{"id":382,"date":"2014-09-12T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=382"},"modified":"2014-08-27T20:45:25","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T20:45:25","slug":"matthew-531-32-divorce-symbolism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-531-32-divorce-symbolism.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 5:31-32; Divorce (Symbolism)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jesus\u2019 literal intolerance for the practice of divorce, as displayed in his Sermon on the Mount, takes on new meaning when viewed through a symbolic lens.<\/p>\n<p>Consider:<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the New Testament, Christ is presented figuratively as a bridegroom, and all his followers throughout the ages (the Church) are collectively seen as his bride (John 3:29, 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:25-27, Revelation 19:6-9). Or, as theologian John F. Walvoord describes it, \u201ca bride not yet joined to her Husband.\u201d In this spiritual relationship, Christ is the betrothed husband who has already paid the \u201cdowry\u201d through his death and resurrection (John 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 6:17-20, Hebrews 13:12), and is now preparing a place for his bride (John 14:2)\u2014and preparing his bride for an eternal \u201cmarriage\u201d to him (Ephesians 5:25-27, Revelation 19:6-9).<\/p>\n<p>In this context, Jesus\u2019 stringent teaching on divorce in Matthew 5:31-32 carries wonderful new significance. <em>Jesus Christ, our eternal Bridegroom, hates divorce<\/em>. He is therefore unequivocally, relentlessly committed to love and care for his Church (you and me) through any obstacle, in spite of any sin, and beyond the reaches of time itself.<\/p>\n<p>Amen!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/workscited.html\">Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>[JCL, 250-253]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jesus\u2019 literal intolerance for the practice of divorce, as displayed in his Sermon on the Mount, takes on new meaning when viewed through a symbolic lens. Consider: Throughout the New Testament, Christ is presented figuratively as a bridegroom, and all his followers throughout the ages (the Church) are collectively seen as his bride (John 3:29,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,13],"tags":[154,155,152],"class_list":["post-382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matthew","category-symbolism","tag-bride-of-christ","tag-church","tag-divorce"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matthew 5:31-32; Divorce (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-531-32-divorce-symbolism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 5:31-32; Divorce (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jesus\u2019 literal intolerance for the practice of divorce, as displayed in his Sermon on the Mount, takes on new meaning when viewed through a symbolic lens. 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Consider: Throughout the New Testament, Christ is presented figuratively as a bridegroom, and all his followers throughout the ages (the Church) are collectively seen as his bride (John 3:29,&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-531-32-divorce-symbolism.html","og_site_name":"For Bible Study Nerds","article_published_time":"2014-09-12T12:00:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-08-27T20:45:25+00:00","author":"Mike Nappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-531-32-divorce-symbolism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-531-32-divorce-symbolism.html","name":"Matthew 5:31-32; Divorce (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-12T12:00:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-27T20:45:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-531-32-divorce-symbolism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-531-32-divorce-symbolism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-531-32-divorce-symbolism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matthew 5:31-32; Divorce (Symbolism)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/","name":"For Bible Study Nerds","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Mike Nappa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575","name":"Mike Nappa","description":"Mike Nappa is an entertainment journalist at FamilyFans.com, a bestselling author\u2014and a notorious Bible Study Nerd. He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. 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