Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 6
Paul’s statement that remarriage while a spouse lives makes a woman “called an adulteress” is treated as an “established fact” in the early church rather than a new instruction; how does the teacher use this to challenge modern Christian divorce/remarriage practices, and what pressures might cause churches to reverse what earlier Christians saw as non-negotiable?
Another way to ask: The teacher says the early church already saw remarriage while a spouse is alive as adultery, not as a new rule Paul invented. How does he use that to challenge modern divorce/remarriage, and what pressures might make churches change what used to be seen as non-negotiable?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The speaker uses Romans 7:3 to argue that the early church assumed Jesus’ strict teaching on divorce/remarriage as settled, then contrasts that with modern change—saying this consensus “didn't change till the 20th century,” implying cultural pressure led churches to loosen what was once clear.
- He calls Romans 7:3 “an important, extremely important verse,” because Paul treats it as a given.
- He says Paul is “not… teaching anything new about divorce and remarriage… just mentioning it as an established fact among Christians.”
- He emphasizes the standard: “she will be called an adulteress… Not by the world, not by the Jews, but in the Christian church.”
- He quotes early witnesses like Origen: a remarried woman with a living husband “is an adulteress… according to the declaration of our Savior.”
- He claims there was “no dissent on that matter… clear to all Christians,” then adds: “I would say this didn't change till the 20th century.”
- He criticizes modern reversal: people decided “they knew more than all the Christians who lived before them.”