"Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 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.”
Matthew 5:31-32
We are nearing the end of our meditations on what Jesus said about marriage and divorce in the Sermon on the Mount and in Matthew 19:3-9.
6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." 7 They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" 8 He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."
Today’s question: If divorced persons remarry, are they entering a life of adultery? Answer: Not necessarily. There are differences of opinions. The danger when there are a variety of positions on a controversial question is to choose the one we like best. Our responsibility is to prayerfully look at all that God’s Word says on the matter and ask for biblical wisdom.
One thing is for sure: In some cases the remarriage is adultery. Otherwise, why would Jesus have said so on two separate occasions?
As for the occasions when the remarriage is not adultery, some say a first marriage that ends due to anything but a death cannot be followed by any second marriage. I believe the Bible teaches otherwise. As much as a divorce for biblical grounds is lamentable, it appears to me that Jesus (and Paul in 1 Corinthians 7), makes allowance for remarriage as long as the divorce was for biblical grounds.
Others make additional allowance if the first marriage and divorce took place before a person was born again. After all, when we come to Christ, we enter a new life and past sins are wiped away. This would suggest that getting married again is permissible. I would add that if both parties become saved, reconciliation and remarriage may be an option to explore.
To that I would add that the Old Testament law (Deuteronomy 24:1-4) disallows remarrying a former spouse who has been married to another in the meantime. I honestly cannot say whether that principle does or does not apply to New Testament believers, assuming former divorces were based on biblical grounds, and whether the parties were saved or became saved later. Complicated isn’t it? No wonder God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16)!
But what if former divorces were not for biblical grounds and the person was a believer when the divorces took place? Next time…