexual purity• Marriage is the normative context for sexual purity (1 Cor 7)

• Marriage was created when there was no immorality

• Marriage continues now when every kind of sexual sin abounds

• Some have the gift of celibate purity, but most do not and therefore should make it their ambition to marry

1 Corinthians 7:2, 9 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband…But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Marriage fosters and protects sexual purity

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It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry who are able to give their intelligent consent. Yet it is the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord. Therefore, those who profess the true reformed religion should not marry unbelievers, Roman Catholics, or other idolaters; nor should Christians be unequally yoked by marrying those who are notoriously wicked in their way of living or hold to damnable heresies. [WCF 24.3, MESV]

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Whom should people marry?

• In general, any single adult can be married• Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all,

and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

• Encourage people to choose the most visible and committed form of marriage that a culture has. Though our culture minimizes marriage, Christians ought to maximize marriage

• Encourage people to marry so long as both parties have the maturity and wisdom to make this decision or consent to an arrangement

• Freedom of choice is a good thing (Gen 24:57-58; 1 Cor7:36-38)

Marriage should be honored and undefiled among all

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Marrying in the Lord

• Christians must assure themselves that they are marrying Christians, and they must have the best grounds for such a conclusion• Christians are free to marry anyone, as long as he or she

belongs to the Lord

• 1 Corinthians 7:39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

• All other arrangements, regardless of motive, are forbidden

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Any Christian?

• Christians must find their marriage-partner in a church that loves and preaches the gospel

• If you are a Reformed Christian, you should not marry an “unreformed” person of any kind:• No Roman Catholic

• No infidel (Muslim or pagan)

• No idolater (one who flirts with or flagrantly practices)

• No professing Christian who lives a wicked life or clings to error

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Why such restrictions for Christians?

• In marriage we share all that we are and all that we hold most deeply. Marriage is not a relationship of roommates or inmates, but soulmates!

• In marriage “righteousness and wickedness” cannot have much in common, nor can light and darkness find any deep fellowship

• If you put Jesus Christ first in your lives, then you will find guidance for engagement and a model for your marriage

Marrying in the Lord is a protection from loneliness and heartache, and a provision for intimacy and happiness

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Marriage ought not to take place between persons who are within the degrees of close relationship by blood or by marriage forbidden by the Word. Such incestuous marriages can never be made lawful—so that such persons may live together as man and wife—by any law of man or by the consent of the parties involved. [WCF 24.4, MESV]

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Consanguinity or affinity

• Definitions• Consanguinity: quality of being descended from the same

ancestor as another person

• Affinity: the kinship relationship that is created or exists between two or more people as a result of someone's marriage

• Basic idea is that we should go to the Bible to define both marriage and any deviations from the definition of marriage (see Leviticus 18)• One of the most awful deviations is incest (Mk 6:18; 1 Cor 5:1)

• This paragraph forbids incestuous marriages

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Historical background

• King Henry VIII’s famous use of consanguinity in affinity to justify an annulment of his marriage to his brother’s (consanguinity) widow (affinity)

• Expanding list of marriage prohibitions in English law

• Westminster Assembly sought to restrain the civil law by using the Scriptures to define incest

• Original version of WCF 24.4 problematically employed Leviticus 20 to forbid sexual practices similar to Israel’s custom of “levirate marriage” (Dt 25:5). American Presbyterians revised the text in 1887 to remove this too-restrictive reference.

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Adultery or fornication committed after engagement, if detected before marriage, gives valid reason to the innocent party to break the engagement. In the case of adultery after marriage it is lawful for the innocent party to seek a divorce and after the divorce to remarry just as if the offending party were dead. [WCF 24.5, MESV]

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Adultery

• Basic idea is to clarify deviations within an actual marriage or a betrothal/engagement• One reason for divorce will always be adultery. Sexual

activity in the context of an betrothal/engagement is fornication or adultery

• It is permissible to end a relationship on this basis

• Matthew 1:18-20 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

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Jesus’ teaching on adultery

Matthew 5:31-32 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

• Nothing less than adultery should be used as a reason for divorce in a marriage

• Divorce and remarriage must have a cause as strong as adultery in its defense

• Adultery is often a mortal wound for a marriage

• Illicit sexual activity does not require divorce or even make divorce recommended, but it does justify divorce as lawful

Upon adultery, divorce is lawful but not required nor necessarily recommended

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Although the corruption of mankind is such that people are apt to seek arguments to justify unwarranted separation of those whom God has joined together in marriage, nothing but adultery or such willful desertion as cannot be remedied by the church or the civil authorities is sufficient cause to dissolve the bond of marriage. In such cases a public and orderly procedure is to be observed, and the persons concerned are not to be left to their own wills and discretion in their own case. [WCF 24.6, MESV]

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Adultery or desertion

• Unfortunately men and women have studied inappropriate reasons for, and ways of, ending marriages

• Jesus: divorce is lawful only if the one-flesh covenant union has been broken (e.g., adultery)

• Paul: divorce is lawful only if the one-flesh covenant union has been broken (e.g., desertion)• 1 Corinthians 7:15 But if the unbelieving partner

separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.

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Strengthening the ties that bind

• OT case law shows profound wisdom in requiring a public and orderly course of proceeding in the consideration of divorce (Dt 24:1-4)

• Husband and wife should not be left to the decision of divorce themselves because:

• Marriage is such an intimate thing

• Marriage breakdown is such a destructive thing

• Wise counsel from both the church and the magistrate ought to be seriously weighed

• Since marriage is an orderly public declaration, there should be an orderly public attempt to mend marriages by church and civil governments

• Only when these actions fail should we consider there is sufficient cause to dissolve the strong bond of marriage

God wants church and state to make efforts to heal marriages

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Above all seek God’s counsel

“For obvious reasons, as we seek counsel, we ought to seek God most earnestly of all. Adultery and desertion are some of the sorest trials ever to be endured by human beings. In such cases Christians need to find the wisdom, the comfort, and the example of forgiving mercy that resides in the One who is always faithful.”

~ Chad Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith, 331

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Summary of key pointsWCF24

• God’s pattern for marriage is a one-flesh union of one man and one

woman

• Marriage is a “fruitful friendship”

• Godly children as marriage fruit is a church growth mandate

• Marriage fosters and protects sexual purity

• Marriage should be honored and undefiled among all

• Marrying in the Lord is a protection from loneliness and heartache,

and a provision for intimacy and happiness

• Upon adultery, divorce is lawful but not required nor necessarily

recommended

• God wants church and state to make efforts to heal marriages


Consider and discuss

1. In what ways are the WCF’s teaching on marriage comforting?

2. In what ways are the WCF’s teaching on divorce comforting?

3. Discuss the differences between the Bible’s view and our culture’s view of marriage and divorce?

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4. List some of the relationships of consanguinity and affinity of which the Bible forbids marriage? (See Leviticus 18) Discuss how the civil law compares with these restrictions.

5. What more could be added today to this chapter to address the Bible’s teaching on marriage and divorce?


Memorize

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

Matthew 19:5-6

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Going deeper

Books• Tripp, Paul. Marriage: Whose Dream? (Beginner)

• Adams, Jay. Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the Bible. (Intermediate)

• Keller, Tim & Kathy. The Meaning of Marriage. (Intermediate)

• Ash, Christopher. Marriage: Sex in the Service of God. (Advanced)

Articles• Stanton, Glenn. The Research Proves The No. 1 Social

Justice Imperative Is Marriage.

• Articles on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage at Monergism.com.

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https://www.wtsbooks.com/marriage-rclp-9780875526751?utm_source= bsandifer&utm_medium= bsandifer

https://www.wtsbooks.com/marriage-divorce-and-remarriage-in-the-bible-jay-adams-9780310511113?utm_source= bsandifer&utm_medium= bsandifer

https://www.wtsbooks.com/the-meaning-of-marriage-timothy-keller-9780525952473

https://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Sex-Service-Christopher-Ash/dp/1573833398/

http://thefederalist.com/2017/11/03/research-proves-no-1-social-justice-imperative-marriage/

https://www.monergism.com/topics/marriage

https://www.monergism.com/topics/divorce-and-remarriage

wcf chapter 24 - marriage and divorce

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