#7 Jesus Teaching on Divorce

Matthew 5:31-32

1. Matthew 5:31-32 says, “It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

2. “It has been said” This was a reference to the Israelites’ method of interpretation of divorce law in the time of Christ. It comes from the doctors of the law from the time of Ezra until the time of our Lord.

a. God’s actual position on divorce is in Malachi 2:14-17, which says, “Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. “15Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So, guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. “16“For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of Hosts. So, guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith. “17You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

TABULAR VIEW OF GOD’S POSITION ON DIVORCE

Reference	Scripture
Malachi 2:14	“Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.”
Malachi 2:15	“ 15 Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So, guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.”
Malachi 2:16	“For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of Hosts. So, guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith.”
Malachi 2:17	“ 17 You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

b. The Jewish doctrine of divorce at the time of Christ was “whoever wants to divorce his wife may do it as long as he gives her papers saying he has done it. Jews call it a “bill of divorcement.” Thus, she would be able to prove that she was free to marry again.

c. A Jewish tradition says that any married man could state 3 times to his wife, “I divorce you,” and put the bill of divorcement in her hands, send her away, and they became legally divorced.

1) This was the position of the scribes of the School of Hillel.

2) It was a widely prevalent, long-established opinion and custom that the Jewish Doctors taught and practiced. But it was not Biblically true.

3) They taught that it came from Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which says, “If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.2If, after leaving his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3and the second man hates her, writes her a certificate of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house, or if he dies, 4then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the LORD. You must not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

4) They taught that Deuteronomy 24:1-3 gave them the right to divorce their wives if they gave her a certificate of divorce. The Lord Jesus Christ answered this in Matthew 19:1-9.

d. Jesus says, “But I say unto you” – (He states what the Old Testament says.)

1) “Putting away” or “divorcing” one’s wife causes adultery -

a) On her part.

b) On the part of the one who marries her.

c) On the part of the one who divorces her.

2) The exception is “except for fornication.” That is, if she commits fornication, her husband can legally divorce her. She, by fornication, has broken her union with her husband.

TABULAR VIEW OF THE PERMISSION OF DIVORCE

Who?	Permits divorce?	Cause
Jesus	Yes	Only because of fornication
Scribes	Yes	For any reason

a) The Law was extremely strict.

b) The Law was also humane for the wife. But the men took away the humanity of the Law by divorcing their wives for any reason.

e. God bases the teaching of indissoluble marriage upon the unity between Christ and the Church and between husband and wife. God Himself established these bonds.

TABULAR VIEW OF EPHESIANS 5:30-32

Ephesians 5:30	“For we are members of His body.”
Ephesians 5:31	“For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
Ephesians 5:32	“This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.”

1) Ephesians 5:30-32 says, “For we are members of His body. 31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.”

2) So, before creation, God decided that Christ would unite Himself to the Church by an indissoluble bond. And He expects us to reflect that in our marriages.

3) Since there is such unity between Christ and the Church, a man who wants to be married to a particular woman must leave his parents and cleave to his wife.

4) Genesis 2:23-24 says, “And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

5) 24For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

a) The man unites with the wife with the result that they are one flesh if both live on this earth in this body.

b) Since she is bone of Adam’s bones (ribs), and flesh of Adam’s flesh, there was nothing in Eve that was not originally in Adam. Even her soul, spirit, and heart came from Adam.

c) The joining with his wife is like being glued to her.

d) Since the unity is flesh, it extends to the physical relationship also.

e) The two become one, not three, as in polygamy.

f) A man must leave his father and mother, as in leaving them behind. The word for “leave” is translated “forsook” (KJV) in Hebrews 11:27.

g) The word for “leave” is in future tense, which expresses necessity. The man must leave his parents and their home.

h) 1 Corinthians 6:16 says, “Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”

f. Observations and Applications

1) It is sinful to marry one’s parents. A man must leave his parents. (See Leviticus 18:6-18; 20:14-21).

2) Homosexuality is ruled out. The Bible speaks of “man…wife” (Leviticus 18:22-23; 20:13).

3) Marriage is for all humankind, whether Christian or not. The Bible uses the Greek word anthropos for “man,” when it says, a “man” must leave his father and mother….” Anthropos also sometimes means “mankind.”

4) Since there is a God-ordained union in a marriage, it is wrong for a child of God to marry an unbeliever (Leviticus 21:7, 14; Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3-4; Nehemiah 10:30; Malachi 2:11; 1 Corinthians 7:39; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

5) There are two definite stages in the two becoming one:

a) Leaving – This requires announcing the intent. Thus, physical union does not commence the marriage (Deuteronomy 22:19-21, 28-29; Exodus 22:16; Deuteronomy 22:13, 16).

b) Cleaving – This includes sexual union and a new family unit. (Deuteronomy 21:13; Proverbs 5:15-21; 1 Corinthians 7:1-5; Hebrews 13:3-4).

6) Since marriage is a “joining,” there must be no divorce. Matthew 19:9 says, “Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery.”

a) Divorce is permitted but Scripture never encourages divorce. Moses permitted divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-4), but only in instances in which the married husbands have hard hearts, says the Lord Jesus Christ. For the explanation of this see below.

b) Matthew 19:7-9 says, “They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 8He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. 9“And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

TABULAR VIEW OF JESUS REFUTING JEWISH TEACHING

Matthew 19:7	“They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
Matthew 19:8	He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.”
Matthew 19:9	“And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

c) Deuteronomy 24:1-4 says, “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency[1] in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, 2and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, 4then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.”

d) Jesus says in Matthew 19:7-9 that these verses in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 are rules of mercy for hard-hearted men,[2] He keeps the jilted woman away from one who divorced her once, not wanting him to have opportunity to abuse (defile) her again. So, a man may not twist Deuteronomy 24:1-4 to imply that Moses sanctioned divorce.

e) So, divorce cannot terminate marriage God’s eyes (Matthew 19:9).

f) But another marriage does terminate the bonds of matrimony (Deuteronomy 24:4).

g) Death of either partner does terminate marriage (Romans 7:2-3).

h) And it is adultery to divorce one’s wife and cause her to marry again (Matthew 5:32).

i) It is also adultery to divorce your wife and marry another (Luke 16:18).

j) But it is not adultery to divorce a wife for fornication since adultery already terminates the marriage (Matthew 5:32; Luke 16:18).

g. God is so kind to His wife that He says in Jeremiah 3:6-10 as follows,

“Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. 7I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.

“8She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. 9Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10Yet despite all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.”

Whenever anyone returns to God in sincerity, He welcomes him.

[1] This translation is unfortunate. The word “indecency” is not a correct translation. If she were indecent in a sexual manner, they would stone her to death according to the Law of Moses. The Hebrew is ‘er·waṯ, which means, “uncleanness.” But the uncleanness is not like leprosy either. The context shows that it is something that he does not like about her. To him, and to him only, she is unclean. She is unclean in his eyes and not in God’s eyes. He is a hard-hearted man.

[2] The reason for hard hearted people in Israel is that God adopted the nation as she was in Egypt. Israel always had both believers and unbelievers in their census. The example is, If God were to adopt any nation as His nation, that nation would consist of both believers and unbelievers. Thus, Israel had unbelievers, people whom God had not justified by faith. And Moses spoke Deuteronomy 24:1-4 to lowest common denominator people of Israel, the unsaved.