Divorce and Remarriage

# 406 - Today's Living Word comes from Mr 6:17,18 “For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her. For John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

One of the mistakes made in the interpretation of this passage concerning the sin of Herod is we lock onto the phrase, “not lawful to have your brother's wife.” Immediately, we dismiss his lawless deed as incest. But that's not the issue here. John was talking about the sins of divorce and remarriage after a divorce.

Later on in the gospel of Mark, we will read of the time the Pharisees asked Jesus about the matter of divorce. Jesus replied, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” and then He went on to say, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” (Mr 10:9,11)

This was the sin of Herod, and it is a sin that is still with us today. Divorce, and remarriage after a divorce, are prevalent in our society and in the church. And if John the Baptist were alive today, he would be preaching against it and it likely would cost him his head (figuratively speaking of course)

Well, he's not alive, but God's Word is alive and it says divorce and remarriage are sins. Likely, many reading this right now have been down this road of divorce and remarriage. What to do? Well, what do we do with any sin that we have been convicted of? We confess it, receive God's forgiveness and just like the woman who was caught in adultery, we go and sin no more.

It's all that John was asking Herod and Herodias to do, and it's all God asks us to do as well.

I'm Duane Matz and that's Today's Living Word