Implications of adultery for the children

[Christoffer]

Greetings

Matthew 19:9

"I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."

So it seems that the marriage covenant is broken in the case of sexual immorality. The duties of the one towards the other are cancelled.

My question is how this carries over to the children. Take for example an elderly couple with grown kids. The father has an affair, and when the mother get to know her whole world is shattered and she ends up on tranquilizers in a mental hospital.

She would then be in her right to divorce the guy. Assume however that the father knows how to play the game, and manages to get the mother to stay in the marriage using guilt-tripping and innovative forms of rationalization.

Is the covenant in any sense broken with respect to the children, or do they still have to recognize the duties that come with being the children in the family? Can a child disown his/her parent?

CHRIS

 

[Vladimir]

This may be somewhat offtopic, but has the difference between LBCF and WCF on the question of the exception clause in Matthew 5 and 19 been discussed somewhere on the board? This results in different views on divorce issues between brethren on the forum. For example, I do not believe that marriage duties or child-parent duties can be 'canceled'.

 

[Solparvus]

Husband and wife are bound by covenant, while children are bound by nature. However, natural responsibility never permits us to condone sin. If it is enabling the sin of the adulterous parent, it's never to be done.