AboutBrad Varvil Expertise I am happy to field questions regarding Lutheran theology and practice, and it's context
within the western catholic tradition. General questions on the Christian faith are also
welcome.
Experience I have served in lay ministry for over ten years, and am currently a pastor in a small, confessional Lutheran communion in the Evangelical Catholic tradition. I have worked with several Lutheran and non-Lutheran communions over the years, and have a particular fondness for catholic ecumenism.
Education/Credentials I have a BA in Religion and Philosophy from a small midwestern Lutheran college, and am completing an M.Div. at a small, independent, Lutheran seminary in the Pacific Northwest.
Question My wife started going to a Lutheran church four months ago. She has fallen in love with her pastor I asked her about her feeling to the pastor, and she admitted she was in love with him. Two weeks after the conversation, she has filed for divorce. I believe the feeling are mutually from the Pastor. He is married with a seven year daughter. (We have two boys 6 and 4). My question is, can a Lutheran pastor divorce and remarry.
Answer Dear Bobby,
My prayers go out to you-- this is a scandal of epic proportions. There will be great brokeness and pain that will come of this... but that is how sin works... it destroys and tears down. My heart breaks not only for you, but for all who will suffer under the torment of this evil.
In short answer, a Lutheran pastor who chooses to abandon his wife and family for the wife of another man is a public scandal to the Body of Christ, and should be deposed, defrocked, and excommunicated. How this might come to be, however, is a matter of the particular Lutheran church body he is affiliated with. However, among all the Lutheran church bodies I've worked with, I can think of none that would countenance this kind of behavior. It is a clear violation of Biblical standards for the pastorate (cf. 1st Timothy) as well as his ordination vows. While your wife shares in the guilt of this sin, the penalty (both now, and in eternity) for this pastor would make any person blanche... if he fails to repent of this heinous apostasy, of one who was ordained to shepherd and protect the children of God who instead became a predator of them, there are terrors reserved for him that none of us could bear the thought of. There is a judgment reserved for apostate pastors that outstrips any other... and this fellow is headed toward it at breakneck speed (cf. book of Jude.)
Though I cannot begin to grasp the pain you must be in, I would counsel that you seek the pastoral support of a real pastor, and pray with all your being. The greatest temptation for you, amidst all this pain and betrayal, will be a heart heardened by unbelief and unforgiveness-- do not give the devil this prize, too. He has claimed enough... don't give him yourself to boot. And when you have prayed, find out who this pastor reports to (bishop, synod, council... the president or elders of his church... if you let me know what church body he works in and what region, I can direct you to their leadership...) and make sure they know what he is doing. He needs to be removed from any ecclesiastical leadership, so that he cannot continue to prey upon the souls Christ died to save.
My prayers remain with you-- may the peace and grace of God overwhelm you.
Rev. Brad
