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Transcript 547C — When Your Partner Divorces You
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Hello, Brother Camping. We have a friend whose wife is divorcing him, and I wondered if you could tell me from Scripture what his position should be.
HC: The question is, someone is being divorced by his wife. What is his position? Well, the Bible indicates in I Corinthians 7, in talking about the unbelieving wife being separated from the husband, and the same would be true the other way around because God doesn't make a distinction between the husband and the wife, what applies to one applies to the other, in verse 10: "Let not the wife depart from her husband (or be divorced from her husband), but if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband." And so that is the position of your friend, that he should remain unmarried, or else be reconciled.
And then it says in verse 15, "If the unbelieving depart, let him depart." In other words, if you have an unsaved wife who wants to leave, then that's the way it is. She's going to want to leave." Let it be so. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases. God hath called us to peace." That is, you're not under bondage to try to maintain that marriage, because God has declared, "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
CALLER: The word bondage there, that wouldn't mean that a person was free to remarry, would it?
HC: No. There is nothing in the Bible that would suggest that he was free to remarry. Actually, he should make every effort to be reconciled to his wife, even though they may be divorced. As long as she does not marry anyone else, then he ought to make every effort to be reconciled with her. And if she marries someone else, then he'll have to remain single if he wants to remain in accordance with the Bible.
CALLER: Can you make any suggestions about reconciliation, how to approach it?
HC: Of course I know nothing about the case. But first of all, he wants to make sure that he is walking humbly before the Lord. One of the things that brings on a divorce is that neither wants to admit that they are wrong. Both are convinced that they are right, and pride gets in the way. And the Bible talks about confessing your sins one to another. And no matter how bad his wife has been, there's always something that isn't quite as correct as it could have been in the life of the other. And so he should go to her and ask for forgiveness for anything that he has done, and freely admit if he has done anything that would cause it. And he ought to really make some real overtures to indicate that he loves her and that he wants her as his wife.
CALLER: I See. Thank you very much, Brother Camping.
HC: Yes. And by all means pray God for wisdom and for His grace in this matter, because there comes a time when you just don't know where to turn. But ask the Lord that He will give your friend patience and self-control and a real desire for forgiveness, and a humility to be willing to admit whatever wrongdoing he has been guilty of.
CALLER: Thank you.
HC: You're welcome. Good night.