The death of gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu raised the issue of nonacceptance of divorce except for adultery.
This age-long Christian doctrine has been thoroughly abused by many and is the reason some women like Osinachi have died untimely deaths.
Osinachi’s case has prompted many to challenge the position of the church on marriage and divorce.
Since this is a doctrinal matter, we have to look at it in its proper biblical context. We cannot take a scripture out of context and deal with issues in isolation.
The new testament teaching on divorce cannot apply wholesale to the old testament times. This is because old testament teachings were directed mainly at the Jews who were, at that time, under Judaism.
A lot of the old testament teachings are not meant for the new testament Christian believers. This has to be clearly understood because that’s where the confusion is.
There were no churches in the days of Jesus, so he preached in Synagogues to the Jews. The church age began after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
If we’re to apply the teachings of marriage to our circumstances as Christians today, we should be looking at the New Testament, not the old.
Nevertheless, the New Testament unfolds the old. Jesus came to fulfill the old testament laws because men couldn’t fulfill them. Then, he reduced the ten commandments and dozens of the other laws in the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy to two: love God with all your heart, and love thy neighbour as thyself.
Therefore, every ordinance in the Christian life must be based on the law of love. It clearly supersedes all other laws or traditions of men.
Talking about divorce, adultery alone cannot be the only reason for acceptable divorce for a Christian.
Some of the grounds for divorce are- if an unbelieving partner departs, their partner could remarry. If a husband refuses to take care of his family, he is worse than an infidel, so being an infidel, he is not qualified to keep a Christian wife.
A man who treats his wife the way Peter Nwachukwu treated Osinachi is not, in any way, qualified as a true Christian who obeys the law of Christ.
Moreover, Nwachukwu lived off his wife and failed to provide for his family. He is an infidel who does not deserve to be the husband of a faithful Christian wife like Osinachi.
The lady didn’t understand the implications of her husband’s cruel behaviour and his blatant violation of the laws of Christ.
Even, under secular laws, Osinachi could have sought separation or outright divorce from Nwachukwu on grounds of his violent behaviour which ultimately claimed her life.
Since we do not worship God in the grave, how could this great woman worship her God now?
We cannot exhaust this topic, but if you are a Christian, I urge you to carefully read the Bible verses below and see this divorce matter in its true context.
Bible references-Deut 24:1-4,Mtt 19:4-9, 1 Cor 7, Mal 2:14-16.
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