01.08. The Sermon on the Mount (16)

"The Sermon on the Mount" (16) Divorce and Remarriage (Matthew 5:31-32) In the "Sermon on the Mount" the Lord Jesus addresses many subjects which are of as much interest now as they were then. This also applies to the subject of divorce, a problem with which even true Christians are being confronted more and more. In Matthew 5:27-30 He had spoken about the sin of adultery and also condemned carnal coveting. Matthew 5:31-32, in which He speaks about divorce and remarriage, stand in close connection with this passage. Not only adultery and the preceding carnal coveting are contrary to God’s thoughts concerning marriage, but also divorce. The common main thought-the relationship between man and woman-and the fact that adultery is mentioned twice in Matthew 5:32, indicates a connection. On the other hand the introductory words, "It was said" and, "But I say unto you," show that the Lord here again confronts the old traditions with His Word and will (cf.Matthew 5:27, Matthew 5:27, Matthew 5:33, Matthew 5:38, Matthew 5:43). And yet, some view Matthew 5:31-32 as a kin of appedix to the previous passage. The writing of divorcement The Lord Jesus does not refer to a commandment from the Old Testament, but to a habit of the Jews which was likely to have existed before the giving of the law at Sinai-that of the writing of a letter of divorce. "It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement."

It is said in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 : "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. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. And 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, Her 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." The commandment in these verses is therefore that a woman who remarried following a divorce from her first husband, could under no circumstances return to him. But the fact that a writing of divorcement is mentioned twice does in no way mean that God commanded divorce or even approved of it. In Matthew 19:8 the Lord Jesus explains to the Pharisees that Moses only allowed them to put away their wives because of their hardness of heart. He adds, "But from the beginning (i.e. according to the creatorial order) it was not so." When the people of Israel received the law at Sinai, the habit of divorce by a writing of divorcement obviously already existed. Moses left it like that, perhaps even for the protection of the wife from a hard-hearted and malicious husband who could cause great harm to her if they continued to live together.

Yet from this allowance in Deuteronomy 24:1-22 the Jews had derived a permission for divorce and a commandment for giving a writing of divorcement. We can see this from the Pharisees’ question in Matthew 19:7 : "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?" The only disagreement among them was about the reasons for divorce. One school of rabbis taught that "uncleanness" in Deuteronomy 24:1 was adultery or some other form of immoral behaviour, while other rabbis accepted anything a husband did not like about his wife as a reason for divorce. In Matthew 19:3 the Pharisees seem to refer to these disagreements among their teachers, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?"

Marriage is a covenant for life

It is with the following serious words that the Lord Jesus opposes this thoughtlessness concerning divorce, thoughtlessness among the Jews then and within Christendom today: "But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery" (Matthew 5:32).

First we must note that these words do not only apply to the man, but also to the woman. In Mark 10:11-12 the Lord expressly mentions the woman in the same context. "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery."

According to God’s will marriage is indissoluble. The Lord Jesus says this clearly in Matthew 19:6 : "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." This not only applies to marriages made "in the Lord," but to every marriage. Already in the Old Testament God had said to the Jews who were divorced from their wives, "For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away" (Malachi 2:16).

According to the creatorial order of God every marriage, not only that of Christians, is for life. Divorce is in every case a result of sin and a departure from the divine standard. In our times, when between a quarter and a third of marriages end in divorce, the godlessness of the world becomes apparent in this area as well. Divorce among Christians is therefore an especially sad evidence of conformity to the world.

I therefore put forward some very serious advice for young believers. Through prayer and searching the Word of God seek first to be sure whether your intended marriage can really be entered into "in the Lord," i.e. in accordance with His will (1 Corinthians 7:39). Amarriage entered into without much thought is just as valid before God as any other marriage and must be honoured by both partners. "Let marriage be held every way in honour, and the bed be undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers will God judge" (Hebrews 13:4, J.N.D. Trans.).

Divorce leads to adultery With one sentence the Lord sweeps to one side the subtle explanations of the scribes: "Whosoever shall put away his wife,... causeth her to commit adultery." Whatever the faults and weaknesses of the wife may be, he who puts her away, i.e. divorces her, exposes her to the danger of being bound to another husband afterwards. The Lord here calls such a relationship adultery. This implies that the first marriage is still valid before God. The marriage entered into before God and man is not violated merely by a divorce carried out before men (i.e. at a court), but by the sexual union with another partner afterwards-even when this takes place in a new marriage! It hardly needs to be said that this also applies to the spouse who "puts away" the other, i.e. divorces him/her.

It becomes evident from the last part of His explanations that the Lord does not only speak about extra-marital relations after divorce: "and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery." According to God’s thoughts he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery because he violates a marriage existing before Him. In agreement with these words of the Lord, the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, "And unto the married Icommand, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband. But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife" (1 Corinthians 7:10-11). The only exception So far we have left out of our consideration the fact that the Lord Jesus here gives room for one exception, which clearly excludes any other exception: "Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication..." Yet this one and only exception is missing in Mark 10:11-12 and Luke 16:18. Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:1-40 does not mention it either. We only find it again in Matthew 19:9, albeit in a slightly different wording ("except it be for fornication"). The Lord does not say that divorce is unavoidable in the case of one partner committing fornication, but only that in such a case the remarriage of the other partner after a divorce is not adultery.

According to Scripture, the sin of fornication not only refers to prostitution, but to any pre- or extramarital intercourse. We saw this earlier when we considered Matthew 5:27-30. Fornication is also adultery when at least one of the persons involved is married. Here the general term, "fornication," is used, although the verse deals especially with adultery. It seems rather far-fetched to interpret "fornication" here as implying immoral behaviour before the marriage, of which the husband learns only after the wedding.

According to the law, adulterers were to be put to death (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22; John 8:4-5). When adultery was merely suspected there was another way, involving "Bitter water that causeth the curse" (Numbers 5:11-31). Yet in practice the Jews had got into the habit of putting away where adultery was not proven but only suspected (cf. Matthew 1:19). When the Pharisees and Scribes once confronted the Lord with an adulteress, He in His grace did not condemn the obviously repenting woman, but said to her, "Go, and sin no more" (John 8:11).

Here we see again that the Lord Jesus in His kingdom does not demand the literal fulfilling of the law of Sinai, but rather seeks that His own might follow Him genuinely and in a wholehearted way. For that reason He does not speak about the death penalty for the woman who had committed fornication, or more precisely, adultery. He warns His disciples about divorce and the sins caused by it. At the same time He in His grace makes room for the possible exception, that a marriage can be dissolved before God when it has been attacked in its spiritual, mental and physical unity by the terrible sin of adultery. The latter is not a commandment, but an exception by which God meets the defrauded partner in his spiritual or emotional weakness. However, it should not be forgotten that the sin of adultery can and should be forgiven if an honest confession has been made, and does not necessarily have to lead to divorce.

How serious and clear are the words of our Lord with regard to behaviour in His kingdom! The apostle Paul also writes that fornicators and adulterers will have no part in the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5). Could it be any other way than that His revealed will is done in His kingdom? Though the world under Satan’s dominion rebels against the blessed commandments of God, it should still be the deep desire of all true disciples of Jesus not only to know His will, but also to do it.