Quote:
Originally Posted by Union Of V
The point still stands, that if someone marries a second time and does not repent they have committed a major sin. Now if that person's decision to divorce was justified (which it should have been) and if their decision to remarry was also justified (which I hope it was), then they cannot repent - and therefore you effectively equivocate divorce with remarriage (sorry I didn't make that clear from the outset) with the other major sins.
On the male female thing, I misread that - I took it to mean by divorcing his wife the man is responsible for the woman's remarriage, while it actually seems to mean that when you divorce, your marriage becomes somewhat null and void, so any sexual acts committed can be seen as adultery - am I right?
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Divorce is only permitted in God's eyes due to marriage unfaithfulness/adultery. If you divorce because of this you're previous marriage is no longer looked upon as a marriage in the eyes of God and He gives you the freedom to remarry without sinning and committing adultery. However, back in Jewish times they were a very liberal group of people and divorce was basically written off for anything. I am not exaggerating when I say this: If your wife burnt your toast, you could divorce her. All you had to do to divorce was write a certificate yourself with 1 other witness and you were legally divorced. So Jesus was rebuking them simply saying, "UNLESS your spouse is cheating on you, God looks down upon your divorce and you have committed adultery in His eyes if you remarry because you will have sex with another person... because in His eyes you are still married."
If their marriage is justified in the eyes of God then there is no need to repent, but if you divorce because of something so simple as a burnt piece of toast, your marriage is NOT justified therefore if you do remarry, it is possible to repent. You simply don't do it again and beg God for forgiveness and to have mercy on you.
The law of divorce was given through Moses because of the hardness of hearts. God simply says Himself that He hates divorce. You see marriage is supposed to signify the bond between Christ (the husband) and the church (the wife). Christ will never forsake His church therefore He is basically saying, "I hate divorce and I would never do it, but because you are fallen human I will permit divorce for unfaithfulness." God wants us to forgive each other for our sins, not divorce.
But either way, is divorce a sin? It can be if for the reasons outside of a biblical context -- but it can be forgiven through the blood of Christ -- you don't lose your salvation if you divorce.
I hope this makes sense I just woke up so forgive me if it's a bit scattered.
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It's important to note that repentance doesn't physically save you though, it is Christ. But when we look upon Christ in faith, we repent. Therefore a genuine saving faith includes repentance. Just figured I'd put this in here so that we don't get confused about repentance. It's not about how much you repent or how much faith you have, but upon the object of faith and if you truly believe and trust on Christ -- how could you NOT repent from sin?