Page 10 - The Standard Volume 4

woman should be allowed to go back to her father, brother, or relative. However, if she was shamefully divorced, they could choose not to allow her to return home for she would then defile their home as well.
Matthew 5:31-32 KJV
"31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”
Jesus was saying that if you don’t give a woman a bill of divorcement, you give her no choice but to marry a man she has no covenant with just so she can be taken care of. Because of this, she commits adultery according to the law of God. Jesus by no means came to destroy the law of Moses nor the writings of the prophets rather, to give clarity to where it was lacking. In Deuteronomy 24:1, the Hebrew word for “uncleanness” is “ervah” meaning sexual uncleanness. It was necessary for Jesus to bring correction to this law as men had stretched its original meaning to include putting their wives away if they simply burned the bread! He made it plain that one cannot get divorced for just any reason, and it was not about one’s personal preference or ability to not be able to stand what was going on in the marriage. Many people today may not be getting divorced for burning the bread, but we have similar excuses such as, “He doesn’t clean up after himself." “She doesn’t talk to me.” “He’s never home.” Beloved, these are NOT grounds for divorce!
Today, a woman can go and buy her own house. She can call the police to provide protection, but back in those days protection came from a woman’s father or brothers. Women rarely had any means of supporting themselves or their children without a man. They starved and sometimes turned to prostitution. Some even became handmaids to another household just so they could eat. Whether a woman was divorced or widowed, she was in dire straights if she did not have a father or husband to take care of her. Many women today make more than men and some households would suffer if the wife did not work. Because we live in the 21ST Century, we cannot look at Scripture without understanding the context in which it was written.
Jesus taught that God's people, regardless of the circumstances, should never marry someone who is divorced for they are committing adultery and God’s law denies reconciliation with the first spouse. If you have been divorced and you marry someone else, you’ve forfeited the rights of your former spouse being able to “get right” and get back together with you. According to God’s law, they can no longer reconcile with you because you have married someone else.
Matthew 19:9 KJV
"And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.”
What kills many marriages is people having their own interpretation of what marriage is and what God thinks about it as it pertains to their circumstances. “God understands my situation.” “He knows what I’ve had to put up with.” Sometimes we think God has a plan for us individually that overrides the plan He gave to the church. However, Jesus was showing us in Matthew 19:9 that divorce was allowed for just causes, but an unjust cause was not pleasing to God. You might be thinking, If God allowed me to divorce my spouse for a just cause, does that make me free to remarry? Marrying someone else without biblically justified grounds to do so is adultery. And, not only are you committing adultery, but you’ve made the person you married an adulterer as well.
“Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?”
Mark 10:2-12
“2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. 3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? 4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. 11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.”
Jesus said it was because their hearts had become hard that they separated from their spouse, but when God made man and woman, He made them to be one. Regardless of the circumstances, the law of God is the law of Christ and we
10 THE STANDARD | June 2022