Divorce in the Mennonite Encyclopedia

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Divorce
Mennonite Encyclopedia

    In a tract entitled Concerning Divorce written by one of the first Swiss Brethren in 1527, possibly by Michael Sattler, appears the earliest known Anabaptist treatment of the subject of divorce. The main points in this tract stress: (1) the permanence of the marriage bond; (2) the supremacy of one’s obligation to Christ over obligation to the marriage partner; (3) the only ground for divorce is adultery; (4) to marry one guilty of fornication is itself fornication; (5) the innocent part to a divorce is not forbidden to remarry, and is by implication permitted to do so. Except for the fifth point, regarding which there has been some ambiguity and occasional divergence within the brotherhood, this tract can be thought of a as summarizing quite well the position of the Mennonite church regarding divorce throughout her entire history.
    Menno Simons also clarifies the Anabaptist position on divorce referring directly to the words of Christ and of the Apostle Paul. He reiterates the theme of adultery being the only acceptable ground for divorce. "And also, that the bond of undefiled, honorable matrimony is so unchangeably bound in the kingdom and government of Christ that neither a man nor a woman can forsake one the other, and take another, understand rightly what Christ says, except it be for fornication, Matt. 19:9. And Paul also holds the same doctrine, that they shall be bound to each other, and that they are to live in union; that the man has not power over his own body, nor the woman over hers, I Cor. 7:4" (Works, 247).
    The Wismar Resolutions of 1554 (q.v.), (as quoted in ML 1, 530) say: "Adultery on the part of one member breaks the marriage relationship. However, the responsible party may return to re-establish the relationship provided he (or she) gives evidence of due repentance and a changed life. In cases of deliberate adultery, the innocent party may be free to remarry after consulting with the congregation."
    The position taken by the Hutterian Brethren was "...that nothing can break the marriage bond except adultery. In cases where a man is married to an unbelieving woman, and she desires to live with him, he may not divorce her (nor vice versa). If the unbelieving husband threatens her faith or hinders the training of the children in the faith, she may divorce her husband, but must not remarry so long as that man is living."
    There has been some discussion in the earlier literature regarding the bearing of the ban and excommunication on divorce. However, the position was invariably that the ban is of itself not sufficient grounds for divorce, but only adultery, as stated by Christ in Matt. 19:9 (see Menno Simons, op. cit., 241-68; Part 11, 123-37).

Divorce from Unbelievers among 16th century Anabaptists presents a special historical case. In the first half of the 16th century at least, members of the church were allowed, and in some cases expected, to break marriages with spouses who refused to accept the Anabaptist faith, but whether this was only separation or a full divorce is not altogether clear from the records. Nor is it clear whether remarriage was allowed in such cases - probably not. The evidence, not fully collected as yet, includes the following items:
    (1) The tract of 1527, Concerning Divorce, cited in the preceding article, Divorce, states clearly that the union of a believer with Christ is more precious than an earthly marriage to an unbeliever; therefore if such conflicts arise, the obligation of the believer is to do the will of God and separate from the unbeliever.
    (2) A Thuringian Anabaptist, Heinz Kraut, on Dec. 6, 1535, testified at a hearing under Melanchthon's chairmanship that when a man is not in agreement with his wife regarding the Word of God "the marriage no longer exists between them" (Wappler, 142). As a result of this hearing Prince John of Saxony issued a mandate against the Anabaptists on April 10, 1536, prepared by Melanchthon, which listed among the prevalent beliefs of the Anabaptists that "an Anabaptist may leave his non-Anabaptist spouse." The full statement of the mandate is as follows: "If in a marriage the one person is orthodox in faith and the other married person is not orthodox, such a marriage is prostitution, and the orthodox person may forsake the other, solely because of his faith, and marry another." Melanchthon included similar charges in [another case]. The case of Melchior Rinck (qv.), who justified his separation from his non-Anabaptist spouse in 1531, is a complicated one (Wappler, 149-52), but no remarriage was considered.
    (3) A more elaborate statement on divorcing non-Anabaptist spouses is found in the fifth of the Five Articles of the Hutterites of 1547 (see Article Book), written probably by Peter Walpot (Ziegischmid Chronik, 308-16, also in Beck, Geschichts_Bucher, 215 note). The Scriptural foundation is, as usual, I Cor. 7. "Nothing can break the marriage bond but adultery. Where, however, a brother has an unbelieving wife, and she agrees to live with him, he may not divorce her (nor vice versa). But where she is endangered in her faith or is hindered by the unbelieving husband in the training of her children in the true faith, she may divorce her husband, but must remain unmarried as long as her husband lives. If the unbelieving one departs, let him depart. 'A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases; says Paul, as if he would say: The union with God weighs a thousand times more than the union of marriage between men." (This sentence is often repeated in Hutterite documents.)... "We greatly dislike it that one part should forsake the other one, and we would advise nobody to do so without great earnestness; we would rather wish that the other (the unbelieving) part commit himself unto the Lord, so that both would follow Him in faith. Since, however, faith is not given to every man, so each part must do what he understands and what is given to him, and leave the other as he is" (see also Friedman, 212 and footnote 3; see also Mixed Marriage).
    The Wismar resolutions of 1554, which were adopted by a conference of Dutch and North German elders including Menno Simons, speak (in Point 5) concerning divorce of an unbeliever from a believer as follows: "If an unbelieving [spouse] desires to divorce on account of the faith [of the partner], the [believing spouse] shall remain honorable without marrying [again]. However, if the apostate partner remarries or enters into immorality, then [the believing spouse] may also remarry, but only with permission of the elder and the congregations. This does not grant permission to a church member to divorce an unbelieving spouse, but recognizes the divorce as valid."
    Dirk Philips (Enchiridion, 358) argues from the Old Testament, i.e., the Law (Lev. 19) and the case of Ezra (Ezra 10:11, 12), who broke mixed marriages that had been contracted between Israelites and the heathen, that a mixed marriage between believers and unbelievers cannot stand, although he does not specifically authorize divorce on this ground. "In view of the fact that such unclean matrimonial alliances and mixed marriages between the children of God and unbelievers could not stand under the imperfect dispensation of the Law, how could it stand before God and His church under the perfect dispensation of the Christian age of the Gospel? Let everyone meditate upon and consider this matter."
    Philips' tract Christian Matrimony forbids marriage with unbelievers under penalty of excommunication, but does not authorize divorce if the one party becomes a believer, while the other one remains in unbelief.
    By the 1570's the Anabaptist position in Germany was fully clear on the matter of not allowing divorce of non-Anabaptist spouses. In the Frankenthal disputation of 1571 the eighth question for discussion was "whether the ban and unbelief break marriage" (Ob der Bann und Unglaub die Ehe scheiden). Rauff, an Anabaptist leader, answered as follows: "We believe that nothing may divorce a marriage except adultery. But if the unbeliever wants to divorce because of the faith, I would let him divorce as Paul says in I Corinthians 7. But we believe that the cause of the divorce should not be found in the Christian" (Protocoll, 550).
    The Confession of the Swiss Brethren in Hesse of 1578 states an identical position in an article entitled 'Concerning Divorce": "We believe and confess, that man and woman who have by the divine foreordination, destiny and joining in marriage become one flesh, may not be divorced by ban, belief or unbelief, anger, quarreling, hardness of heart, but only by adultery" (Sippel, 32).
    The somewhat different position of the Hutterite group remained unchanged, however, and is not affected by the above statements from middle and south Germany.

See also the teachings of Jesus concerning divorce and remarriage.

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