Ezra: The Lord HelpsSample

Someone once told me that ‘revival’ is spelled ‘re-Bible’. We see revival among God’s people by coming back to the Bible. 

We’ve seen that in Ezra, but verse 3 raises a number of difficult questions for Christians. Does biblical faithfulness mean that anyone married to an unbeliever should divorce them and send their children away? Most (if not all) Christians instinctively know that’s not right, but then we’re left with a conundrum: won’t we be charged with hypocrisy if we seemingly choose the parts of the Bible that suit us? We’re also concerned that any explanation might suggest an inconsistency within the Bible itself. 

We must therefore understand why the New Testament instructs those already married to unbelievers to remain with them (1 Cor. 7:12–13; 1 Pet. 3:1–6), when the people in Ezra 10 follow the opposite practice. Dale Ralph Davis writes, ‘Is not Ezra chapters 9 and 10 a unique situation, a unique emergency? Remember what was at stake …: the survival of a definable people of God in this world.’ (Dale Ralph Davis, New Opportunity Under Grey Skies, pp. 42).

A colleague of mine explained this further. The basis for us being the ‘definable people of God in this world’ has changed. In Ezra’s time, it was the Law (marked by circumcision); for us, it is faith in Christ. The believer in Christ is made holy by Christ, and cannot be made unholy merely by having an unbelieving spouse. Christians married to unbelievers are therefore encouraged to stay with and ‘win over’ their unbelieving spouses, rather than divorce them. 

So the New Testament mandate is clear. Christians should not marry unbelievers, as doing so will make it harder to live for Christ in this sinful world. But once married to an unbeliever (either through becoming Christians after marriage or through ignoring the wisdom of this teaching), Christians are to remain married to their unbelieving spouse and witness to them through a holy, distinctive life. Our lives must be positively different from the world around us as the Lord God reigns in our lives. 

What always matters is being faithful to the Bible’s teaching – hard as it is. A determination to look to the Bible as our guide and rule in everything is the way we’ll experience a reformation in the church.

Reflection

Pray that those married to unbelievers would live holy and distinctive lives in their marriages. Consider where you are failing to live out the most challenging commands in the Bible. Ask the Lord to give you the courage to obey His Word no matter how hard it is to do so.