Parker/Broking Debate on Marriage/Divorce/Remarriage

 
 
Proposition:  
The Bible teaches that when a Matt. 19:6 marriage ends in divorce, 
the person put away for fornication may marry another with the Lord's 
approval. 

Affirm: Gerry Parker 
Deny: Darrell Broking  

Brother Parker needs to prove from the Bible that a guilty divorced fornicator has 
the Lord's approval to marry another.  It simply will not do for Brother Parker to 
jump into the negative and counter  arguments that have yet to be made.  Brother 
Parker your obligation in this debate is to prove the stipulated proposition, please 
try to do so.  Alas, Brother Parker did present all of the Bible verses that support 
his, none at all! 

Brother Parker suggests that I am faced with a problem because I, like many other 
brethren, hold to the traditional definition of adultery.  Brother Parker's quibble is 
this, if adultery refers to a married person's sexual encounter with one to whom he 
is not married, then how is it that the innocent party is free to remarry but the 
guilty party may not marry another with the Lord's approval?   

What is adultery?  Adultery "denotes one who has unlawful intercourse with the 
spouse of another."1 Thayer's Lexicon gives the following definition of adultery:  
"To have unlawful intercourse with another's wife, to commit adultery with."2  
The authorities are correct by asserting that when the literal aspect of adultery is 
being considered, the traditional definition of adultery is correct.   Individuals 
dissatisfied with God's use of the term would like to convince people that 
language authorities lost the meaning of the word adultery.  However, evidence 
from ancient Greek documents is  conclusive, when used in literal sense adultery 
refers to unlawful sexual intercourse between a married person and one who is not 
the married person's spouse.  Wayne Jackson's research provides the  following 
irrefutable facts:  

Lysias (c. 410 B.C.) writes of one Euphiletus, an Athenian, who killed 
Eratosthenes, after catching him in bed, committing adultery with his wife. In his 
defense he contends that the Court of Areopagus  has "expressly stated that 
whoever takes vengeance on an adulterer (moichon) caught in the act with his 
spouse shall not be convicted of murder" (Lysias, 1.30). Xenophon (c. 401 B.C.) 
describes the  adulterer who "enters the woman's quarters, knowing that by 
committing adultery (moicheuonti) he is in danger of incurring the penalties 
threatened by the law . . . ." He suggests that this is quite foolish since "there are 
many remedies to relieve him of his  carnal desire without risk" (Memorabilia, 
II,1,5). In the 2nd century A.D., Sextus Empiricus wrote: "Adulterers (moichous) 
are, of course,  punished by law with us, but amongst some peoples intercourse 
with other men's wives is indifferent. . . ." (Pyrrhonism, III, 209).  There is no 
question as to what the Greeks meant by "adultery."3  

The New Testament was not written in a vacuum.  In order to know what Jesus 
meant when he discussed adultery, one need only to examine how the word was 
used in his day.  The evidence is conclusive; the  traditional definition of adultery 
is exactly what Jesus meant when he used the term adultery in his marriage, 
divorce, and remarriage discourses. 

Brother Parker suggests that I have viewed Matthew 19:9 with a preconceived and 
erroneous concept of adultery.  Actually, when I approached the passage I studied 
the word and learned how the people living around Jesus' day used the word 
adultery.  Will Brother Parker please reveal the source this alleged and profound 
revelation about the word adultery?  Will Brother Parker please unveil this newly 
found definition of adultery?  Brother Parker, is it the case that you are guilty of 
the exact crime you suggested that I have committed?  You may appeal to 
Nichols, McGarvey, or any other man for your authority, but as for me, my source 
of authority is Jesus Christ (John 12:48; Col. 3:17).  Jesus was very clear, anyone 
who marries another without having first put away a guilty fornicator commits 
adultery.  Brother Parker, it does not matter how you try to change the meaning of 
the word adultery, the Bible teaches that adultery will keep souls out of heaven (I 
Cor. 6:9).  Your job in this debate is to attempt to prove otherwise, please try to 
do that! 

When two come together in a marriage defined by Matthew 19:6, the Lord joins 
them together.  The Bible teaches that all scriptural marriages are for life.  When 
men attempt to dissolve scriptural marriages through divorce, they enter adultery 
after they marry  another (Matt. 5:32; 19:9; Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18). This 
fundamental Bible truth forbids all remarriage, regardless of what one wants to 
call adultery.  As previously noted, adulterers cannot  remain in adultery and go to 
heaven.  The only exception to this rule of scripture is noted in Matthew 5:32 and 
Matthew 19:9.  The innocent  party may, with the Lord's approval, marry another 
without entering adultery.  The guilty party is chained to his vow to have no other, 
only the innocent party is released from his vow by the Lord.  This  is true 
because Jesus did not allow any further marriage to another, except in the case of 
the innocent party.  Some see this as mean spirited.  However, the Lord is 
merciful inasmuch as the Old Law  demanded the death of adulterers!  While I am 
not in the affirmative, I have explained this much as an answer to Brother Parker's 
quibble about the term adultery.           

Brother Parker, please affirm the proposition upon which we agreed.  If the New 
Testament teaches that the guilty party has the right to go out and marry another, 
please reveal the passage or passages.  The  readership of this debate is anxious to 
learn how a guilty fornicator can be divorced, marry another, and this new 
marriage is not sinful.  Jesus said that the new marriage is sinful; Gerry Parker 
says it is not.        

END NOTES 

1Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, s. v. "Adultery." 

2Thayer Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s. v. "Moichaw." 

3Wayne Jackson, "What is Adultery," Divorce & Remarriage A Study 
Discussion, by Wayne Jackson, and Truman Scott, (Stockton:  Courier Pub., 
1982), 84.