Jumpstarter 8 of 10

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Question 8

David presents the early Christian consensus (Athenagoras, Tertullian, Origen, Apostolic Constitutions) that remarriage after divorce equals adultery and could result in suspension from communion; what does that level of church discipline suggest about early Christian fear of God and seriousness about obedience, and how does it expose what many churches today treat as “pastoral flexibility”?

Another way to ask: What does it tell you that early Christians often treated remarriage after divorce as adultery and even barred people from communion? How does that compare with how many churches today handle divorce and remarriage?

Direct Answer Based on David’s quotes, early Christians treated Jesus’ words as binding commands, not ideals, and they enforced them through real discipline like suspension from communion. That exposes how modern “flexibility” can function as setting aside clear teachings because they are socially costly.

Support from Transcript:

Athenagoras: “A person should… be content with one marriage… a second marriage is only a specious adultery,” and “He does not permit… to marry again.”
Tertullian: “Christ prohibits divorce,” and to forbid divorce “he makes it unlawful to marry a woman who has been put away.”
Origen: a woman “is an adulteress… if the former husband is still living,” and the man “does not so much marry her as… commit adultery.”
Apostolic Constitutions: if a layman divorces and takes another, or marries one divorced, “let him be suspended” (banned from communion).
David comments this practice “does not go against what Christians practiced for about 1,800 years,” even if “nearly all churches” differ today.

Discussion Follow-ups How does discipline around remarriage feel to you—protective, harsh, or both? What might the early church have feared losing if they treated this as negotiable?

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