Thanks for your response. You wrote:
Ah, true repentance! You provoked a thought that might be of some practical use. I think back in my life a great many years ago and am deeply pained over some of the things I did and people I hurt. Especially my own parents. Knowing what I know now, if I could go back, I am sure I would do differently. No doubt in my mind. As I see it, this is an important aspect of true repentance. In the case of any person who has been divorced and remarried, it seems to me the elders should do the following:Joe does not see the man as truly changed. He does not trust him to be true to his wife and not throw her away as he did with his previous wives. When Joe is able to see that the man has truly repented and changed, he needs to forgive him.
1. Determine whether the man has legitimate cause for divorce in the case of his ex-wife (or wives).
2. In cases where he didn't, ask the person if he could go back, can he honestly say that he would do all in his power to save the marriage, i.e. is he truly sorry for the unjust divorce.
This is not my view at all. I am interested in two things:Some people who hold the view that a person "must pay" for his sins would not find the person acceptable as an elder even after 10 years. Do you think you and/or elder Joe would?
1. Paul's argument from the lessor to the greater, i.e. if the man has repeatedly failed in the relationships within the family, how can he expect to succeed in the much more difficult relationship in the congregation.
2. Knowing what "husband of one wife" means and complying with it. I am very doubtful it refers to polygamy which, from what I have read, was forbidden among the Jews of that time and also rare in the Roman world.
One of the elders who happens to be a good friend of the man says he does not think the man was really a Christian for most of the time he has been in the church, but says the man has changed.Upon what basis have the "other elders" judged that the man's present condition before the Lord is right?
Blessings, Homer