Position

Marriage is an institution created by God. It is a covenant relationship established by mutual vows between a man and a woman united by God. Permanent unity in marriage is possible in Christ and is demanded of Christ's disciples who are married. Marriages should not be dissolved; divorce is contrary to God's will. However, by persistent and unrepented sin, people can put asunder what God has joined together. Scripture acknowledges that certain actions and attitudes that occur in a sinful world and conflict with God's will can destroy a marriage relationship.

Since failure to keep the marriage covenant is sin, the church must exercise a ministry of reconciliation and call marriage partners to confession, forgiveness, reconciliation, and renewed obedience. The church must minister with special concern to those involved in the traumatic experience of divorce, speaking with clarity where sinful conduct is overt and apparent and exercising formal discipline only when there is disdain for biblical teaching and when repentance is beyond hope. The church must be a place of acceptance and support for those who have been divorced and for their children.

The church should neither issue a clear prohibition against remarriage nor attempt to list with legal precision the circumstances under which remarriage does not conflict with biblical teaching. The church must apply biblical principles to concrete situations in the light of its best understanding of what happened in a particular divorce and what is being planned for a particular remarriage.

History

Marital matters were dealt with by the CRC numerous times in its history. Some of the struggles were over whether the Bible provides any grounds for divorce, whether remarried people are committing adultery, how to treat the membership of divorced and remarried persons, and what counsel to give persons experiencing marital problems, divorce, and remarriage. The long-standing position of the CRC from 1908 on was that people who remarry after an unbiblical divorce are living in continual adultery. That position was elaborated on in 1947 but was not changed until 1956. That year synod stated that there was no scriptural evidence to support the thesis regarding continual adultery. In 1968 synod decided that such matters are primarily the responsibility of the church consistory and that they should involve the classis only on appeal, instead of in every instance, as was previously the case.

Recent decisions on marital matters grew out of the 1971 appointment of a synodical study committee to draw up new counseling guidelines for pastors and consistories in regard to marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Synod 1973 did not accept that committee's report but commissioned a new committee, whose report was referred to the churches by Synod 1975. Synod 1977 could not agree on this report largely because of conflicting opinions on whether or not there are biblical grounds for divorce.

Another study committee was assigned to reexamine and set forth the biblical teachings on divorce and remarriage and to formulate pastoral guidelines with respect to divorce and remarriage. This third study committee reported to Synod 1980, which accepted the report's biblical teaching on marriage, divorce, and remarriage and adopted the report's Guidelines for the Ministry of the Church. This report is summarized in the church's position stated above. Later overtures and appeals regarding the guidelines, including one as recent as 1994, have not been sustained by synod.

References

Acts of Synod 1908, pp. 31, 39, 42
Acts of Synod 1947, pp. 17, 47, 65-69, 77-80, 238-45
Acts of Synod 1952, pp. 20-23, 123-52
Acts of Synod 1956, pp. 15-17, 55-59, 117-19, 285-327, 379-80
Acts of Synod 1957, pp. 87-90, 93-95, 105-07, 335-47
Acts of Synod 1968, pp. 60-61, 577-78
Acts of Synod 1971, pp. 112, 148, 632-40
Acts of Synod 1973, pp. 58-59, 108, 595-607, 744-45
Acts of Synod 1975, pp. 104, 488-514
Acts of Synod 1976, pp. 38-39, 85, 104, 458-96
Acts of Synod 1977, pp. 134-37, 149, 510-48, 681-82, 691-94, 697-99
Acts of Synod 1979, pp. 45, 137, 467
Acts of Synod 1980, pp. 40-41, 467-85, 592
Acts of Synod 1981, pp. 62, 614-17
Acts of Synod 1983, pp. 671-72
Agenda for Synod 1994, p. 239
Acts of Synod 1994, p. 485