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(1) 1Cor
7:10-11
(2) 1Q or ?2Q: Luke 16:18 = Matt 5:31-32
(3) Mark 10:(2-9)10-12 = Matt 19:(3-8) 9-12
(4) HermMan 4.1:6b,10
/1/ Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: "It is well for a man not to touch a woman." /2/ But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. /3/ The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. /4/ For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. /5/ Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. /6/ This I say by way of concession, not opf command. /7/ I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.
/8/ To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. /9/ But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
/10/ To the married I give this command--not I but the Lord--that the wife should not separate from her husband /11/ (but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
/12/ To the rest I say--I and not the Lord--that if any believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. /13/ And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. /14/ For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. /15/ But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. It is to peace that God has called you. /16/ Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.
/17/ However that may be, let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. This is my rule in all the churches. 7:18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything.7:20 Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.
/21/ Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever. /22/ For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ. /23/ You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters. /24/ In whatever condition you were called, brothers and sisters, there remain with God.
/25/ Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. /26/ I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. /27/ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.7:28 But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that. /28/ But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that. /29/ I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, /30/ and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, /31/ and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
/32/ I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; /33/ but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, /34/ and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband.7 /35/ I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.
/36/ If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancee, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry. /37/ But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancee, he will do well. /38/ So then, he who marries his fiancee does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better. /39/ A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord. /40/ But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
(2) 1Q or ?2Q: Luke 16:18 = Matt 5:31-32
Luke 16:18
"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.= Matt 5:31-32
/31/ "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' /32/ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
(3) Mark 10:(2-9) 10-12 = Matt 19:(3-8) 9-12
Mark 10:(2-9)10-12
/2/ Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" /3/ He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" /4/ They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." /5/ But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. /6/ But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' /7/ 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, /8/ and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. /9/ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." /10/ Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. /11/ He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; /12/ and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."= Matt 19:(3-8) 9-12
/3/ Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?" /4/ He answered, "Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' /5/ and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? /6/ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." /7/ They said to him, "Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?" /8/ He said to them, "It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. /9/ And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery." /10/ His disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." /11/ But he said to them, "Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. /12/ For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can."
(4) HermMan 4.1:6b,10
"I charge you," said he, "to guard your chastity, and let no thought enter your heart of another man's wife, or of fornication, or of similar iniquities; for by doing this you commit a great sin. But if you always remember your own wife, you will never sin. For if this thought enter your heart, then you will sin; and if, in like manner, you think other wicked thoughts, you commit sin. For this thought is great sin in a servant of God. But if any one commit this wicked deed, he works death for himself. Attend, therefore, and refrain from this thought; for where purity dwells, there iniquity ought not to enter the heart of a righteous man." I said to him, "Sir, permit me to ask you a few questions." "Say on," said he. And I said to him, "Sir, if any one has a wife who trusts in the Lord, and if he detect her in adultery, does the man sin if he continue to live with her?" And he said to me, "As long as he remains ignorant of her sin, the husband commits no transgression in living with her. But if the husband know that his wife has gone astray, and if the woman does not repent, but persists in her fornication, and yet the husband continues to live with her, he also is guilty of her crime, and a sharer in her adultery." And I said to him, "What then, sir, is the husband to do, if his wife continue in her vicious practices?" And he said, "The husband should put her away, and remain by himself. But if he put his wife away and marry another, he also commits adultery." And I said to him, "What if the woman put away should repent, and wish to return to her husband: shall she not be taken back by her husband?" And he said to me, "Assuredly. If the husband do not take her back, he sins, and brings a great sin upon himself; for he ought to take back the sinner who has repented. But not frequently. For there is but one repentance to the servants of God. In case, therefore, that the divorced wife may repent, the husband ought not to marry another, when his wife has been put away. In this matter man and woman are to be treated exactly in the same way. Moreover, adultery is committed not only by those who pollute their flesh, but by those who imitate the heathen in their actions." Wherefore if any one persists in such deeds, and repents not, withdraw from him, and cease to live with him otherwise you are a sharer in his sin. Therefore has the injunction been laid on you, that you should remain by yourselves, both man and woman, for in such persons repentance can take place. But I do not," said he, "give opportunity for the doing of these deeds, but that he who has sinned may sin no more. But with regard to his previous transgressions, there is One who is able to provide a cure; for it is He, indeed, who has power over all."
John Dominic Crossan
Item: 15
Stratum: I (30-60 CE)
Attestation: Multiple
Historicity: +Crossan [Historical Jesus, 301f] considers this complex as part of his discussion of Jesus against the patriarchal family. He notes the androcentric tradition of Jewish divorce laws at the time meant that the core issue was the defence of the man's honor. Drawing on the work of John Kloppenborg ("Alms, Debt and Divorce: Jesus' Ethics in Their Mediterranean Context" Toronto Journal of Theology 6: 1990, 182-200) Crossan highlights the significance of Jesus' teaching against divorce. In Jesus' novel ethic, the male who expels his wife and marries someone else has committed adultery against the rejected spouse; bringing shame on himself. Crossan concludes:
The opposition here is not just to divorce. To forbid divorce one has only to say that divorce is never legal. That is exactly what happens in the much less radical 252 Moses and Divorce [2/1]. The attack is actually against 'androcentric honour whose debilitating effects went far beyond the situation of divorce. It was also the basis for the dehumanisation of women, children, and non-dominant males' (Kloppenborg, 1990:196).
In his discussion of ten key issues where the Dead Sea Scroll are relevant to historical Jesus studies ["Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls" in Doris Donnely (ed.), Jesus. A Colloquium in the Holy Land with James D.G. Dunn, et al. Continuum, 2001. Pp. 27-44], Harrington briefly considers Jesus' teaching "no divorce":
By the criteria of dissimilarity and multiple attestation, the prohibition of divorce belongs to the corpus of Jesus' authentic sayings. It went against Jewish practice and even against the permission of the Scriptures (Deut. 24:1-4), and it appears in Mark (10:2-12), Q (Luke 16:18 and Matt. 5:31-32), and 1 Corinthians (7:10-11). Of course, one must take account of the exceptions introduced by Matthew (see Matt. 5:32 and 19:9) and Paul (see 1 Cor. 7:12-16). One must also ask how Jesus intended this teaching to be taken---whether as an ideal, a legal principle, a protection for women, a temporary measure (in the face of the coming kingdom of God), or whatever else. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that Jesus taught "no divorce."
After a brief reference to the well-known debates between the rabbinic traditions associated with Hillel, Shammai and Aqiba, Harrington (page 38f) cites two Qumran texts on the issue:
Damascus Document 4:20-5:6 declares that "taking a second wife while the first is alive" is fornication. ... The problem here, however, is that the topic at issue seems to be polygamy rather than divorce and remarriage, as the rest of the passage with its concern to explain David's several wives suggests.
The Temple Scroll (11QTemple) contains a long section about the king. With regard to marriage (57:15-19), the ideal king should marry within the royal household of Israel. The text goes on to say: "He shall not take another wife in addition to her, for she alone shall be with him all the time of her life." Again the "no divorce" interpretation is problematic. The first problem is whether the directive applies to anyone beyond the king. And the second problem is whether it refers to polygamy on the king's part or to divorce and remarriage, though here the evidence for "no divorce" is stronger.
Gregory C. Jenks
Jesus SeminarThe forms of the sayings that we have in the Synoptic tradition have clearly been worked over by Mark, Matthew and Luke. In the case of 1 Cor 7, it is not even clear that Paul is citing a historical tradition associated with Jesus rather than an equally authoritative tradition derived from the risen Lord speaking through a prophet in the early Christian communities. The Shepherd of Hermes provides an insight into the sexual politics of the Christian communities in late 1C period.
At the same time, I do think that there was most likely a saying from Jesus, probably couched in direct and uncompromising terms, that rejected the practice of a husband discarding his wide in order to mary someone else. My suggestion is that such a statement would fit well into the historical situation of Jesus around the time of Herod's arrest/murder of John the Baptist. Just as JBap attacked Herod's action in divorcing his Nabatean wife to marry Herodias, it seems highly likely that Jesus would have opposed such shabby treatment of Herod's wife.
I suggest that Luke 16:18a may be very close to the original saying of Jesus:
Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.
For these reasons, had I been attending the Jesus Seminar session that voted on this cluster, I suspect that I would have voted as follows:
1 Cor 7: Black (Paul is citing the risen Lord not the HJ)
Luke 16:18: Pink
Matt 5:31-32: Black (scribal interests dominating this version)
Mark 10:11: Pink
Mark 10:1-9,12 // Matt 19:3-12: Black (again, scribal interests)
HermMan: Black (reflects sexual ethic of later community)I find Crossan and Kloppenborg's interpretation of the ideological basis of Jesus' condemnation of wife-dumping in 1C Palestine to be evocative.
Even if we think Jesus adopted a strong view against divorce, that does not translate into a simple view of how we handle the issue in our kind of society. For instance, should the principle of "the sabbath was made for Adam and Eve, not Adam and Eve for the sabbath" also be applied to Jesus' strictures on divorce? Can we affirm an underlying value while also acknowledging that the needs of people always come before the impartial imposition of an abstract rule?
(As always in any discussion of this particular cluster, I declare my personal interest as a divorced and re-married white male.)
Text
Item
Source
JS Mtg
%Red
%Pink
%Gray
%Black
W Avg
Color 1 Cor 7:10-11
103
P
89Mk
28
17
28
28
0.48
Gray Luke 16:18
103
K
89Mk
28
17
28
28
0.48
Gray Matt 5:32
103
K
89Mk
10
15
20
55
0.27
Gray Matt 5:32; 19:9
103
M
90Cin
0
0
0
100
0.00
Black Mark 10:5b-6
128
K
89Mk
15
20
45
20
0.43
Gray Matt 19:4b, 8b
128
K
89Mk
15
20
45
20
0.43
Gray Mark 10:7-9
128
K
89Mk
5
35
25
35
0.37
Gray Matt 19:5b-6
128
K
89Mk
5
35
25
35
0.37
Gray Mark 10:11b-12
103
K
89Mk
28
17
28
28
0.48
Gray Matt 19:9
103
K
89Mk
0
30
25
45
0.28
Gray HermMan
103
K
89Mk
13
25
19
44
0.35
Gray
Luedemann [Jesus, 67] notes that the form of the tradition in Mark 10 reflects Roman divorce law, not local Jewish practice. He also observes that "the radical repudiation of divroce by Jesus is attested in both the Q tradition (Matt. 5.32/Luke 16.18) and by Paul in 1 Cor. 7.10-11. It follows that according to all the earliest material Jesus emphasizes the indissolubility of marriage." On Matt 19:12, Luedemann [Jesus, 209] suggests that the saying about eunuchs is probably an authentic Jesus tradition growing out of his own practice as a single male.
Meier does not discuss this cluster in the first 2 volumes of his major study.