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| The Revisionist Treatment of Marriage in the Canons of the ACNA |
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by Roberta Bayer, Editor, PBS Mandate
In June the newly formed Anglican Church in North America adopted, at least provisionally, a constitution and canons. Given the controversy surrounding questions of marriage and sexual morality, an examination of the canons on marriage is in order. Strikingly, these canons make provision for divorce (described as a "tragedy") and offer guidelines for remarriage. This is of course in formal contradiction to the teaching of the 1662 BCP as well as the canons of the Church of England. Now why this was done I do not know.[1] It goes beyond even the minority tradition of divorce in non-Anglican Protestant Reformers who did permit divorce under very prescribed circumstances, and only after the married persons had submitted to a rigorous disciplinary process and reconciliation.
"Traditional Anglican doctrine teaches the indissolubility of marriage, that union is dissolved only by the death of one of the parties."[2] By contrast, the ACNA canons state that "Scripture acknowledges our fallen nature and allows the possibility of a subsequent marriage in certain circumstances (Matthew 19 and 1Corinthians 7)."
But the teaching of these Scriptural passages does not in fact allow them to draw such a conclusion. In finding justification for this revision they have relied on a statement about divorce in the case of unchastity, which appears in only one of the synoptic gospels. (Compare Mark 10.2-9, Luke 16.18). And they have ignored the dominant theme at Matthew 19.6 "So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder."
When the Pharisee asks Jesus whether or not it is lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause, Jesus does not give a weak or ambiguous answer, although following the Mosaic Law, he might have offered nuanced approval on the ground that the rabbis differed in their opinions.
Nor does the teaching at 1 Corinthians 7 on the sanctity of marriage entirely serve the purpose of the ACNA, as on a plain reading of the passage this passage emphasizes celibacy as the best life, and rules out re-marriage after separation from a spouse.
So the ACNA canons are departing from the traditional teaching on marriage in western Christendom, which allowed only for annulment, and not divorce, on the ground that the marriage was never consummated, or that those covenanting were coerced into taking the vows against their will.
