Wayne Grudem, What the Bible Says About Divorce and Remarriage (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2021), 110 pp.
The Bible describes marriage as a God-initiated union established before witnesses, a union that is indissoluble. Indeed, God’s plan is for a man and a woman to enter a marriage covenant that lasts a lifetime. Jesus told the inquisitive Pharisees, “Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Mark 19:6b). The only event that may break the covenant is death (Rom. 7:2) at which point the living spouse is free to remarry.
Wayne Grudem’s book, What the Bible Says About Divorce and Remarriage attempts to navigate a biblical path for people in search of answers. As stated above, Dr. Grudem holds to a marital union that is lifelong and monogamous. Since we live in a world which is polluted by sin, the standard that God expects is often jettisoned and disobeyed.
While the author has a high view of marriage, he does maintain that in some cases, remarriage may be permissible – even when the previous spouse is still living. He sets forth his case in a clear and gracious way and notes his objections to authors such as J. Carl Laney.
The great strength of this work is its brevity and readability. Even though I deeply respect Dr. Grudem and have been impacted by his life and writing ministry in a multitude of ways, my convictions are closer to those outlined by Carl Laney in his seminal work, The Divorce Myth.
I encourage readers to wrestle with Grudem’s position and contrast it with competing others such as Laney, Heth, and Jim Ellif.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
Veritas et Lux 