Remarriage in Early Christianity
A. Andrew Das
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
4035 Park East Court SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546
© 2024 A. Andrew Das
All rights reserved
Published 2024
ISBN 978-0-8028-8374-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.
μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα
for Susan, my beloved wife
ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή
χάριτι θεοῦ
1. The Widespread Acceptance of Remarriage in Antiquity
2. Jesus “behind” the Gospels, or Jesus Remembered
3. The Meaning of Words in the Matthean Exceptions
4. The Matthean Divorce-Remarriage Texts in Context
5. “Not Bound” and “Free” in the Apostle Paul?
6. The Witness of the Early Church
Index of Other Ancient Sources
Several conversations over the years led to this project, and some of the conversation partners engaged with the manuscript at various points, including the Revs. Neal R. Blanke, Dean H. Duncan, Randy Emmons, Nathan Cordes, Edward L. Bryant, David Lau, and Mark Drevlow. For technical assistance with the research, I am grateful to the Rev. Jason Foreman. Each of them will likely attest that the topic is not merely academic but intensely personal and of great ecclesiastical relevance. I am also thankful for the careful editorial work of Dr. Blake A. Jurgens.
Nonbiblical Ancient Sources
Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
1 En. | 1 Enoch |
Jub. | Jubilees |
2 Macc. | 2 Maccabees |
Ps.-Phoc. | Pseudo-Phocylides |
Pss. Sol. | Psalms of Solomon |
Sus. | Susanna |
T. Benj. | Testament of Benjamin |
T. Isaac | Testament of Isaac |
T. Iss. | Testament of Issachar |
T. Jos. | Testament of Joseph |
T. Jud. | Testament of Judah |
T. Levi | Testament of Levi |
T. Naph. | Testament of Naphtali |
T. Reu. | Testament of Reuben |
T. Sim. | Testament of Simeon |
T. Zeb. | Testament of Zebulun |
Tob. | Tobit |
Dead Sea Scrolls
CD | Damascus Document |
1QapGen | Genesis Apocryphon |
Minor Prophetsa | |
4QDa | 4QDamascus Documenta |
4QDe | 4QDamascus Documente |
4QDf | 4QDamascus Documentf |
11QTa | Temple Scrolla |
Rabbinic Sources
ʿArak. | ʿArakin |
b. | Babylonian Talmud |
Ber. | Berakot |
B. Meṣ. | Baba Meṣiʿa |
Giṭ. | Giṭṭin |
Ketub. | Ketubbot |
m. | Mishnah |
Ned. | Nedarim |
Num. Rab. | Numbers Rabbah |
Qidd. | Qiddušin |
Sanh. | Sanhedrin |
Šeb. | Šebiʿit |
t. | Tosefta |
Yebam. | Yebamot |
Greco-Roman Sources
Ab urbe cond. | Livy, Ab urbe condita libri |
Adelph. | Philemon, Adelphoi |
Adol. poet. aud. | Plutarch, Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat |
Aen. | Vergil, Aeneid |
Ag. Ap. | Josephus, Against Apion |
Am. prol. | Plutarch, De amore prolis |
Andr. | Euripides, Andromache |
Ann. | Tacitus, Annals |
Ant. | Josephus, Antiquities |
Anth. Gr. | Aeschines, Anthologia Graeca |
Ant. rom. | Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates romanae |
Aug.... |
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About Remarriage in Early ChristianityWhat did early Christians actually believe about remarriage after divorce? The New Testament sends mixed messages about divorce. Jesus forbids it in Mark’s and Luke’s Gospels, but he seems to make an exception for victims of infidelity in Matthew’s Gospel. Paul permits divorce in 1 Corinthians when an unbeliever initiates it. Yet other Pauline passages imply that remarriage after divorce constitutes adultery. A. Andrew Das confronts this dissonance in Remarriage in Early Christianity. Challenging scholarly consensus, Das argues that early Christians did not approve of remarriage after divorce. His argument—covering contemporary Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts, the Gospels, Paul’s epistles, and ante-Nicene interpretation—reveals greater consistency in early Christianity than is often assumed. Das pays special attention to the Greek words used in contemporary bills of divorce and in the New Testament, offering much-needed clarity on hotly contested concepts like porneia. At once sensitive and objective, Das finds an exegetically sound answer to the question of remarriage among early Christians. This bold study will challenge scholars and enlighten any Christian concerned with what Scripture has to say on this perennially relevant topic. |
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