CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE CONT... DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE INTRO.

Four main parts of this article are introduction, part 1,2 and 3.

Introduction.

Promises given by Christians in marriage ceremony are given before God Himself, as well as before the Church as a group. Marriage is a lifelong commitment. The Bible teaches that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:14-16). Divorce was common in Old Testament times, and God desired to stop ‘easy’ divorce that had no good reason. He also desired to provide legal protection for the wife who had been discarded by her husband. The law of Moses required that a man have a proper reason for divorcing his wife, namely uncleanness, and that he give his wife a proper certificate of divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). By the time of Jesus, some PHARISEES taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason at all (Matthew 19:3). Jesus answered that it was wrong for anyone to break the marriage relationship that God had made. He said, “Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Matthew 19:6). Jesus said that God never wanted divorce, but the Law of Moses had allowed it because the Jews’ hearts were hard (Matthew 19:8). All Christians believe that it is wrong to break up a marriage.

But then Jesus said further that “Anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9). Elsewhere Jesus had said that “Anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32). What does Jesus mean in these last two statements? There are three main views among Christians and this will make part 2,3 and 4 of this. To be continued...