Divorce in the first communities Christians An invitation to the ideal and understanding facing failure

Abstract

The first Christian communities developed different ways of facing the same problem: divorce. In fact the novel aspect is the way this topic was treated in biblical writings of the New Testament. Moses´ Law admitted female repudiation whereas, Jesus stated that it was only because of “the coldness of your heart”; since “in the beginning” (in God’s original project) all this was not contemplated. The offer that God makes to man is always aimed at the ideal, an issue that Jesus Christ explains clearly to his disciples. However, in front of that ideal suggested, we can clearly see the reality of life itself, in which human fragility strongly appears to be damaging the marital project. Special attentions to specific problems that first communities had to face in relation to that subject are suggested in Matthew’s and Paul’s statements. This essay analyses everything mentioned above and suggests that without diminishing the proposal of an indissoluble marriage, we should pay more attention to the present, especially in relation to the painful reality of those who have failed in marriage.