APPENDIX A: PROPOSED STATEMENT ON DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE
As the fabric of Western society unravels, an increasing number of missionaries will come from homes where divorce, abuse and dysfunctional family dynamics are the norm. Some of our candidates will have experienced these trials themselves.
______Our field____ stresses the importance of solid families and sound reputations as a prerequisite for service on the mission field, even while understanding that we live in a fallen world and all of our lives are marred by sin and fallen-ness. We strive to both guard the high Biblical demands for holiness, even while taking note of the deep grace of God. We are not to be more lax than Scripture, nor are we to be more restrictive than Scripture on this issue, both subtracting from and adding to the Word of God being of equal guilt. Scripture gives both high qualifications and immense grace in these issues.
Pertaining to candidates who have been previously divorced, the following considerations should be made:
• Divorced candidates who remain unmarried or couples remarried after a divorce will be evaluated on a case by case basis.
• The passages in 1Timothy 3 and Titus 1 address the conduct and the state of a Christian after conversion. Therefore, the conduct and the state of Christians before salvation are not part of the new creation that God performed at their conversion and are not subject to the rules and commands of the above two passages. These passages deal with present-tense character traits and are not past-tense checklists of pre-conversion behaviors.
Concerning 1 Timothy 3:2, we note that these verses are all in the present tense and not the past tense. We also note that the Apostle Paul, a persecutor of the church was not disqualified due to pre-conversion sins which likewise transgress his very own written qualifications. The phrase, “husband of one wife” is most aptly rendered as the present character trait of being a “one-woman man” (mias gunaikos andra) and is a description of the present faithfulness of the husband and is not a wife count.
• Special care will be taken in the cases of divorced/remarried persons who are considered for service. Personnel who were divorced after they became Christians but were divorced on scriptural grounds (see Matthew 5:32;19:9) will be evaluated by _____OUR ORG's International Office ____ on an individual basis.
• The Bible teaches that divorce is permissible in the case of sexual immorality (Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Matthew 19:9) or willful desertion of a believer by an unbeliever (I Corinthians 7:15). The innocent party is therefore free to remarry, since they are no longer “under bondage” once properly divorced.
• It is possible for a Christian to be an innocent victim of a spouse’s covenant-breaking sin.
• Finally, we rejoice that God, through His transforming grace and in spite of ourselves rather than due to any inherent goodness in us, chooses to use any one of us.
APPENDIX B: Notes and rationales for this proposal
DEEPER NOTES:
Traditionally there have been 4 views regarding Paul’s qualifications in I Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6 where he writes that an elder must be “the husband of one wife” or more literally a “one-women man (mias gunaikos andra).
View One is that an elder must be married. But we cannot hold this to be true or else Paul and Jesus would be disqualified.
View Two is that an elder may not be a polygamist (i.e. more than one wife at a time). But, although polygamy is to be avoided this does not appear to be the main thrust of Paul’s words. In I Timothy 5:9 he gives the qualification of widows who desire financial support to possess the same character (literally they must be a “one-man woman) and while polygamy was somewhat common in Paul’s time, polyandry was exceedingly rare. Therefore, the prevention of polygamist elders does not seem to be the main concern of the Apostle Paul.
View Three is that Paul meant an elder must only have one wife for his entire life. If this is what Paul meant, then why does Paul state that one is free to remarry upon the death of a spouse (Romans 7) and why does Paul urge remarriage if someone is having problems with sexual self-control (I Corinthians 7:8-9, 39-40)? Finally, in I Timothy 5:14 Paul urges younger widows to remarry and later charges that all widows who desire to be on the church doll possess the trait of being the “wife of one husband” (a one-man woman). It would seem odd for Paul to encourage younger widows to remarry if Paul is then effectively disqualifying them from being able to receive assistance from the church if they are widowed again. Therefore, “the husband of one wife” and its counterpart in I Timothy 5:9 of widows being the “wife of one husband” probably does not mean “the spouse of one person for all of one’s life.”
View Four is the favored view. When Paul states that an elder must be a “one-woman man” Paul is giving us a character trait of present loyalty and faithfulness in marriage and is not giving us a wife-count. This view states that an elder must possess loyalty and faithfulness towards his present wife. Paul allows for an elder to remarry after his wife has died and the allowance to remarry after a “Biblical divorce” is also present in Paul’s teaching. While the circumstances of a divorce must be ascertained it is possible for a man who is the innocent party of a spouse’s covenant-breaking sin to exercise the office of an elder, and to exercise the role of a missionary, a role equivalent to this office (an extra-ecclesiastical elder, sent across cultures for the establishment of the Church in other regions).
Concerning 1 Timothy 3:2, we note that these verses are all in the present tense and not the past tense. We also note that the Apostle Paul, a persecutor of the church was not disqualified due to pre-conversion sins which likewise transgress his very own written qualifications. The phrase, “husband of one wife” is most aptly rendered as the present character trait of being a “one-woman man” (mias gunaikos andra) and is a description of the present faithfulness of the husband and is not a wife count. These passages deal with present-tense character traits and are not past-tense checklists of pre-conversion behaviors.
• Special care will be taken in the cases of divorced/remarried persons who are considered for service. Personnel who were divorced after they became Christians but were divorced on scriptural grounds (see Matthew 5:32;19:9) will be evaluated by ___Our international office____ on an individual basis.
NOTE: I think it can be established reasonably easy that if a man was cheated on by his wife or deserted while he was unsaved and then, afterwards, he is saved, and then later remarried and then carries on a life of marital faithfulness with his present wife, that such a man is acceptable as a missionary candidates. However, some may balk if the man was already saved at the time of divorce. But, if there are Biblical allowances for divorce (and even Jesus and Paul are looser in Matthew 19:9 and I Corinthians 7:15 than some Christian denominations and mission boards) then it would appear that, given proper cautions and checks, that even a man who is divorced under special circumstances during his post-conversion life may be qualified for elder or elder-equivalent (i.e. church planting missionary) roles.
However, I would be happy at this time to address only those who were divorced pre-conversion if all this is too much for our mission field to accept at this time.
• The Bible teaches that divorce is permissible in the case of sexual immorality (Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Matthew 19:9) or willful desertion of a believer by an unbeliever (I Corinthians 7:15). The innocent party is therefore free to remarry, since they are no longer “under bondage” once properly divorced.
NOTE Concerning I Corinthians 7:15 and desertion: This desertion applies to a believer being deserted by a unbeliever. If a believer deserts another believer than Paul urges that the parties remain single or be reconciled (I Cor. 7:11). Believers who separate for reasons other than adultery must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled. Also, some branches of Christianity have allowed for cases of abuse and attempted murder as being equivalent to desertion. I agree with them. Finally, the innocent party is therefore free to remarry, since they are no longer “under bondage” once properly divorced.
• It is possible for a Christian to be an innocent victim of a spouse’s covenant-breaking sin. NOTE: While every human relationship is marred by sin on the part of both parties, there are and have been cases of divorce where one party did not substantially contribute to the divorce, at least it in covenant-breaking aspects. The innocent wife of an adulterer or abuser may be cases in point. She might have given the husband all that is due him emotionally and sexually and yet he may depart and initiate sin outside the marriage covenant. Willful desertion on the part of an unbeliever towards a believer is also possible, though the believer has done all in their power to preserve the marriage covenant. Other illustrations can be given as well, but should not needed to prove that one party can be the “victim” of a divorce without substantially contributing to the break in covenant.
• Finally, we rejoice that God, through His transforming grace and in spite of ourselves rather than due to any inherent goodness in us, chooses to use any one of us.
