The early Fathers of our faith were much more personally familiar with the culture and context of New Testament times than we are today. I do not however, hold to the belief that the authority of the Church Fathers can be equal to that held by the Apostles who were personally appointed and taught by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In my view, their teachings do not add to, take away, or supplement the inspired Word of God contained in the Holy Bible. They claimed the same limitations for the authority of their teachings.
Their doctrinal position statements were based on the same Biblical sources we use today, as well as direct interpretations and clarifications passed on to them by the Apostles and their immediate successors. Even though not first hand, they give an accurate portrayal of what Jesus taught, the Apostles believed, and the first Christians practiced and enforced throughout the Body of Christ.
Those Fathers who were in positions of responsible authority, called and appointed by God to serve His Church, were required as Shepherds of His sheep, to walk as He walked and to talk as He talked. Their words are good council, and should be weighted most heavily in the court of Christian opinion, but in no wise should be considered infallible or without possible error. They were after all, as we are, privileged to be standard bearers and light holders for the God of the Universe in their generations, but who were, like us, faulty sinners saved by Grace.
They were however, close to ground zero, at the very epicenter of the Christian earthquake that shook the world. This proximity in time to the ministry of Jesus Christ and His Apostles gave them a clear vantage point that we can no longer enjoy for ourselves.
We can only look back through their writings, to evaluate their legacy, and to try and experience what they experienced - to live as they lived and die as they died for their faith.
These men of God had the initial responsibility to accurately define and defend what the teachings and redemption Gospel of Jesus Christ meant, not only to the millions of lost in their world, but also to the billions in ours. They had their theology rooted in Christ, their lives poured out in the present, and their minds looking to the future.
Complete Agreement
Of all the early recognized Church Fathers who ever wrote, all who were written about, every discussion and every debate, in thousands of surviving documents over hundreds of years, there is not a single dissenting voice on the essential core doctrines of marriage, divorce and remarriage. Each taught the same doctrine, each held the same opinion and each enforced the same morals standards you read here:
Hermas taught:
A.D. 90
1. If a spouse persists in adulterous behavior the innocent party can terminate the marriage.
2. If a spouse divorces for cause, they must remain single. Remarriage is expressly prohibited.
3. If a spouse remarries, the “innocent” party is guilty of the same kind of adultery as the
original offender and will be treated accordingly.
Justin Martyr taught
A.D. 151
1. To indulge in lust is to be guilty of adultery of the heart.
2. Whoever marries a divorced person commits adultery.
3. Whoever contracts a second marriage is sinning against God. (while a former spouse lives)
4. God does not, and the Church must not, take into account human law when it is in violation of God’s
law.
5. God judges motives and intentions, private thought life and actions. All is known and
exposed to the God with which we have to do.
Clement taught:
A.D.208
1. The Scriptures encourage Christians to enter a marriage relationship.
2. The marriage union covenant is permanent and does not allow anyone to be released from
the union.
3. The only legitimate reason for divorce is adultery, otherwise separation is prohibited. A
remarriage while a former spouse lives is living in the state of adultery, therefore expressly
forbidden in Scripture.
4. A man who divorces his wife violates and corrupts her, for if she remarries, for any reason
except for the death of her husband, she becomes an adulteress.
5. The one who marries a divorced spouse sins not only by committing adultery with another’s
spouse but also sins against God by acting as an impediment to reconciliation of the original
marriage.
6. If the divorced spouse had remained single she would have, if possible returned the first
union.
Origen
A.D. 248
Origen is known as the most accomplished and significant theologian of the early Church. As a student and exegete of the Old and New Testaments, he influenced the critical thinking of the Church in his day to such an extent that his works still have major impact on doctrine and practice. He was the first teacher known to use the “allegorical” method of Scriptural interpretation.
It is estimated that he wrote some 5,000 thesis, tracts, epistles and books in his lifetime of service. Much of his work concentrated on refuting dangerous error and heresy. Origen was imprisoned during the reign of Emperor Decius. He was tortured to such an extent that he died from his ordeal after being released.
“Just as a woman is an adulteress, even though she seems to be married to a man, while a former husband yet lives, so also the man who seems to marry who has been divorced does not marry her, but, according to the declaration of our Savior, he commits adultery with her.” (Commentaries on Matthew 14:24) (a)
Origen taught:
1. The marriage covenant between a man and a woman is permanent, as long as both
husband and wife are alive.
2. No matter what the legal circumstances may appear to be to the contrary, a remarriage
relationship when either or both parties are divorced, while a former partner lives, is adultery.
3. The intimate relations between the man and the woman remarried under these
circumstances are adulterous, and considered sin.
Basil the Great
A.D. 375
Basil was born in Caesarea and educated in Athens. He is considered one of the great Fathers and Doctors of the Church. His writings include “On the Holy Spirit” and “Moralia.” He was asked by the Church to help defend against the Arian heretical doctrines and subsequently became Bishop of Caesarea in 370.
Basil became Basil the Great because of his outstanding personal integrity and holiness as well as his brilliance as a theologian and defender of the faith.
“A man who marries another man’s wife who has been taken away from him will be charged with adultery…” (Letter to Amphilochius 199:37) (a)
Basil teaches:
1. It is a serious offence against God to take another person’s spouse.
2. The Church must charge a person who is in possession of another person’s husband or wife
with adultery. (Having sexual relations with someone else’s spouse)
Ambrose of Milan
A.D. 387
Ambrose is known as one of the four original Doctors of the Church. Born in Germany and educated in Rome, He was asked to be Bishop of Milan because of his extraordinary kindness and wisdom. He above all was loved and esteemed by his people. He publicly confronted, rebuked and led to repentance Caesar Theodosius who had slaughtered thousands of Thessalonians.
He wrote major treatises on Christian morality and personal Holiness, warning against adopting the world’s standards. He was influential in and perhaps decisive in bringing Augustine into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and received him into the Church.
“No one is permitted to know a woman other than his wife. The marital right is given you for this reason: lest you fall in a snare and sin with a strange woman. ‘If you are bound to a wife do not seek a divorce,’ for you are not permitted, while your wife lives to marry another.” (Abraham 1:7:59) (a)
(A.D. 389) “You dismiss your wife, therefore, as if by right and without being charged with wrongdoing; and you suppose it is proper for you to do so because no human law forbids it; but Divine law forbids it. “
“Anyone who obeys men should stand in awe of God. Hear the Word of the Lord, which even they who propose our laws must obey: ‘What God has joined together let no man put asunder.”’ (Commentary on Luke 8:5) (a)
Ambrose teaches:
1. Sex is a marital right that is limited to one’s own husband or wife. Legitimate sexual relations
with one’s spouse protects from sexual sin.
2. Extramarital sex is sin and a snare that will catch and kill.
3. It is forbidden by God for a spouse to divorce and to remarry another.
4. Ambrose interprets Paul’s writings in Corinthians to mean that it is forbidden for a man or
woman to remarry another while a former or earlier spouse lives.
5. It is a wrong understanding to believe that it is simply one’s right to divorce a spouse. Even
though human law may permit such a thing, God strictly forbids it.
6. Anyone who follows human customs and laws regarding marriage, divorce and remarriage,
instead of Divine laws should stand in fearful awe of God.
7. All lawmakers, in and out of the Church are warned, to their peril, to hear and obey the Word
of the Lord.
8. Jesus’ command is reaffirmed: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
Jerome
A.D. 396
Jerome, another great Father and Doctor of the early Church whose most important work was the translation of the Bible into Latin (The Vulgate). He wrote works defending the Church from Jovinian, Vigilantius and Pelagianism heretics that were threatening the Gospel of Jesus Christ
"Do not tell me about the violence of the ravisher, about the persuasiveness of a mother, about the authority of a father, about the influence of relatives, about the intrigues and insolence of servants, or about household financial losses.”
“So long as a husband lives, be he adulterer, be he sodomite, be he addicted to every kind of vice, if she left him on account of his crimes he is still her husband, still, and she may not take another.” (Letters 55:3) (a)
Jerome taught:
1. Stop making excuses for and trying to find justification for divorce and remarriage. None of it stands before God, and must not be considered at all when applying the Word of God in the Church or to our individual lives.
2. A spouse may leave a husband or wife that is a serious threat or danger to life and limb. “On account of his crimes” may be a legitimate reason for separation, but if and when so, genuine repentance and reformation by the guilty party removes that right to separation as well. A marriage should then be restored.
3. A marriage is for life, and no matter what a spouse turns out to be, or how they may act, or the sins they commit, the covenant remains fully in effect. God does not divide the one flesh relationship.
4. A spouse that is separated or divorced for any reason, no matter how provoked, or how circumstances came to be as they are, is still bound to the marriage covenant, and cannot be remarried to another, as long as both live.
Augustine
A.D. 419
Augustine is widely regarded to be the single greatest Church leader and theologian between the time of the Apostles of Jesus Christ and the reformation period, and perhaps beyond. His testimony of seeking and finding God after an early life of sin is as fresh and new today in the Holy Spirit as it was then.
His place in the Church, among his peers can be compared as Paul’s was among the Apostles. He rigorously and effectively defended the faith from enemies on all sides. His writings are credited with influencing to an enormous extent the thinking of the great leaders of the reformation as they found their way from darkness to light.
“Neither can it rightly be held that a husband who dismisses his wife because of fornication and marries another does not commit adultery. For there is also adultery on the part of those who, after the repudiation of their former wives because of fornication, marry others…”
“No one is so unreasonable to say that a man who marries a woman whose husband has dismissed her because of fornication is not an adulterer, while maintaining that a man who marries a woman dismissed without the ground of fornication is an adulterer. Both of these men are guilty of adultery.” (Adulterous Marriages 1:9:9) (a)
“A woman begins to be the wife of no later husband unless she has ceased to be the wife of a former one. She will cease to be the wife of a former one, however, if that husband should die, not if he commit adultery.”
“A spouse, therefore, is lawfully dismissed for cause of adultery, but the laws of chastity remains. That is why a man is guilty of adultery if he marries a woman who has been dismissed even for this very reason of adultery.” (ibid., 2:4:4) (a)
Augustine taught:
1. It cannot be rightly held by those wishing to believe so that anyone who divorces their spouse for adultery and then marries another is in the will of God and avoids the sin of adultery.
2. It is adultery to marry another if someone is divorced and then chooses a new husband or wife.
3. Whether or not a spouse commits adultery or fornication does not matter insofar as remarriage is concerned. Whoever remarries while a divorced spouse lives is in the state and sin of adultery.
4. When a spouse remarries according to the law of the land, after a divorce, they are still married to the former spouse as long as that spouse lives. Therefore the sexual and intimate relationship they have with a new spouse is simply engaging in a forbidden relationship by sinning with a person they are not married to in the eyes of God and the Church. Chastity refers to sexual abstinence. To have sexual relations with a remarried spouse is be living in sin, and disobeying God.
5. A spouse can if they must, divorce their husband or wife who is guilty of adultery, but must not have a relationship with another as long as the original partner lives, for they are still in a binding life long covenant with them.
6. It is forbidden for a man or woman, even if they themselves were never previously married, to marry or have sexual relations with a divorced person whose spouse is still alive. They would be guilty of having sexual relations with another person’s spouse, which is the very definition of the sin of adultery.
A summary of the Early Church Doctrine on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage 90 A.D. – 419 A.D.
1. If a spouse persists in adulterous behavior and there is no other alternative, the marriage relationship can be terminated by the innocent party. (Hermas, Clement, Jerome, Augustine)
2. Spouses that are divorced for any reason must remain celibate and single as long as both spouses live. Remarriage is expressly prohibited. (Hermas, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
3. To indulge in lust with the mind is to be guilty of adultery of the heart. (Justin Martyr)
4. Whoever marries a divorced person commits adultery. (Hermas, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
5. Whoever contracts a second marriage, whether a Christian or not, while a former spouse lives is sinning against God. (Justin Martyr, Ambrose)
6. God does not, and the Church must not, take into account human law when it is in violation of God’s law. (Justin Martyr, Origen, Ambrose)
7. God judges motives and intentions, private thought life and actions. (Justin Martyr)
8. The marriage covenant between a man and a woman is permanent, as long as both husband and wife are alive. (Clement, Origen, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
9. It is a serious offence against God to take another person’s spouse. (Basil)
10. The Church must charge all persons who are in possession of another living person’s former husband or wife with adultery. (Basil)
11. Sexual relations are a marital right that is limited to one’s own husband or wife. (Hermas, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
12. Sexual relations with one’s legitimate spouse protects from sexual sin. (Ambrose)
13. Marriage and sexual relations with a remarried spouse while a former spouse lives is the sin of adultery. (Hermas, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
14. It is a serious mistake to believe that it is simply one’s right to divorce a spouse and take another. Even though human law may permit such a thing, God strictly forbids it, and cannot, and will not honor it. (Clement, Origen, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
15. Anyone who follows human customs and laws regarding marriage, divorce and remarriage, instead of God’s Divine instructions should stand in fearful awe of God Himself. (Clement, Ambrose)
16. All lawmakers, in and out of the Church are warned, to their peril, to hear and obey the Word of the Lord in regard to His commands on marriage and divorce. (Ambrose)
17. Christians are to stop making excuses and trying to find justification for divorce and remarriage. There are no valid reasons acceptable to God. (Jerome, Augustine)
18. A marriage is for life. No matter what a spouse turns out to be, or how they may act, what they do or don’t do, or the sins they commit, the covenant remains fully in effect. A remarriage while a former spouse lives is not marriage at all, but sinful adultery. God does not divide the one flesh relationship except by physical death. (Hermas, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine)
19. Marriage is a lifelong covenant that will never be invalidated by God while both parties live. (Hermas, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Augustine)
How Firm a Foundation
The understanding of our Christian forefathers was substantially different as regards to the relationship between claiming to be a Christian and strict separation from worldly corruption.
These doctrines, taught by the early, authoritive leaders of Christianity are in serious disagreement with those being commonly taught and modeled to Christians today. Millions of Christians over hundreds of years lived and died by these laws of God. Many of them were martyred for their faith, sealing in blood their obedience to the Word of God.
If these faithful servants relayed these same commands into the current western Church today, they would find themselves reviled as being not in accordance with the Gospel of Jesus Christ handed down to us through them.
The Gospel being taught today in many “Bible believing” Churches, insofar as the moral standards required by Christianity are concerned, is diametrically opposed to that taught by Jesus Christ and His early Church.
I believe that the modern Church is now presenting a different, powerless version of Christianity that denies the essential Truth of God and the complete transforming power of the Holy Spirit to regenerate degenerate man.
Broken Walls
In this generation most denominations we recognize as evangelical, along with more traditional Churches have lowered the same moral standards that were universally held by the Christian Church for all of it’s nearly 2,000 year history. Until recently it was considered "Anathema" for anyone professing to be any type of Christian to divorce and remarry.
In a recent survey of Pastors and evangelical Church leaders only 4% (e) believed that remarriage is a sin that the Church should refuse to either participate in, or to recognize. A full 96% (e) believed that remarriage while a spouse lives could be acceptable under at least certain conditions.
Many of these believe that the “understanding” of the Church should be broadened to allow more acceptances of those living in such states of sin. Acceptance to them means full fellowship, with no real distinction being made between those that are rightfully married and those that are not. A common sentiment seems to be “Since we are all sinners anyway, why should they be singled out and made to feel guilty or condemned for their actions?”
No longer part of the debate is the notion that such relationships made contrary to New Testament stipulations that are contrary to the will of God be forsaken. To their credit, some at least give a vague recognition that God is “concerned” and hope against hope that once the divorced and remarried, while still practicing their sin, are accepted and blended into the Body, a new line can someday be drawn in the sand that will be respected in the next generations to come. Some don’t care very much one way or the other.
A fish out of Water
Others believe the falsehood that it is futile to try to separate the sin from the sinner in any case, so any further attempt at maintaining required Biblical holiness standards in the face of such demonic pressure will fail, the Church will fold, and the whole point will become redundant anyway.
As the Church begins to flounder like the fish out of water it is, thinly disguised polygamy becomes sanctified. Homosexuals are next in line to have their marriages sanctioned by virtual of their same need for Christian community. “Why not?” it will be said, “what’s the difference anyway? The New Testament does not make any real distinction between practicing adulterers and practicing homosexuals anyway.” -So the doors are thrown wide open, and in comes all the horrors of Hell.
Ignatius
Ignatius addressed these same types of compliance and obedience issues to the early Church in his Epistle to the Ephesians. His words echo the love and concern Ignatius modeled after the great Apostle John. These are stern warnings against not living an obedient Holy life and the necessity of being ever so careful not to fall into error.
Ignatius taught:
“None of these things are hid from you, if ye perfectly possess that faith and love towards Christ Jesus which are the beginning and the end of life. For the beginning is faith, and the end is love. Now these two, being inseparably connected together, are of God, while all other things that are requisite for a holy life follow after them.”
“No man truly making a profession of faith sins, or does he that possesses love hates any one. The tree is made manifest by its fruit; so those that profess themselves to be Christians shall be recognized by their conduct. For there is not now a demand for mere profession, but that a man be found continuing in the power of faith to the end…”
"Do not err, my brethren. Those that corrupt families shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If, then, those who do this as respects the flesh have suffered death, how much more shall this be the case with any one who corrupts by wicked doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified!”
“Such a one becoming defiled in this way shall go away into everlasting fire, and so shall every one that hearkens unto him.” (Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians) (a)
Contrary to all written instructions, there is now a new form of “religion”, one that has denied the power of the Cross of Christ. The Apostles of Jesus Christ and the early Christians would not be confused however by today’s babel of voices proclaiming various mutations of truth, for this new Gospel is not new at all, but simply the latest version of an old lie: “God is not God, His light is dark, His will is weak, and His Word can not be trusted!”
The Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World
The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetius
130 A.D.
Mathetes, a Christian whose identity has been lost in time wrote a letter to an unknown man named Diognetius. From the opening salutation we can derive that Diognetius is a seeker after Jesus Christ or a fresh, new Christian. Mathetes, wrote him to explain the fundamental beliefs of Christianity and what it means to live for Jesus in their world.
His brief but eloquent portrayal of the Christian community shining a light on their dark world is both heart warming and sorrowful. But that we would be so filled with the faith and holiness of our forefathers in Christ. Here is his description of the true, spotless Body of Christ Jesus.
Mathetes wrote:
“For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity.
The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines.
But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life.”
They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.
They marry, as do all others; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.
They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life.
They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers.
When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.
To sum it up all in one phrase- “what the soul is in the body, therefore are Christians in the world”. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world.
The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world…God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.” (Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetius) (a)
Restoration of Christian Marriage©