Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!crdgw1!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!rochester!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: lae@io.UUCP (Larry Enos) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: divorce and remarriage Message-ID: Date: 10 Nov 90 12:31:20 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Interleaf Inc, Cambridge, MA Lines: 40 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes: > Um, let's get one thing straight. NT Greek has a word for "adultery" > (moicheia) and a word for "fornication" (porneia). Whoever wrote > the Gospel according to Matthew knew and used both words. Any satisfactory > account of this verse (which itself contains both words) has to explain at > least two things: > -- why is Matthew the only Gospel to contain an "exception clause"? > -- why does the "exception clause" talk about _fornication_ in the > context of divorce? If a wife had sex with someone else, that > was adultery, not fornication! > Let me start with your second question first. There is a difference in degree between adultery (moicheia) and fornication (porneia). Adultery implies any sexual infidelity in marriage. Fornication (which can also be translated as `whoredom') implies gross and repeated sexual immorality. If you compare this statement with what the Lord says elsewhere about forgiveness, then it will be clear what the the Lord is saying here: If your spouse is unfaithful and repents, then you should forgive him/her; however, if your spouse does not repent, but continues to be unfaithful, then you are permitted to divorce him/her. As for your first question, the fact that a truth is only revealed in one passage of the bible does not make it less true. For example, John 1:1 is the only passage that states that in the beginning the Word (Jesus Christ) was with God and was God. Because of this passage, orthodox Christians believe that Christ is God and that He existed from the beginning. Yet some people choose not to believe this on the grounds that it is not so clearly defined elsewhere in the bible. Many people want to pick and choose passages from the bible according to their preconceptions. Thus, if a passage agrees with their concepts, they accept it literally, but if it does not, they either reject it or try to intrepret it away. Yet, we must realize that either all of the bible the word of God or none of it is. We cannot have it both ways.