Some of you are aware that Fellowship of the Martyrs (FOTM) is under attack on Youtube for their teachings on marriage. In fairness, I am not completely up to date on what their teaching is, but apparently they dispute the validity of marriages that are made outside of the will of God. Apparently, if a couple marries and they aren’t following God, or they aren’t believers, they believe God doesn’t honor that marriage and it is completely ok to walk away from the marriage. If I have I am misunderstanding their teaching I trust that someone will correct me on this, but the truth of the matter is it doesn’t matter if I am misunderstanding them or not in the context of what I am about to write. 

I have been heavily criticized for the way I read the Bible, and how I take in the scriptures, however, I have always been led (by the Holy Spirit, I believe) to read the scriptures in a tier of authority. 

I read the Bible in this manner…

Jesus comes first – what He said goes, and if it contradicts anything that the Apostles or the Old Testament (OT) professes in any way, then Jesus trumps those things, and I follow Him. This scripture has always seemed to drive this point home to me:

John 21
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 
21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 

No matter what, I must follow Jesus. Period.

I consider the writings of the Apostles to be next in the line of authority. If anything they wrote opposes anything in the OT, and it doesn’t contradict Christ, then it stands.

Finally, there is the OT, which is full of lessons, but I cannot accept it as equal to Christ because Christ gave different (whether we call His commands new, enhancements, clarifications, expansions, or whatever other term people have dreamed up) commands that directly opposed the OT. The following scripture demonstrates this.

Matthew 5
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 
40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 
41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 
42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 

To me, I believe that Jesus brought us a better covenant, and because it is better, it is different than the former covenant.

Luke 22
19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 

Thus, in the case of what FOTM is suffering, they would never be faced with this if they had not looked for ways around marriage in the OT. If they were to simply accept what Jesus taught concerning marriage and divorce, there would be nothing against them in this regard. Jesus said no divorce except for adultery, period. There were no provisions for marriages outside the ‘will of God’ or ‘covenant of God’. Besides, Paul addresses marriage to an unbeliever in 1 Corinthians 7!

We must follow Him, above the Law of Moses, above the writings of the prophets, above even the Apostles, it is Jesus first. People can rationalize around this all day long. They can declare that Jesus is God and thus His words are also the words of the OT, but they cannot reconcile why Jesus directly opposed things from the OT. They can declare that God never changes, and I believe this, but we have to trust that Jesus knows more about what is going on than we do, or than the Jews did…

Mark 10:5
5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied.
6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’
7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 
8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. 
9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” 

Luke 24:44
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

John 1:17
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 15:25
But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

Don’t get me wrong, the OT is a needed component of the Bible, but I do not accept it as equal to the teachings of Christ and the Apostles. Perhaps I lack an in depth knowledge of the OT. Perhaps I am wrong here, but I don’t think so. I think one of the biggest problems with Christianity is that we try to reconcile the Old Testament to the teachings of Christ when we should recognize a clear difference between the two.

2 Timothy 2
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

So many times we hear, keep our eyes on Christ, and thats exactly what I try to do… above all else.