Mr. Hamilton,<\/p>\n
First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to respond to emails. Your grace and patience have been a tremendous help to me.<\/p>\n
I have some questions I have been pondering on and hoping to gain some of your insight on, if that’s alright?<\/p>\n
While reading my Bible, I noticed verses talking about “divorce” and “putting away.” Is there a difference between the two? I have always known divorce was a legal and formal action that ended a marriage, since that’s how we do things in our modern culture today, but what did Jesus mean when he talked about putting someone away instead of using the word “divorce?”<\/p>\n
Does it make a difference as far as remarriage would go in a situation where a marriage has ended because of fornication, but there was no formal or legal divorce? Or could someone simply say the marriage is over and send them away, without needing formal paperwork, and get remarried in not only our culture today but also in the ancient culture Jesus was addressing, if the two are indeed different?<\/p>\n
Thank you again for your wisdom and time. I look forward to your response!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\t
You will find some who make a great deal over the difference in the words used for the wife’s departure and the husband’s, such as in “But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave<\/strong> her husband (but if she does leave<\/strong>, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce<\/strong> his wife<\/em>” (I Corinthians 7:10-11). In truth, the Greek words are synonyms.<\/p>\n The word chorizo<\/em>, used in various forms for the wife’s leaving, means to divide, to separate, to depart, or to divorce. The latter is particularly true when it is used regarding a husband and wife (Matthew 19:6; Mark 10:9).<\/p>\n The word aphiemi<\/em>, used for the husband’s leaving, means to send off, to send away, to let go, to release, to leave behind, to abandon, or to divorce. When applied to sin, it means to forgive. You put the sin away. It means “divorce” when applied to a husband and wife relationship (I Corinthians 7:12-13). The King James Version tended to use “put away” where the modern translations use “divorce.”<\/p>\n If there is a difference,\u00a0chorizo\u00a0<\/em>tends to be used for the person who walks away from a marriage, and aphienai<\/em> is used for the one who insists that the other leave. “Some see in the use of two different words,\u00a0aphiemi<\/em> and\u00a0chorizo<\/em>, an important distinction in meaning; however, there is no lexical basis for proposing that aphiemi<\/em> is used in this passage [I Corinthians 7:11,15] for ‘legal divorce’, whereas chorizo\u00a0<\/em>designates simply a separation of marital partners. The two terms are synonymous in their technical applications to divorce.” [The Complete Biblical Library<\/em>].<\/p>\n In the Greek and Roman cultures, a divorce did not require a document to legalize it. Hence, a divorce took place whenever a couple separated. [New International Commentary on the New Testament<\/em>]. Thus, there was no distinction between separation and divorce, as there is in modern culture. Jewish culture, due to the Old Testament law, did require a bill of divorcement.<\/p>\n Because Christians are required to obey the government (Romans 13:1-7), and requiring a document to legally end a marriage is not wrong, a person cannot walk away from his or her marriage and consider themselves free of his or her obligations. Even when the government allows two people to divorce, it should never be assumed that God agrees and releases the couple from their covenant (Matthew 19:6).<\/p>\n\t Thank you so much for this response! I really appreciate it and learn a great deal from this website. It’s become a favorite of mine to read through all of the articles on here.<\/p>\nGod bless!\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Mr. Hamilton, First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to respond to emails. Your grace and patience have been a tremendous help to me. I have some questions I have been pondering on and hoping to gain some of your insight on, if that’s alright? While reading my Bible, I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[167,76],"class_list":["post-89667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-divorce","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-couple-divorce-and-then-reconcile-do-they-need-to-remarry\/","url_meta":{"origin":89667,"position":0},"title":"If a couple divorce, and then reconcile, do they need to remarry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A married couple divorces, within a short time they reconcile, (in God's eyes the wife would have been wrong, she repented and made it right with God and the church). This all happened many years ago, but they just never formally remarried, and the state in which they live\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23206,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-about-the-catholic-view-of-divorce\/","url_meta":{"origin":89667,"position":1},"title":"What do you think about the Catholic view of divorce?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your web site today concerning divorce and the Bible.\u00a0 Clearly, God considers divorce a serious matter, possibly a sin. However, for years Catholics had strict rules about divorce and remarriage.\u00a0 It seems that Catholics were unfairly targeted as being too unforgiving or strict when it came to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20304,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-divorce-a-sin-so-how-can-a-preacher-insist-that-two-people-who-had-divorced-and-remarried-to-get-divorced-before-they-can-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":89667,"position":2},"title":"Isn’t divorce a sin? So how can a preacher insist that two people, who had divorced and remarried, to get divorced before they can be baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This one is about marriage and divorce: Everyone is confused about this.\u00a0The problem is a few people have been baptized and before they were baptized they had been divorced and remarried again.\u00a0I have heard preachers telling them to get divorced. I personally do not see how that would be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36475,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-law-of-marriage-and-divorce-that-jesus-taught-for-the-church-or-universal\/","url_meta":{"origin":89667,"position":3},"title":"Is the law of marriage and divorce that Jesus taught for the church or universal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My wife last husband wanted to divorce her on irreconcilable differences. He changed his mind and said to her he wanted to work things out, she refused and wanted to proceed with the divorce because of the abuse and adultery, he also had another child outside their marriage. They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51262,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-divorced-single-christian-serve-in-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":89667,"position":4},"title":"Can a divorced, single Christian serve in the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: These days it seems as if many couples, including Christians, do not give their marriages a chance and their marriages end quickly because they are not willing to give up their stubborn ways.\u00a0 My husband and I have been married a long time and went through a lot of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67739,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-a-person-lied-about-his-past-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":89667,"position":5},"title":"What if a person lied about his past marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings, I have enjoyed reading your studies and answers for many years. I have two questions if you could answer them please. So far I have only been able to find an answer in necessary inference. If a Christian in good standing unknowingly marries a person who lied about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n