Is divorce allowed, and may the divorced marry again?
Hard question · The law of Moses · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
A man who divorces his wife must give her a written bill; she may marry again, but her first husband may not take her back afterwards.
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: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Jesus says Moses allowed divorce ‘because of the hardness of your hearts’; from the beginning it was not so; divorce and remarriage, except for fornication, is adultery.
The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. …
Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and so does whoever marries the divorced woman.
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
Paul gives the Lord’s command that spouses should not separate, then adds that a believer deserted by an unbelieving spouse ‘is not under bondage’.
And unto the married I command, 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. But 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. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For 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. But 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.
The objection
The law of Moses lets a man divorce his wife if he finds “some uncleanness” in her, and lets her marry again. Jesus says that whoever divorces and remarries commits adultery; Matthew adds an exception for fornication, and Paul adds another when an unbelieving spouse leaves. Is divorce allowed or not, and on what grounds?
The answer
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 does not command divorce or call it good. It assumes a practice that already existed and regulates it: the husband had to give a written certificate, which left the woman free to remarry, and the one actual command is that the first husband may not take her back after she has married another man (24:4). Keil and Delitzsch note that the passage does not establish divorce as a right. The law on captive wives restrained husbands in the same way: if he sent her away she went free and could not be sold (Deuteronomy 21:14). Jesus reads Deuteronomy just so. Moses allowed divorce “because of the hardness of your hearts”, “but from the beginning it was not so” (Matthew 19:8). He points back to God’s purpose in creation, “they twain shall be one flesh”, and concludes, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Malachi had already said that God “hateth putting away” (Malachi 2:16).
So the law made a concession for a hard-hearted people, and Jesus restores the standard that was there from the beginning. That is a change of covenant setting, not a contradiction. The reports of his teaching also fit together. Mark and Luke give it in its plainest form; Matthew records the exception, “except it be for fornication” (19:9; 5:32). A short summary and a fuller statement of the same teaching do not conflict. Paul first repeats the Lord’s command (1 Corinthians 7:10-11), then says that he himself, not the Lord, is speaking to a case Jesus did not address: a believer whose unbelieving partner leaves. “A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases” (7:12, 15).
Other answers Christians give
No remarriage
Many early church writers, and Catholic teaching today, hold that a valid marriage cannot be dissolved while both spouses live. On this view the exception in Matthew allows separation but not remarriage.
A narrower exception
Some read the Greek porneia in Matthew’s exception narrowly, as unfaithfulness during betrothal (as Joseph suspected of Mary) or as a marriage within the degrees forbidden in Leviticus 18. On this view Jesus allows no exception for a true marriage.
Adultery and desertion
Many Protestants hold that adultery and wilful desertion break the marriage and leave the innocent partner free to remarry. Gill reads 1 Corinthians 7:15 this way, and the Westminster Confession (24.6) says the same.
Still open
Christians agree that God’s purpose is lifelong marriage, but they are divided over exactly when divorce is permitted and whether, or when, the divorced may remarry.
From the classic commentators
In these verses, however, divorce is not established as a right; all that is done is, that in case of a divorce a reunion with the divorced wife is forbidden, if in the meantime she had married another manC. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 24, at Bible Hub
nor are they bound to remain unmarried, but are free to marry another person, after all proper methods have been tried for a reconciliation, and that appears to be impracticableJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible: 1 Corinthians 7 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
Sources
- Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 24, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 19, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: 1 Corinthians 7, at Bible Hub
- Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary: Matthew 19, at Bible Hub