A
prevalent major teaching among the more conservative
Christians says that DIVORCE is not allowed by God by any means in the New
Testament, and consequently any repudiated wife or husband should remain single
for the rest of their life, unless the unfaithful wife or husband repents and
gets back together.
There is a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of
the meaning of God's Word, especially when Jesus dealt with the religious
people who were trying to justify themselves that it was licit--according to
the Law of God given to Moses--to DIVORCE from their wives, but notice this:
for ANY INSIGNIFICANT REASON.
That's why Jesus answered in order to expose their
HYPOCRITICAL, unloving reasoning and deeds, by not loving their wives as they
should; because they were abandoning their wives for any unfounded reason--for
being old or sick, or for not cooking well, etc. They were using this law of
divorce as a LICENCE to repeatedly change women, just out of LUSTFUL and
SELFISH DESIRES. (See Matthew 5:27-32).
Jesus answered them saying that divorce was not
allowed for any excusable reason, EXCEPT if one of the spouses was being
UNFAITHFUL to his own spouse. That was in fact the reason why God allowed
DIVORCE in the Law, and because of the hardness of their hearts. (See Matthew
19:3-9; Deuteronomy 24:1-4.)
Jesus came to free us from religion and hypocrisy, and
from any kind of bondage or useless sacrifices or rituals of the flesh
(Colossians 2:8-23). God's nature is made of genuine love and mercy above
anything else. That's why Jesus said in several occasions to the religious
people that God is not after SACRIFICE (legalistic rituals of the flesh), but
after MERCY (loving disposition of the heart). (See Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:9-13;
12:1-8.)
God is HOLY and hates sin, and is commanding us to be
holy too; and that's why He punishes us his children for any filthy or unloving
deed (Leviticus 11:44-45; Hebrews 12:5-29). However, God's Holy Nature is made
of LOVING and MERCIFUL RIGHTEOUSNESS, so that through his everlasting mercy, we
may learn and come back to the right path of willing obedience to Him. That's
why He gave us his Beloved Son to die for us when we were still enemies to Him,
to show us his amazing act of grace and love and mercy. (See Psalm 103 &
107; Jeremiah 9:24; John 3:14-18; 15:12-17; Matthew 18:10-14; Luke 6:27-38;
19:1-10; John 8:1-11; Romans 5:6-11; 1John 4:7-21.)
We thought it was important to clarify this issue, to
be able to understand Jesus' message in its context, which was in fact directed
to the hypocritical religious people, who were constantly braking God's
Law.
Consequently we believe that a repudiated wife or
husband can remarry if she or he finds the right loving person, to help each
other in the faith, and even in parenthood if they have children, which is
vital for a fruitful family life.
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"The Pharisees also came to Jesus, testing Him,
and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any
reason?” And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made
them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a
man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall
become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore
what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give
a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” 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. And I say to you, whoever divorces his
wife, except for sexual immorality [with someone else], and marries another,
commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”” (Matthew
19:3-9 NKJV)
“WHEN A man takes a wife and marries her, if then she
finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency [sexual
immorality] in her, and he writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand,
and sends her out of his house, And when she departs out of his house she goes
and marries another man, And if the latter husband dislikes her and writes her
a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if
the latter husband dies, who took her as his wife, Then her former husband, who
sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled. For
that is an abomination before the Lord; and you shall not bring guilt upon the
land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.” (Deuteronomy
24:1-4 AMPC)
