The right to remarry after divorce was the fundamental right that was communicated by the Jewish divorce certificate. It was also seen as an undeniable right in Greco-Roman marriage and divorce law. Technically it was actually illegal for a divorced Roman woman to remain single for more than eighteen months, though this law was rarely enforced.1 It would therefore have been very difficult for Paul to convince his readers that they no longer had the right to remarriage after a valid divorce, and it is inconceivable that he could have expected his readers to conclude, simply by his silence when discussing the issue of widowhood or illustrating the end of the believer’s marriage to the Law, that remarriage of a divorceé was unacceptable.
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Author: David Instone-Brewer
Keywords: Marriage, Divorce, Bill of divorcement, Certificate of divorce, Certificate of divorcement, Bill of divorce, School of Hillel, School of Shammai, Any cause, Every cause, Divorce for any cause, Divorce of every cause, Rabbinic debate, Commits adultery, Continues to commit adultery, Remarriage, Divorcement, Exception clause, Put away, Put assunder, Putteth away, Divorcee, lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus, lex Papia Poaea nuptialis, lex Iulia et Papia, Lex Papia Poppaea, Celibacy, Celibate, Marriage law, Greco-Roman, divorce and remarriage, divorce and marriage
Bible reference(s): Deuteronomy 24:1-3, Malachi 2:16, Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 19:3-9, Mark 10:4, Mark 10:11-12, Luke 16:18, 1 Corinthians 6:5-6, 1 Corinthians 7:15, 1 Corinthians 7:39, 1 Corinthians 7:28
Source: Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002), pp. 211-2.
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