Marriage
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The marriage bond is dissolved not only when one of the spouses dies,
but also when one of them commits fornication or adultery, and when an
unbelieving partner departs |
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Most
Protestant Churches have taken the following position on divorce and
remarriage. |
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If
a married woman is unfaithful to her husband, her unfaithfulness (that is,
her fornication or adultery) dissolves the bond of marriage, thus her husband has the right not only to send her away
but also to remarry. The Biblical passages taken in order to support this
teaching are Matthew 19:9: “Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual
immorality, and marries another, commits adultery,” (NKJV) and Matthew 5:32:
“Whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her
to commit adultery” (NKJV). |
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If
an unbelieving spouse is no longer willing to remain in the marriage, and he
(or she) leaves the believing partner, the believing partner must be considered
set free. Thus, since it is the unbelieving partner who determines to go and
initiate a divorce, the believing partner is free to remarry. The Biblical
passage taken to support this teaching is 1 Corinthians 7:15: “But if the
unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under
bondage in such cases.” (NKJV) |
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Confutation |
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One
day the Pharisees asked Jesus this question: ‘Is it lawful for a man to
divorce his wife for just any reason?’ and Jesus answered them saying: “Have
you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and
female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they
are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let
not man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6 – NKJV). After Jesus answered them, the
Pharisees asked Him another question: ‘Why then did Moses command to give a
certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’ and Jesus answered them: “Moses,
because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his
wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery;
and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery” (Matthew 19:8-9 –
NKJV). |
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According
to the words of Jesus, therefore, it is not lawful for a man to put away his
wife for any reason, except for fornication, that is, except for marital
unfaithfulness. His words complete the law, which says: “When a man takes a
wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes
because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate
of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house ….”
(Deuteronomy 24:1 – NKJV), for according to the precept of the law a man was
allowed to send away his wife not only for sexual immorality but also for
other reasons. Note that the law did not specify the reason for which a man
was allowed to send away his wife, but it stated that it was lawful for a man
to send away his wife if she found no favor in his eyes for he had found some
uncleanness in her. Jesus did not say to the Pharisees that a man was allowed
to send away his wife for any reason, as many teachers of the law taught in
his days, but He said to them that a man was allowed to send away his wife
for one reason, that is, for fornication, confirming thus that He came to
complete the law, as He said to His disciples some time before: “It has been said,
‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I
say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual
immorality causes her to commit adultery …. “ (Matthew
5:31-32 – NKJV). Note the expression ‘but I say to you,’ which indicates that
Christ came to complete the law and that the law of Christ is superior to the
law of Moses. Therefore, according to the words of Jesus, it is not lawful
for a man to send away his wife if she is taken seriously ill, or if she is
not good at cooking, or if one of her members is amputated, or if she loses
one of her eyes or all her hair, or if she is barren and can’t bear any
children to her husband, or if he finds a woman who is more beautiful than
his wife, for if he sends her away he causes her to commit adultery. But if
she commits fornication or adultery it is lawful for her husband to send her
away, for she has been unfaithful to him. However, the fact that he has the
right to send away his wife does not mean that he has the right to marry
another woman. Why? Because whether he sends away his wife for she has
committed fornication (therefore lawfully) or he sends away his wife for any
other reason (therefore unlawfully), if he marries another woman he commits
adultery, for Jesus said: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery” (Luke |
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Paul says to the Romans: “For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law
to her husband as long as he lives. …. So then if, while her husband lives,
she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress” (Romans 7:2,3 - NKJV). As you can see, Paul states that a married
woman is bound by the law of God to her husband (even if he has deserted her
and lives with another woman) as long as he lives, and she is not allowed to
marry another man, for if she marries another man she commits adultery. The reason
why Paul said those words is that the two have been joined together by God
and they are one flesh. |
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Paul says to the Corinthians: “Now to the married I command, yet not I but
the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does
depart, let her remain unmarried or to be reconciled to her husband. And a
husband is not to divorce his wife” (1 Corinthians |
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To
sum up, if a married woman marries another man, while her husband is still
alive, she commits adultery; and if a married man marries another woman while
his wife is still alive she commits adultery. However, if the husband of a
woman dies, then she has the right, according to the law of God, to marry
another man, for Paul says: “A wife is bound by law as long as her husband
lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she
wishes, only in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:39 – NKJV), and again: “But if her
husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she has married another man” (Romans 7:3 – NKJV). Obviously a man also is
free to marry another woman if his wife dies. |
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We
saw before that the words of Jesus “It has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his
wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that
whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her
to commit adultery …. “ (Matthew |