God’s Law of Divorce
By
Shelby G. Floyd
The Bible is not only a book which reveals God, but it also reveals man. If a man would understand his constitution, he must study the Bible to know himself as well as to know God. In the beginning, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1: 27.)
God’s Original Institution of Marriage
After God
had made a woman from the rib which be took from Adam’s side, he presented her
to Adam, who said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she
shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of
Man and woman compliment each other. The woman was a helper which was appropriate for man’s nature. Because God made man and woman with this nature, the Bible says, a man will leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife. The word cleave indicates steadfastness. In the beginning therefore, God made no provision for divorce, because it was not his intention for the man and woman to leave each other.
Man Departed from God’s Plan of Marriage
In the
generations following Adam and Eve, men departed from God’s original law
concerning the home and marriage. Men divorced their wives, and married, other
wives, for just about every cause which one can imagine. This state of things
continued for 2,500 years and then Moses gave laws regulating the evils of
divorce until such time that mankind would be ready to receive again God’s
original law concerning marriage. His legislation concerning divorce is found
in Deuteronomy 24: 1-4. In this legislation, Moses states, “When a man hath
taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness
in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand,
and send her out of his house.” (Deuteronomy 24: 1.)
Christ Restored the Original Law of Marriage
For the next 1,500 years, the Jews, generation by generation, added their traditions to God’s word and ultimately made it of no effect upon their homes and their lives. When Christ came into the world, be found men putting away their wives for about every cause which one can imagine. Therefore, in the Sermon on the Mount, he countered such a state of things by authoritatively teaching God’s law concerning divorce. “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.) In the days of Christ, the Jews were teaching that a man could put away his wife for any cause whatsoever, so long as he gave her a writing of divorcement, but Christ taught otherwise. In order to better understand his teaching, let us define several of the terms which are used in his statement. First, the phrase “divorces” means to loose from; sever by loosing, undo. The object of the verb put away is the wife. Therefore, to put away or divorce the wife, as it is used here, is to dismiss one’s wife from the house, to repudiate her. (cf. Thayer, page 66.) Therefore, put away is used in the sense of divorce. Secondly, the phrase “a certificate of divorce” is simply a legal bill of divorce which was required by the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 24: 1), and which is required by all governments in all civilized lands today. It was designed to protect society in general and the wife in particular. Third, the term “except,” in this context means with the exception of. (Thayer, page 1487.) Fourth, the phrase “sexual immorality” means illicit sexual acts and it is used sometimes interchangeably with the term adultery.
Fornication the Only Lawful Basis for Divorce
With these definitions in mind let us now take a closer look at what Christ said concerning divorce. Christ said that whosoever shall put away his wife except for fornication causes her to commit adultery. This simply means that if a man puts away his wife for mental cruelty, or for any other reason than fornication, he causes her to commit adultery. How does he cause her to commit adultery? If he divorces her for any other reason except fornication, he repudiates her unlawfully. He has no just reason in the sight of God to repudiate her, and therefore he places her back in a single state where she naturally will seek a new marriage partner. When she enters into another marriage, not having been divorced for fornication, she thereby commits adultery. The husband then who has put her away without a just cause indirectly causes her to commit adultery for he has repudiated her without a lawful cause. When a husband puts away his wife for any other cause except fornication, and she marries another man, the man that marries her that is divorced commits adultery. Therefore it is wrong for one to divorce his wife and put her away unless it is for fornication.
However, Jesus does allow the exception. He who puts away his wife because of fornication does not cause her to commit adultery; she has already committed fornication and therefore one may divorce or put away his mate because of unfaithfulness in the marriage relationship. The laws of our land today, instead of making it more difficult for marriages to break up, are making it easier than ever, and this presages much sorrow and trouble for the generations to follow.
Divorce Should Not Be an Easy Way Out of Marriage
As
someone has well said, “Then by affording an easy way out of the troubles of
married life we are inviting carelessness about entering marriage. We say by
divorce statutes to a young woman. ‘If your husband deserts you, you may have
another. If he is cruel, you may have another. If he fails to support you, you
may have another. If he is drunken, you may have another, if he is incompatible
or makes you unhappy, you may have another’—and yet others beyond these. When
an easy road is thus made out of marriage, will there be proper caution about
entering into marriage? By just as much as a crevice for relief of the miseries
of married life is opened by divorce, by so much the flood gates are opened
into those miseries. The more solemnly society is impressed that the door of
marriage does not swing outward as well as inward the more of happiness and
blessing will it find, in the institution.” (International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia, page 866.)
“From the Beginning It Was Not So”
May God
help us to teach and practice God’s law of marriage, divorce and remarriage? Concerning
the unlawful departure and practices in marriage in our modern society, what
Christ said about such practices is also applicable for out time, “From the
beginning it was not so.” (Matthew 19:8.) Copyright © 2007