Jesus' Teaching On Divorce - Matthew 5:31-32

 Divorce

31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’

Considering around 40%-50% of marriages end in divorce, (The percentage drops to around 35% for Christians) Jesus' teaching on divorce is very relevant. There are other passages where Jesus gives more teaching on divorce such as Mark 10:1-10 and Matthew 19:1-12.  I will use some of the insights from those passages later. 

Here is a little context for the issue in Jesus' day, 

"In Jesus’ day, many people interpreted the Mosaic permission for divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1) as granting virtually any reason as grounds for divorce. Some rabbis taught this even extended to allowing a man to divorce his wife if she burnt his breakfast."

Deuteronomy 24:1 says, 

"If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house."

Therefore, it was very unclear what exactly constituted divorce.  And as we follow the logic of Jesus' teaching the on murder and adultery in the last two blogs, it is clear he was concerned about the spirit of the Law, not the letter of the Law.  He was concerned about God's purpose for the Law not man's interpretation, which often helped him to get around it. You can see what happened when the we focus on the letter of the law and divorce is another example.  

F.F. Bruce New Testament scholar says this, 

"Yet in Jesus’ day, this permission of Deuteronomy 24:1 had become an instrument of cruelty against wives. “The scribes busied themselves solely about getting the bill of separation into due legal form. They did nothing to restrain the unjust caprice of husbands; they rather opened a wider door to licence.” 

So what does Jesus say next,

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.

Though he is not specifically talking about what would happen if the roles were changes (if men cheated on their wives), he makes it clear that the only reason in which a husband could divorce his wife was adultery. The Greek word here for adultery is "porneia", which refers to sexual immorality of all types, but in this context it refers to marital infidelity. I.e. fornication with someone outside of marriage.  

In Matthew 19 and Mark 10, Jesus focuses more on God's intent for marriage and why is so harmful.  Jesus states that if was only because of man's hardness of heart that Moses even made an exception for divorce in the Old Testament.

Both passages focus on the fact that in the beginning God made male and female and his desire for marriage was that the two would become one, in a partnership that mirrored Christ's relationship with his bride the church. Read Ephesians 5:25-32 for Paul's explanation of Jesus' relationship with the church.  He uses this to teach what a marriage should look like. The key thing in marriage is God has joined two people and made them one flesh in a union that is holy and sacred. 

Divorce breaks what God has joined together and often there is lots of collateral damage which ensues to all parties especially if kids are involved.  Marriage is a great gift and it can be a great challenged. Why? Because two sinners are involved.  But yet there is third cord in a marriage that cannot be broken, which is God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It is in this name which most marriages are confirmed and consecrated.  

One final note. Divorce still happens, and it happens in the church.  Some churches have chosen not to allow those who have been divorced to receive communion.  Or, there is a stipulation that unless they have annulled their first marriage they cannot receive communion.  I.e. As if it never happened.  In the Catholic church what qualifies as annulment is constantly changing and subject to much interpretation. I don't believe the bible supports this kind of practice.  The only thing that makes us worthy of communion what Jesus has done for us and our faith in that.  Anytime we take communion we are broken people receiving God's grace in Christ through the bread and the wine.  Jesus said when you gather do this in remembrance of me. 

The bottom line is that because we are still broken people, we will still have broken marriages.  Some broken marriages become whole again by the grace of God in Christ. With counseling and prayer there can be healing of anger and resentment and forgiveness offered in Jesus' name. I have personally been a part of a reconciliation in a marriage where there was infidelity in one of the spouses.  The wounds caused by unfaithfulness were deep but after counseling and seeking forgiveness in Christ, the couple was able to come together again.  With Christ there is always the hope of reconciliation.  

Finally, if you have been divorced and never reconciled for whatever reason, there is healing and forgiveness for you.  God recognizes that divorce will occur, even among His children. A divorced and/or remarried believer should not feel any less loved by God who sent His son to die for all our sins.