Dealing with Divorce

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We have found ourselves in the middle of a divorce epidemic. Studies show us that over 50% of marriages (including Christian marriages), are ending in divorce (67% of all second marriages). With this rising epidemic taking place before our eyes, and dramatically impacting our culture, as well as the church, how is the Body of Christ to interpret the phenomena? The best way to interpret this is obviously through the lenses of Scripture.

What does the Bible say about divorce?

A similar question to this was posed to Jesus when the Pharisees asked him, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” (Matthew 19:3) In other words, “Jesus, what is your interpretation of God’s Word regarding the subject of divorce?”

Jesus’ responded to them by saying, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate” (Matthew 19:5-6).

Though the Pharisees were trying to test Jesus in this passage, Jesus’ response to their question gives us some very clear insight as to how God truly feels about marriage and divorce.

The first thing that I want to point out in Jesus’ response, is His exhortation to husbands to hold fast to their wives, because God has designed the husband to be the protective leader of the marriage. Holding fast would mean to take great care in how you lovingly lead, serve, nurture, and bless your wife. When a husband is doing all that he can to hold fast in this manner, his marriage will be incredibly blessed. Unless of course the wife is not following Jesus, and has a different, and more important agenda going on in her life other than her marriage.

When looking at Matthew 19:6, we read that Jesus gives the Pharisees a very clear answer to their question about divorce. He answers the Pharisees question by saying, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” God has not given any man permission to separate a husband and wife from one another. God has not given the husband permission, the wife permission, their parents or closest friends, a divorce lawyer or a judge. Because God has joined the husband and wife together through a Covenant He created, man is not permitted to terminate the covenant.

Because God is the only one who is lawfully allowed to separate a marriage relationship, He has given us three provisions for doing so.

1. Death (Romans 7:2)

The Bible tells us in Romans 7:2, “For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.”

Here we read that death releases a person from their marriage contract, and frees the living spouse up to marry again.

2.  Sexual immorality - (Matthew 5:32; cf. 19:9)

Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:32, “But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”

In this verse Jesus tells us that divorce is also permitted in cases of sexual immorality. The Greek word here for sexual immorality is porneia, and refers to any sexual intercourse that is contrary to the moral standards of Scripture. This could refer to adultery (Lev. 18:20; Jeremiah 3:9), prostitution (1 Cor. 6:13, 18), fornication (John 8:41), as well as any kind of sexual intercourse outside of marriage, including homosexuality (Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 1 Tim. 1:10; Jude 1:7), incest (1 Cor. 5:1-13), and bestiality (Exo. 22:19; Lev. 18:23; 20:15-16). It is safe to say that in our culture, inappropriate magazine’s, websites, and cable channels would also fit into this category (cf. Eph. 5:11).

3.  Abandonment by an unbelieving spouse (1 Cor. 7:15)

The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 7:15, “But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases.”

Death, sexual immorality, and abandonment of an unbelieving spouse, are the three permissive areas that God has given to us to end a marriage covenant between us, and Him.

This of course has introduced an interesting dynamic into the Body of Christ, due to the fact that there are many who have been divorced outside of these permissive areas of Scripture, which leaves us with an important question to be answered; can divorced Christians remarry?

To answer this question, please read: What does the Bible say about Remarriage?

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