Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #97822 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 366 pages

Customer Reviews

Covenant is not Contract
While addressing some points well, the argument starts off on the wrong foot in the first chapter, where he equates the marriage covenant to a contract. This takes marriage down to a business arrangement, not the covenantal relationship that models Christ's relationship to the church. Do you think Christ only has a business arrangement with the church?

Poor Exegesis
The huge focus on how ancient cultures treat divorce, is completely irrelevant. What matters is what Jesus says. Case in point, Mark 10:11-12, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits [present tense] against her. And if the wife divorces her husband and marries another, she is committing adultery." Emphasis added. This coincides with Romans 7:2-3, "A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if he is dead, she is released from the law of her husband. So then, if she marries another while her husband is still alive, she should be called and adulteress (one who practices adultery). But if her husband be dead [literally no longer living], she is free from the law of her husband and is not an adulteress if she marries another." Emphasis added.

Its a sign of how apostate so called Christians are today, when we cannot accept the simplest, clear, and emphatic teaching of our Lord and Saviour. If you don't take Him at His Word, why do you call yourself a Christian?

An In-depth Book on a Taboo Subject
Over the years, I have heard many arguments about what should be right or wrong regarding divorce and remarriage in the Body. Sadly, many of these teachings are mere opinions with personal experience, thoughts, and ideas attached.

Instone-Brewer does a fabulous job at looking over all the biblical evidence and drawing conclusions from a biblical perspective. Through out this book, Instone-Brewer stays committed to finding an unbiased position; furthermore, this book is not for the casual reader. It is very acedemic and insightful.

Buy this book if you have heard so many teachings on this subject that you don't know what to think anymore. And, if you believe you don't need it, then this book is for you.

A good companion with this is Dr. Rick Walston's book, "Something Happened on the Way to Happily Ever After: A Biblical View of Marriage, Divorce & Remarriage."

Unfortunately, there are more books that distort this topic across the world, then plainly speaking what the bible teaches. Read these two books, and you'll be convinced that these guys have no agenda, nor are they trying to defend any particular denominational stance.