Words'nTone

So for us who need an “excused divorce” for vocational Church ministry, do Deuteronomy 24 and Matthew 19 provide our parameters? Do these texts offer guidelines for those in power over ministry credentials in determining access for those who are divorced? These are the questions that confront both those who are divorced and seeking vocational church ministry, as well as those with institutional power over who has access to Church ministry and who does not. Before I conclude, I’d like to make clear three things:

1) Unless I missed it, there is no text in all of the Bible that states a divorced and/or a divorced-remarried person cannot be a pastor of a Church. Many turn to I Timothy 3:2—An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife—as a “proof text.” However, there is nothing in the Greek nor the sentence to indicate anything other than what it says, namely an “overseer must…be a husband of one wife.” For those that take it as a reference prohibiting a divorced person being an overseer, would also see that the text says “must” and would then apply to a prohibition of single people being a pastor as well! Of course, no one reads it that way because they are after one thing--a proof text for a policy on divorce and vocational church ministry.  Consistency of interpretation is not one of our virtues way too often! Although it is within the right of institutions to make rules and regulations on accreditation and licensing, I only wish for consistency of interpretation, fair readings of the intent of Scripture, and forthright explanations.

2) I am not suggesting God is at all pleased with divorce. Making this assumption about me, would not only judge me wrongly, but miss the point of the discussion and the Deuteronomy (and Matthew) text. God Himself says that He hates divorce (Mal 2:16), while He had presented His own Certificate of Divorce to Israel who had left Him, remarried foreign gods, and now sought to return (Jer 3:8; cf. Isa 50:1ff).

3) And finally, I did not come to view these issues of divorce and remarriage after I divorced. In fact, I struggled with the miss-reading of these texts and views on divorce and ministry even back in my Bible College days. I knew something was wrong then with these proof-texts and their application. I even said back then—perhaps some of my classmates and friends will remember—that divorce is worse than murder in many denominations.

This leads me to summarize what I think these texts imply for application to marriage/divorce and ministry. First, without question Jesus refers back to the creation account in order to address an age-old Israelite (male) question: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” (Mt 19:3). To which Jesus reaches back to the Genesis account to answer that God’s intention did not include divorce and that the only reason He permitted it was because we have hard hearts. The reading from the Deuteronomy 24 text kept the possibility of giving a Certificate of Divorce for any reason. Jesus stops that cold—there is no reason for divorce save for allowing it because of our hard hearts. This context is not about “Can a divorced person be in vocational Church ministry?” It is the land issues in Deuteronomy 24 that are implied through the text, which links the context of Deuteronomy to the Decalogue’s commandments of not stealing and coveting. What it does provide is a text that speaks to the wider issues of protection of the vulnerable and the mis-use of people within a social context. Perhaps in this the “exception” or loop-hole (or excused divorce) needs to be rethought (e.g., single parents who divorced out of protection for themselves or their children are “excused").

The reason for the barrier and the excused-divorce clause is preference. It certainly isn’t based on a real, faithful interpretation of Scripture. In the case of permitting entrance into Church-Ministry, for many divorce is worse than murder.

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