Can a man married to a divorced woman pastor?

[robinva]

Here is a situation that has come up for discussion in our church's pulpit committee. There is an applicant who had married a divorced woman before his salvation. Would it be scriptual for him to serve as pastor?

[Brother Ben]

The state of the church today is in bad shape. The important area of leadership has never been in such need of qualified men. The divorce issue is a passionate one and has made some divide over it. I have endeavored over the years to be careful in my interpretation of scripture.

Pastor Dan's stand surely is one of the most predominent and for the largest part is very valid. In my studies of our anabaptist forefathers I have found, though, that there is a line of belief that those who have been the victiim of the exception clause for divorce (fornication,) are not under bondage, but are free to remarry in the Lord.

I have posted an alternative article, 'Our Anabaptist Forefathers on Divorce and Remarriage.' I hope it will offer a valid and alternative view on this most serious issue.

Bro. Ben

[hszoo]

Many people struggle with this. I truly believe God is fully able to send a pastor who fits all the guidelines and qualifications if the pulpit committee would get out of the way. It occurs to me, too, that the early church raised pastors up from among those men who sat in the congregation. They didn't recruit them from the other side of the country. If this were true today, and preachers around the country were teaching correctly concerning marriage and divorce, then perhaps there would be more men in the congregation who actually are qualified to take the pulpit.

As for the remarriage issue, I'm still searching for an exception clause for remarriage. All I've found is one for divorce.

As for not being bound, here is what the Word says: 1 Cor 7:15

15 But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
KJV

This refers to an unbeliever but not to fornication or adultery. And even so, the bondage may only refer to being bound to all the obligations of marriage to that one person, but not free from the vows they made before God.


1 Cor 7:39

39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
KJV

Here, it seems to me to say that in any state, married or divorced, the woman cannot remarry.

[drduff]

Dear brother,
I wrote a complete article on my web page, on Divorce and Remarriage, brother Rex. Look up my web site at anabap.com -- look up articles