Scriptural and Early Christian Perspectives on Divorce and Remarriage

Footnotes:

[*] The Ante-Nicene Fathers, following the usage of the King James Version, translates porneia as “fornication.” As we discussed earlier, porneia was a broad word that referred to any sexual immorality. For clarity, I’ve left porneia untranslated in these quotes.

[†] Tertullian was known for his strictness on most subjects, so it’s notable that even he understood Christ’s words as allowing an exception for divorce on the grounds of porneia.

[‡] An illustration of how this works is in the differing accounts of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry as recorded in Matthew 21:4–7 and Mark 11:4–7. Matthew records a donkey and a foal, while Mark mentions only the foal. The common-sense interpretation of that difference is that there were two animals, and that Mark mentioned only the one that played a key part in the story. No serious student would attempt to “correct” Matthew’s more-detailed account with Mark’s less-detailed one.

[1] “Apology,” in Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (eds.), The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 4th ed., Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Mass., 2004, Vol. 3, p. 22–23.

[2] “A Plea for the Christians,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, pp. 146–147.

[3] “Tertullian Against Marcion,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3, p. 404.

[4] “Origen’s Commentary on Matthew,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 9, p. 511.

[5] “Constitutions of the Holy Apostles,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7, p. 503.

[6] “To His Wife,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4, p. 45.

[7] “Tertullian Against Marcion,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3, p. 405.

[8] “Origen’s Commentary on Matthew,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 9, p. 511.

[9] “Treatises Attributed to Cyprian,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5, p. 589.

[10] “The Divine Institutes,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7, p. 190, translated from the Latin.

[11] “Ireneaus Against Heresies,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 445.

[12] “The Shepherd,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, p. 21.

[13] “Tertullian Against Marcion,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3, p. 405.

[14] “Constitutions of the Holy Apostles,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7, p. 456.