What do you think?
Rate this book
Divorce and Remarriage, an Exegetical Study : A Report of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, November 1987
Paperback
Published January 1, 1987
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 31, 2025
This report, published by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in 1987, is an exegetical study on the biblical doctrines related to divorce and remarriage.
The report is divided into three larger sections: Old Testament, Jesus’ teaching, and Paul’s teaching. Christ’s teaching was focused primarily on the sections of His sermons on the sixth commandment and His interactions with the Pharisees regarding Deuteronomy 24 (and later with His disciples in private). Genesis 1 and 2 are visited repeatedly. Paul’s teaching focuses on 1 Corinthians 7.
What was studied was thorough enough, but there was an indecisiveness about the report. It concluded too often that some practice was neither prohibited nor condemned. In such cases of supposed ambiguity between a prohibitive or permissive view, the permissive view was usually upheld. Similarly, the section about abandonment gave the source text much more freedom to reign than was given than to texts about other ideas or practices, which were by contrast limited to very narrow scopes. All this I suppose in response to the real challenge and offense of these teachings, then and now. Gentleness and graciousness are good, especially to avoid placing people under hard burdens that no one can bear, as was said, but I think it was taken too far and obscured what could have been a bold and clear teaching. If you must, soften in practical application or exceptional circumstances, but let the hard Words stand.
I’ve heard pretty negative things about the CTCR and its reports from voices in the LCMS, but this was a useful place to start, though far from conclusive.
The report is divided into three larger sections: Old Testament, Jesus’ teaching, and Paul’s teaching. Christ’s teaching was focused primarily on the sections of His sermons on the sixth commandment and His interactions with the Pharisees regarding Deuteronomy 24 (and later with His disciples in private). Genesis 1 and 2 are visited repeatedly. Paul’s teaching focuses on 1 Corinthians 7.
What was studied was thorough enough, but there was an indecisiveness about the report. It concluded too often that some practice was neither prohibited nor condemned. In such cases of supposed ambiguity between a prohibitive or permissive view, the permissive view was usually upheld. Similarly, the section about abandonment gave the source text much more freedom to reign than was given than to texts about other ideas or practices, which were by contrast limited to very narrow scopes. All this I suppose in response to the real challenge and offense of these teachings, then and now. Gentleness and graciousness are good, especially to avoid placing people under hard burdens that no one can bear, as was said, but I think it was taken too far and obscured what could have been a bold and clear teaching. If you must, soften in practical application or exceptional circumstances, but let the hard Words stand.
I’ve heard pretty negative things about the CTCR and its reports from voices in the LCMS, but this was a useful place to start, though far from conclusive.
Displaying 1 of 1 review