Would Jesus Divorce His Wife?

A question for listeners of Family Radio

by Rev. Jim McCune

© 2003 All Rights Reserved

 

Dear Friend,

 

Someone gave you this tract because they care about you.

 

You’ve been listening to Family Radio for some time and have heard the teachings of Harold Camping about the end of the church age. You’ve heard the call to "depart out" of the church. You’ve had your attention called to the "high places" in the church—those teachings found in churches which Mr. Camping says are so contrary to the Scripture that any church that holds them is an abomination in God’s sight. You’ve been told that pastors and elders and deacons are now a thing of the past, that God will no longer use the church as an instrument to bring people to faith in Christ, and that the sacraments are no longer to be observed by followers of Christ. All these teachings have come to you in recent months over the airwaves of Family Radio and through their publications.

 

But I have a question for you. Would Jesus divorce his wife?

 

I know you may think this is some kind of trick question. Jesus was never married. So what’s the use asking the question, "would Jesus divorce his wife?" Nevertheless, think with me about this a little bit.

 

Think about Jesus’ teaching on divorce. Once the Pharisees asked Jesus, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?" Mark 10:2 (KJV) These particular Pharisees taught that marriage was a revocable transaction. They cited Moses in their favor, saying that Moses said that they could divorce their wives by simply giving her a certificate of divorce. But Jesus took issue with that view. Jesus said God had permitted them to do that because their hearts were hard. From the beginning it was not so. God ordained marriage. He intended marriage to be a permanent relationship. When a man and woman are married they are no longer two, but one. They are bonded into one new entity. To tear them apart would destroy both. God has joined them together.

 

After Jesus answered the Pharisees’ question, Jesus’ disciples asked Him to explain his teaching on divorce a little more for them. Do you know what Jesus said? Mark 10:11-12 tells us:

One of the teachings Mr. Camping has identified as a "high place" in many churches is the teaching that fornication or adultery on the part of one of the spouses is a legitimate ground for divorce. Camping is right that there is quite a bit of disagreement in various fellowships as to what to make of the phrase "saving for the cause of fornication" in Matthew 5:32 and "except it be for fornication" in Matthew 19:9. Camping’s own interpretation (What God Hath Joined Together, p. 20) is that Jesus allows "no divorce for any reason." What if the wife is unfaithful? The answer is "no". What if she is an unbeliever? Still, "no.’ "No divorce for any reason"—this is what Camping believes the Bible teaches. If this interpretation is true, then the answer to the question, "would Jesus divorce his wife?" is a resounding "no!" If Jesus did that, his own words would condemn Him as an adulterer.

 

Now, friend, please forgive me for asking you such a seemingly hypothetical question when you and I both know that Jesus never married. But the question isn’t really a hypothetical question at all. Jesus does have a wife. The Bible says the church is the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5: 30-32) and the wife of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7; 21:9). Paul, in speaking to those who have been brought into the fellowship of the church through faith in Christ, says, For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:2 (KJV) Jesus does have a wife. The Bible calls that wife the church—his redeemed people.

 

What if that church is not as faithful as she ought to be? What if some of her teachings are not as pure as they ought to be? Will Christ put away His wife? Will He do what He has taught his people not to do? The Apostle Paul says there is a great mystery here—that somehow the relationship between Christ and the church is to govern how a husband and a wife are to relate to each other in marriage. If Christ has cast off the church and taken His Holy Spirit from it, isn’t that to say He has divorced her? And doesn’t that, on Jesus’ own teaching, make him guilty of adultery?

 

If the church age is over, then the analogy of Ephesians 5:22-33 no longer holds true, for Christ is done with the church. The ultimate conclusion is that since Christ has put away his wife, husbands may now also put away their wives. That is the logic of the "depart out" teaching.

 

Friend, Christ has not divorced his wife, his Bride, the church. He is no adulterer. He is the Lord of marriage and the Lord of the church. He has ordained the church to be his bride and He calls her to faithfulness. And His faithfulness to her is beyond question. When someone calls believers to leave the fellowship of a true church to meet in fellowships with no pastors or elders or deacons and no sacraments—this is nothing but to call them away from Christ. To say that Christ is done with the church and works only through "fellowships of likeminded people" is to say that Christ has deserted his bride to marry another. Friend, this is not right, nor has it happened. Christ still loves his bride (the church) even as He still commands husbands to love their wives. He bought the church with His blood. And He will present her before God as a radiant, spotless church at last.

 

Friend, if you have been listening to the teaching on Family Radio about the end of the church age and have read this tract, may I encourage you to pray about the verses I've quoted. It could be that Christ is calling you back to His church, His bride, where those who "walk in the light as He is in the light have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses them from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

 

Rev. Jim McCune is Pastor of Congregational Life at Cottage Grove Christian Reformed Church in South Holland, IL

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