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What are the three reasons for divorce in the Bible?
What are the three biblical reasons for divorce? It's important here to mention right off the bat that God hates divorce, as you know from the book of Malachi, and it is His will that, once a man and a woman are joined together by Him, that they remain married for as long as they both shall live, and this is to represent the relationship between Christ and the church.
As Apostle Paul alludes to in Corinthians 5:15, For we know that he died once for all so those who live may no longer live for themselves, but live for Him who died for them.
And so the life that we have with Christ, in this marriage that we have with Christ, is an eternal one, for he shall never die, and neither shall we after the resurrection of the body, and so a person should not divorce their spouse and be married as long as they shall live.
But there are cases where things can seem very extreme, and a spouse may feel as if they need a way out.
Read Detail Article on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage (Must Read)
Abuse and Abandonment Reasons Possible but not Commanded
We're going to look at the three biblical reasons for divorce as many espuose them, but I'm going to share with you that these are rare cases, and they are not commanded.
It doesn't say that if this happens, then you are to divorce. These are abandonment and abuse.
Ofcourse in the case of abuse separation is a given for the sake of the health of the abused spouse just as the disciples fled violent persecution.
And in the case of abandonment by an unbeliever the Apostle Paul talks about if an unbeliever wishes to depart, that the believer is not bound or enslaved in such a case. And this doesn't particularly talk about divorce. It talks more so about separation.
But if you want to include divorce there, okay. But of course, even though this divorce happens, which God doesn't want, the believer is supposed to remain unmarried or else be reunited to their spouse. Of course, this is for lawful-in-the-sight-of-God marriage.
So if there's a man and a woman who get married for the first time, and they are not close relatives and neither in this marriage is being married to someone else's lawful spouse, then their marriage is joined by God since it doesn't go against what God wills. Meaning:
- The Marriage is not incestual.
- It's not a remarriage to somebody that was married lawfully before while their lawful spouse is still alive.
- It's not homosexual.
If all of these are met then the marriage is sanctioned by God, and God has made the man and woman one, and His intention is that those two people should remain married as long as they both shall live.
Read My Detailed Article on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage (Must Read)However, given the hardness of man's heart and so forth, if they do divorce, the Lord Jesus now says that they are to remain unmarried or else be reunited to their spouse. So divorcing does not give the innocent party, as people would like to say it, the opportunity to get remarried if the couple had been married lawfully.
The only case for a remarriage, according to Scripture, would be in the event of fornication which we are commanded to flee from in Scripture. And let's go to that text with the mention of fornication, because there we see in Matthew five, the Lord illustrating that this fornication is not a spouse cheating on their spouse affair or what we would consider adultery.
Fornication Has A Specific Meaning
Fornication in context is not regular adultery. The Lord Jesus would have used the other word. But He used the word porneia? There's something very specific, and we see it mentioned by the Apostle Paul when referencing that a man had his father's wife. And so it's an incestual relationship, and so it is an unlawful marriage or remarriage.
Herein do we gain understanding of what fornication is deemed to be: unlawful or forbidden marriages or joinings.
And we see these examples of fornication in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 18. So when the Lord Jesus was talking about except it be for the case of fornication, he's talking about if the marriage itself is a fornication marriage, or an unlawful marriage, meaning:
- a man married to a man or woman married to a woman,
- man married to his father's wife,
- man married to his sister.
- man married to another man's wife while the lawful husband is still alive.
Those are fornication, and they're forbidden.
God Himself does not allow them, so He does not join together what he has disallowed. And so in those cases, those two people have not been joined together as one by God, and they can divorce because that relationship is not ratified by God. And to avoid fornication, they are to marry their own spouse, meaning one that has been sanctioned or given to them by God, meaning a marriage that is not fornication.
Scripturally the only permitted reason as believers in Christ for divorce is fornication or a forbidden marriage as shared in Leviticus 18 and upheld by the Apostles. All other examples of divorce are due to man's will and are not commanded by God Himself.
In the case of abuse, a spouse should separate themselves from the abusive behavior. But Scripturally speaking there is no commandment in such a case for divorce for believers in Christ. But if divorce does happen, they should remain unmarried or remarried to their lawful spouse (provided that deliverance or sufficient therapy is given to ensure the safety of the spouse).
Read My Detailed Article on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage (Must Read)
