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Thread: Anti-restoration legalism based on Deuteronomy 24

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    Anti-restoration legalism based on Deuteronomy 24

    Deut 24:1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2 when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, 4 then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

    It is quite clear that this passage has a cultural background related to the mindsets of the area at that time, approximately 1500 BC. Notice that the wife is seen as defiled already by the original divorce and remarriage. Jesus said that Moses only permitted this because of the hardness of their hearts. Then she is seen as even more defiled by returning to her original husband. This is a bit similar to when the Corinthians ate meat that had been offered to the idols before being sold at the regular market and couldn't wrap their conscience around that. Or some of them couldn't. They were told to not do that because they would be sinning against their weak conscience.
    So what is the point ? God is making sure that they don't violate their conscience about these things and sin grievously in their hearts. The same way he did when he took their practice of slavery and instituted laws that would regulate it so that it wouldn't be evil. He could have tried to sort out their culture and society but instead he chose to straighten it out so that it would be possible to live holy within the parameters of that society. A lot of people would have died from starvation if they hadn't been able to sell themselves as slaves back then. And so on.

    The law of Moses doesn't prescribe any restoration for marriages where one spouse has committed adultery and then wishes to repent. To the contrary, it prescribes an execution. According to the cultural mindset of the time, the woman was defiled beyond restoration by being divorced and remarried, in relation to her original husband. How much more would she be defiled by committing adultery in the absence of a divorce paper and a new husband ?

    Any marriage counselling based on Deut 24 would have to prescribe one out of two things in the case of adultery :

    1) Execute the adulterers

    2) Immediate divorce and a new marriage to the one he or she is committing adultery with.

    The new covenant institutes forgiveness rather than execution for moral crimes that aren't dealt with by the laws of the land. There is restoration for broken marriages. Just not based on a legalistic reading of Deut 24 introduced into the new covenant.

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Colonel View Post
    It is quite clear that this passage has a cultural background related to the mindsets of the area at that time, approximately 1500 BC.
    Thanks for the thread. I was going to start another thread myself Colonel but that can wait.

    OK, where in the Bible does that idea come from?

    2Tim tells us that "All Scripture is inspired by God" and that must include Deut 24. Romans 12 tells us to "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect". 2Tim also says all Scripture is "profitable for teaching, ... for correction" so maybe it's out 21st century culture which is full of illicit sex that is wrong and the "God breathed" Deut 24 correct?

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Mat 19:8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so."

    That makes applying divorce-permitting scriptures from the old covenant according to the letter totally unscriptural.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Colonel View Post
    Mat 19:8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so."

    That makes applying divorce-permitting scriptures from the old covenant according to the letter totally unscriptural.
    Mmmm, I might say "That makes applying divorce-permitting scriptures from the old covenant unscriptural".

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    Quote Originally Posted by FunFromOz View Post
    Mmmm, I might say "That makes applying divorce-permitting scriptures from the old covenant unscriptural".
    Not really because it has a bearing on wife swapping. Some times that is how they do it, they give away their wife then take her back. I suspect that it was in the culture of that time to do something like that so therefore God made an absolute commandment against it. Kind of like he commanded them not to cut the hair at the sides because that was what some of the idol worshipping tribes around them did = a strictly cultural context - but something can be learned from it anyway.

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