Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 27:2 (Summer 2023)
Article: Asterius Of Amasea "On Divorce"
Author: Michael A. G. Azad Haykin

Asterius Of Amasea On Divorce

Michael A. G. Azad Haykin

Michael A. G. Azad Haykin is Professor and Chair of Church History at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, and Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, located at Southern Seminary. Dr. Haykin is the author of many books, including “At the Pure Fountain of Thy Word”: Andrew Fuller As an Apologist (Paternoster Press, 2004), Jonathan Edwards: The Holy Spirit in Revival (Evangelical Press, 2005), The God Who Draws Near: An Introduction to Biblical Spirituality (Evangelical Press, 2007), Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church (Crossway, 2011), Patrick of Ireland: His Life and Impact (Christian Focus, 2014), Kiffen, Knollys, and Keach: Rediscovering our English Baptist Heritage (H&E, 2019), Reading Andrew Fuller (H&E, 2020), Iron Sharpens Iron: Friendship and the Grace of God (Union Publishing, 2022), and Amidst Us Our Beloved Saints: Recovering Sacrament in the Baptist Tradition (Lexham, 2022).

Asterius of Amasea (fl.380‒400) was a Cappadocian contemporary of Amphilochius of Iconium. Little is known of his ministry apart from the fact that his principal teacher in his early years was a Scythian. From his hand, we have sixteen genuine sermons, of which five have been translated into English. Below is an extract from his Sermon 5, On Divorce. It is a beautiful depiction of marriage. The translation is from Galusha Anderson (1832‒1918) and Edgar Johnson Goodspeed (1871‒1962), Ancient Sermons for Modern Times (New York; Boston; Chicago: The Pilgrim Press, 1904), 136, 138‒153, passim.

For, behold, marriage, the chief affair of human life, is regulated by [God], and the limits of this union and the conditions of its dissolution are exactly determined. … believe me, marriage is terminated only by death or adultery. For it is not as in the case of mistresses, a companionship for a few days only, nor a mere quest for pleasure, but like most other things is subject to rule

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and regulation. But in marriage, O man, both soul and body are united, so that disposition is mingled with disposition, and flesh with flesh. How, then, are you going to sever the bond of marriage without suffering? How can you withdraw from this union easily and without pain, after taking your sister and wife not as a servant of a few days, but as a partner for life, a sister by reason of her formation and creation—for you were both made of the same element of earth and of the same substance—and wife because of the conjugal union, because of the law of marriage? What sort of a bond, then, are you about to break, for you are bound by both law and nature; and how will you set at naught the agreeme...