DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE

Is it permissible for a Christian to get divorced and then get remarried? God designed marriage and His original intention was the marriage vows to be permanent (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6) and dissolved only by death. (Romans 7:1-3). God sees marriage so sacred and special that He intended it to last a lifetime! God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16). In the Old Testament, a person found guilty of committing adultery and breaking the marriage vow was stoned to DEATH! (Lev. 2:10) Remarriage was allowed to the innocent party (Deut. 24:1-4) In this passage we also see that in God even allowed divorce if the guilty spouse had been involved in sexual unfaithfulness that fell short of the actual act of adultery itself. The important note is that remarriage was allowed to the INNOCENT party. In the New Testatment, we see Jesus’ teaching on divorce in Matthew 19:4-9. Due to sin and the hardness of man’s heart, Jesus ALLOWED divorce when one mate had been guilty of fornication...or sexual sin with someone else other that your spouse...Even then, the ideal situation would be for the innocent partner to forgive the guilty party and try to restore the marriage. (Recall the Book of Hosea and the story of Gomer). God realizes that sometimes that is not humanly possible. No one can stay in a marriage where there is repeated unfaithfulness. Therefore, God allows divorce for SEXUAL UNFAITHFULNESS. Later on in I Cor. 7:15, 16 Paul gives another circumstance that would allow divorce - when the unbelieving partner DESERTS the believing partner. Paul is saying if the unsaved spouse no longer wants to stay married to the saved spouse and leaves the marriage....EVEN if sexual unfaithfulness has occurred or not...this divorce is allowed, remarriage is allowed to the innocent party...as it was allowed for sexual unfaithfulness. According to the Bible, REMARRIAGE is allowed for the innocent party when divorce has occurred due to the two Biblical reasons above: FORNICATION and DESERTION by an unsaved mate. Divorce for any other reason is a violation of God’s ideal marriage. State laws may allow divorce for irreconcilable differences or even ‘no fault’, but God’s law does not. Physical abuse, danger to the children, drug and alcohol abuse, refusal to work and support the family, are all reasons for SEPARATION...but not for divorce...UNLESS SEXUAL FORNICATION or DESERTION by the unsaved mate occurs. I suppose God feels that through prayer and God’s intervention possibly, the behavior of the spouse guilty of these acts can possibly be corrected and the marriage reconciled. These other reasons do not give the Christian Biblical reason to go out and get another ‘honey’ Any person GUILTY of divorcing and remarrying for any of these or any other unbiblical reasons is LIVING in ADULTERY (Mark 10:11-12), until asking and receiving God’s forgiveness by confessing the sin. What about the Christian who has been guilty of divorce and remarriage on unbiblical reasons? Of course, God forgives us of all our sins when we confess them to Him--including the sin of divorce (Colossians 2:13). However, simply because God forgives us does not remove the consequences of our actions on ourselves and on others. These consequences can often be very painful to all involved. There is often a heavy price to pay for violating God’s plan.