Divorce has wounded so many lives, and yet we’ve grown so numb to its effects in our world today, so that for many there is a failure to see the deeper transgression as marriage is truly an act accomplished by God, and therefore can only truly be an act dissolved by God.
Categories
- Commanded to divorce for any reason & remarry
- Commanded to divorce for any reason & not remarry
- Commanded to divorce for exceptions & remarry
- Commanded to divorce for exceptions & not remarry
- No commands for divorce
Observations & Conclusions:
- Deuteronomy 24:1-4
- Prevent abuse of the individual & divorce
- Protect the future treatment of the ex-spouse
- Prohibit any further sin
- Promote the sanctity of marriage
- Matthew 5:31-32; 19:3-9
- Marriage is a permanent one-flesh commitment for life
- Remarriage outside of the death of the spouse will result in adultery
- Divorce is painful permission because of our sinfulness
- The necessary remedy for divorce is forgiveness
Application:
- To the married:
Take your marriage vows seriously
Do everything possible to prevent a divorce - To the divorced:
Pursue reconciliation and forgiveness with your ex
Daily depend on God’s strength - To the divorced and remarried:
Do not break your 2nd marriage
Repent and confess the wrongs from your past, and leave them in the past
Hosea 3:1
“The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
Jeremiah 3:8, 14
“I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries…”
“Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband…”
Matthew 5:32
“But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Mark 10:11-12
“He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Luke 16:18
“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Matthew 1:19
“Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man, and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”
1 Corinthians 7:15
“But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.”
1 Corinthians 7:10c-11a
“A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband.”
1 Corinthians 7:39
“A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.
John 8:9-11
“At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”