Can I be a Christian and a Divorce Lawyer?
— Thursday, October 25th, 2012 —
Dear Dr. Moore,
I’ve heard you say before that a pastor’s calling is to shape the consciences of God’s people toward conformity to Christ through the faithful preaching of the Word, and that this informs their callings in the everyday world. I agree. But here’s my problem.
I have a church member, a devoted Christian, who is an attorney specializing in divorce cases. Our church believes that divorce is (in almost every case) sin. If so, isn’t he empowering sin? Should I counsel him to follow Christ by walking away from this job and to do something else? If he won’t, should we discipline him?
Yours,
Divorce Lawyer’s Pastor
Dear Pastor,
Zacchaeus was a wee little man, you know. If you have a song bubbling up in your head right now, you probably grew up in an evangelical Sunday School somewhere. Even if not, you know the story, and I think it’s applicable here.
There is not much commendable about Zacchaeus’ occupation. He was a shill for the Roman occupation, in a role that was virtually always corrupt, defrauding oppressed people of money with the implicit threat of Caesar’s sword hanging over their heads.
When he came to know Christ, the Bible does not tell us that Jesus required that he abandon his occupation. Rather, the Spirit radically altered the nature of that occupation. He walked away from fraud and abuse, and made restitution to those he had sinned against (Lk. 19:1-11).
There are some jobs, of course, that no Christian can hold. One cannot be a Christian temple prostitute in Corinth or a Christian porn star in Los Angeles. Jesus died for temple prostitutes and porn stars, and invites them into his life, but following him will mean walking away from jobs that are inherently sinful.
That’s not necessarily the case here.
In a fallen world, do we need divorce lawyers? I would argue, yes. Our divorce laws, as they currently stand, are often unjust, but think of the lack of justice if we had no divorce laws at all. Men would still leave their wives (and vice-versa), take up with other people, and leave wreckage behind. Just divorce laws seek to minimize harm to the innocent.
Divorce proceedings then decide child custody and financial arrangements. A divorce lawyer working to see that an innocent woman is not left destitute by her abandoning husband is working for justice. A divorce lawyer who is working to prevent a sexually abusive spouse from gaining custody of a child can be working for justice.
I would look at precisely what kind of divorce lawyer this Christian is. If he is an “ABC easy divorce for $125″ advertisement sort of lawyer, who is seeking to entice people into divorcing for his financial gain, then, yes, that’s unjust and outside of what it means to follow Christ. But I wouldn’t assume that’s the case.
It could be that this attorney has been given a ministry to wrecked families. In some cases, he can use his influence to try to keep families together, and to work toward some sort of mediation that could lead to reconciliation. In others, he could be a voice that seeks to shield innocent parties from being financially destroyed by predatory spouses and parents. And, after making sure that everything is done in accordance with the law and the principles of justice, he could try to help people see the hope of a new life on the other side.
God hates divorce. Divorce is always the result of someone’s sin and rebellion. But often, as the Scripture itself tells us, there are those who experience divorce as victims, not as perpetrators. These people have a divorce foisted upon them, and they need protection. That’s love of neighbor.
This takes a strong Christian, with a sensitive conscience. If he starts to see divorce as a commodity through which he can make money, he should walk away. If he uses the law to deprive justice for the weak and vulnerable, he should repent. But if he can see himself as standing for justice in a fallen world, and lives accordingly, there is no reason for him to abandon his sphere of influence to the conscienceless.
And, of course, he is waiting, like Zacchaeus and all of us, for a new creation in which our vocations really take off. There will be no divorce law practices in the New Jerusalem, but, then again, there won’t be any need for ethics Q&A columns either.
Remember to send me your real-life ethical dilemma at questions@russellmoore.com.
15 Responses to “Can I be a Christian and a Divorce Lawyer?”
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- Can I be a Christian and a Divorce Lawyer?
Dr. Moore:
As a young practicing attorney, I can’t thank you enough for this post. The principles you’ve presented here transcend well beyond divorce law and touch upon the very nature of legal representation. At the start of this work day, I am very thankful and encouraged to have read this. Kudos.
Dr. Moore,
What about I Cor. 6 and Pauls’ instruction about lawsuits among believers: what happens in a situation where both divorcing man and women profess to be Christians?
Thanks
Dr. Moore,
Thank you for such a conscientious response. As a former SBTS student who was employed by a family law attorney (and even the Jefferson Family Court system) while attending seminary, I could not agree more. Divorce is a messy business…division of assets, parenting agreements/schedules, and raging emotions. Who better to engage this mess than believers? Attorneys who engage their clients with the gospel will be able to show their clients a sure foundation (Christ) when everything else around them is crumbling. This is worthy work!
As a former attorney who is now a pastor, I too appreciated this post. I worked quite a few divorce cases when I was practicing law. I can tell you that they were all different and each case had its own personality. I struggled quite a bit taking part in the divorce, whether I was representing the petitioner or the respondent. However, one day I realized that regardless of side I was on, it was important to be there. In many instances the way the case was handled could often be the last chance for peace to be made between the parties- either through reconciliation of the marriage, or through encouraging a civilized, mature parting that would not excessively traumatize the children. I think it is important that Christian lawyers not feel they must refrain from taking an active part in divorce proceedings. If every attorney does their dead level best in the proceeding, even though it is adversarial, and even though they may be on a side they don’t particularly like, then that attorney can rest assured that earthly justice will be done and that all parties, and all citizens of the state, especially those most vulnerable, are protected. Great article, Dr. Moore!
Interesting take Dr. Moore
Now here is a question for you. Can one be a Christian, Divorced AND a missionary? If not then What place does anyone have in God’s kingdom if in such a situation?
This is not rhetoric. There are some of us who wrestle with such issues and need to make some serious decisions.
Good points I agree. However, taxes are not inherently a bad thing, whereas divorce is, so even though an individual case can be less bad or more bad there are limits to the analogy given. I do agree that circumstances, and which side is being represented, make a difference. I’d question if an attorney representing the side that is suing for divorce in a case where the other spousing is not consenting is working for justice. I don’t know how picky divorce lawyers are/can be about the clients they represent.
What if the sin under discussion was not divorce, but abortion? Most biblically faithful Christians would hold that in some circumstances, abortion is not sinful - in the fantastically rare cases where the life of the mother actually at stake. Accepting that, every point advanced in this article for divorce - always someone’s sin - would also hold for a hypothetical abortionist called by the Lord to this profession, were he biblically faithful to remain appropriately selective in his case load. Yet it remains unthinkable, nevertheless, because the gravity of the sin of murder would mean that every case would be so thoroughly, utterly vetted that the process would never allow large numbers to be undertaken. The gravity of the sin in the eyes of the Body of Christ drives the acceptance of the grey areas around decisions on individual cases. Would that the Lord grant we see the sin of divorce in that same light.
Dr Moore has held a biblical line on the evil that is divorce in the past, but has dropped the ball here. The driver for this, as in many issues of compromise for the Body of Christ, is the sheer number of cases rolling through. If the Church held the Word as binding, counselled that truth of marriage and defended it to the last stair, as we do the sanctity of life, there would be a peculiar culture among us to serve as a witness, to hold out the Word to the world. At present our theology of marriage is irrelevant because we are indistinguishable from the world in practice, at least when the masks are removed.
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