Divorce - Luke 15-16

 Luke 16:18 (ESV)

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

To make sure we know all of Jesus’ teaching on the above subject, let’s read the following before we determine what He is saying:

Matthew 5:31-32 (ESV)

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 19:3-9 (ESV)

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “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 not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Mark 10:2-12 (ESV)

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and 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 not man separate.”

And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Three of the four Gospels mentions something about divorce.  It is interesting that there is little teaching in the New Testament Epistles about the divorce.  There is teaching in 1 Timothy and Titus.  Yet, those two don’t really  mention divorce but the teaching is solely for those desiring to be an Elder in the church at instructed to be married to one wife.   

It is obvious by Jesus’ teaching that three things come to mind:

1. God did not intend for a marriage to end in divorce.  He designed them to stay together.  So, anything outside that design would mean we are on a path that God did not originally design.   

2. However, God did recognize that “hardness” of a spousal heart and Moses was instructed to give teaching on divorce.   This shows that God knows the hearts of man and marriage is a heart issue.  God knows that we have sin and God gives us a path through that sin. 

3.  The only exception that seems to fit Jesus’ teaching is if one spouse is unfaithful to the other.  In cases of sexual immorality divorce is part of God’s plan to keep the marriage pure.   At least that is what it states.  

If we bring in other teachings about unconditional love and forgiveness, one could make an argument that an injured spouse should seek to keep the marriage together.  Here is what is says in 1 Corinthians about that thought:

1 Corinthians 7:12-16 (ESV)

To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

So, the heart of the issue is the heart.   Marriage was designed for no separation.  When hardness of heart creeps into the marriage one party may want out and one party may not.   If there is unfaithfulness in the marriage it does not change the above teaching except the unfaithfulness does, based upon Jesus’ teaching, make divorce a certain option.   If the injured spouse can stay in the marriage with the unbelieving spouse, they should (according to Paul’s teaching).  But, if the unfaithful spouse decides the leave the remaining spouse seems to be “free.”   Which would mean they are allowed to remarry.    In the end, it is the glory of God in marriage that God wants.   However, God knows the hardness of the hearts of men and women and knows that road might become messy.  That is where God’s grace provides a pathway to what God intended, but via a different road.