Covenant Reformed News – September 2006 • Volume XI, Issue 5
This article defends a strict biblical doctrine of marriage and divorce, arguing against the permissiveness that has infiltrated many Protestant churches. The author critiques how even the Reformers (Luther and Calvin) compromised on marriage doctrine and warns that modern churches are increasingly abandoning biblical standards by accepting multiple grounds for divorce and allowing divorced and remarried persons into church leadership and sacramental participation.
Desertion (3) It is instructive to note that those who allow for the remarriage of the deserted believer and of the “innocent party” have found it difficult to “hold the line.” Luther even permitted the bigamy of Philip of Hesse, creating a huge scandal throughout Christendom. An Italian Protestant deserted his Roman Catholic wife and children and moved to Geneva. He, a “believer,” left her, an unbeliever, and yet Calvin allowed him to remarry while his wife was living. The Reformers did not...