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Dear
Gramps, In the New Testament it says that when a woman who is divorced
remarries, she commits adultery. I
know several women who have been remarried in the temple following a
divorce. Can you shed some light on this scripture? Thanks! |
Dear
L,
The
information given in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 is extremely limited. Without
knowledge of the laws and customs of the society of that time, and the covenant
of marriage solemnized by the holy priesthood in the early church, it is
impossible to make a judgment on the specifics of the verses in question.
This
much we can say, however. The practices of the church in the time of the
Savior’s earthly ministry, and in the days of the restoration both came into
being by revelation from God. If they are different from one another in any
particular, they are both right and correct for the time and age in which they
were revealed. It would be very hazardous to impose the same rules of conduct on
two societies as disparate as the world ruled by the Romans in the time of
Christ into which society the early church was required to exist and the society
in which the church exists today. It appears that without more information on
the subject, we must withhold judgment. Elder Bruce R. McConkie had the
following to say on the subject:
“As
here recorded, our Lord’s teachings about marriage and divorce are fragmentary
and incomplete. They can only be understood when considered in connection with
the law of celestial marriage as such has been revealed anew in modern times.
These same general principles governing eternal marriage were known to and
understood by the disciples in Jesus’ day and also, in part at least, by the
Pharisees. But the accounts here preserved by both Matthew and Mark of the
Master’s discussion on marriage and divorce are so condensed and abbreviated
that they do not give a clear picture of the problem. Modern scriptural exegetes
need the same background and knowledge possessed by those who engaged in the
original discussion” (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary,
Vol. 1, p 546).
Gramps