Matt 5:31-32
DIVORCE
The legal dissolution of a marriage. The divine ideal for marriage is clearly a lifelong bond that unites husband and wife in a "one flesh" relationship (Matt 19:5
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
ADULTERY
Willful sexual intercourse with someone other than one’s husband or wife. Jesus expanded the meaning of adultery to include the cultivation of lust: "Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt 5:28).
FORNICATION
[for nih KAY shun]-sexual relationships outside the bonds of marriage. The technical distinction between fornication and ADULTERY is that adultery involves married persons while fornication involves those who are unmarried. But the New Testament often uses the term in a general sense for any unchastity. Of the seven lists of sins found in the writings of the apostle Paul, the word fornication is found in five of them and is first on the list each time (1 Cor 5:11; Col 3:5). In the Book of Revelation, fornication is symbolic of how idolatry and pagan religion defiles true worship of God (Rev 14:8; 17:4).
Deut 24:1-4
24:1When 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.
2And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
3And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
4Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
1 Cor 7:6-17
6But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
7For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
8I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
9But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
10And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
11But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
12But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
13And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
15But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
II. A Confusing Message (19:7-8)
A. Moses’ Allowance
1. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 gives instructions for divorce
2. Given for hardness of heart
3. Given to protect the females
4. Never God’s plan
B. Jesus’ Appeal
1. God’s original plan didn’t include divorce
2. God makes no mistakes
3. God’s plan for marriage has not changed
The Clarification of Meaning (19:9)
Divorce Is considered to be adultery
b. Luke 16:18, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery”
c. Mark 10:11-12, “So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery”
d. Romans 7:2-3, “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. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man”
2. Exception Clause
a. Not the focus of the passage
b. It is permissible because of fornication
c. It is not required in cases of fornication
B. Remarriage
1. Is considered to be adultery
a. Luke 16:18
b. Mark 10
c. 1 Corinthians 7:10-11, “Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife”
2. There is no exception clause
1 Corinthians 7:10-11
10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
b. The exception only refers to the ‘putting away’
c. The plain sense of the text is clear
3. Remarriage distorts the picture in Ephesians 5
a. Marriage is a symbol of the relationship between God and the redeemed through Christ
b. God is faithful to us
c. We cannot be separated from Him (Romans 8:35; John 10:28-29)
