Divorce

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Let me begin by saying that the topoc of remarriage is coverd in the topic
of divorce.  One cannot remarry without a divorce.  In other words, if one
is not divorced, they are still married and therefore cannot possibly
'remarry' anyone in that the relationship with the other person, their
'non-spouse' would then be adultery.  If one can legally divorce, one can
legally remarry.

Matthew 19
3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it
lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which
made them at the beginning made them male and female,

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall
cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath
joined together, let not man put asunder.

"What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder".  Jesus
is
saying here that God puts a man and a woman together as "one flesh".  Many
have trouble realizing what this means but it is really simple.  What makes
the body "one flesh" is the way it is connected.  My hand is "one flesh"
with
my shoulder because the arm connects the two.  By the means of this
connection, my hand, arm and shoulder are all one.  Jesus is saying here
that
when it comes to marriage, God "joins together" a man and a woman: He
makes a connection between them that unites them into "one flesh".  That
connection is a spiritual connection.  Jesus also says in this verse that
man
cannot break this connection.  What this means is that man can make
whatever attempts to call the union broken, but in God's eyes, the union can
only be broken by Him.  God created one woman for one man.  This is the
perfect setup in that the design is met fully.  Is this absolute?

7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of
divorcement, and to put her away?

8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered
you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

Jesus says here that for the hardness of the hearts of the Jews, Moses; not
God, allowed them to put their wives away for any cause.  The reason is that
the Jews brought their wives into bondage and were cruel to them.  Moses
knew that if they were given the chance to put them away, they would do so
in anger and free the wife from a life of imprisonment and slavery.  Jesus
also says that this was not so from the beginning.  In other words, Moses
delivered a law for the protection of the woman from a mean husband but
that God had created one man for one woman.  Is Moses the final authority?

9 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.

Here is the law of divorce and remarriage.  Jesus says that if a man puts
away
a wife "and shall marry another", that he commits adultery.  The
significance
of this statement is many faceted.  Under this, a man could still put away
his
wife for any cause and as long as he didn't marry another, with the
exception
of the case of adultery, which I will deal with later, and he was not
sinning.  Paul
will confirm this and we will examine that too, later.  The man and the
woman would still be married in God's eyes with the sole exception of
adultery.

The other point is that Jesus makes the exception for the case of adultery.
The
implication is unavoidable that should a man (or wife) divorces a wife (or
husband) for the cause of adultery and marries another that he is not
committing adultery.  Jesus Himself is saying that if the cause of the
divorce is adultery, they person who has put the adulterer away is
"excepted" from committing adultery if they remarry.  He goes on however to
state that the one that is put away will be guilty of adultery should they
ever remarry.  Note too, that there is no qualification on this statement.
Once is all it takes.

There you have it.  The only justifiable reason for a divorce
is adultery and then it is only the victim and not the guilty party that is
freed.  Jesus is saying that adultery breaks the union God has placed
between a man and a woman.  Just as in an amputation, the severed limb dies
while the body lives on.  In effect, God is saying that when one commits
adultery, they are "dead" to the marriage.  Since the adulterer is
spiritually
dead to the marriage, the "surviving" spouse is free.

Romans 7
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband
so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law
of
her husband.

OK, with that said, why did Paul seem to have other views?  Why did he seem
to broaden the definition of divorce?  Let's look at what Paul wrote and we
will see that he, too, assures the believer that "death" is the only way to
be freed of a marriage.

Luke 6:26
brotim@gte.net
Timothy Litteral
Let's chat on ICQ or NetMeeting
http://members.tripod.com/~trlitteral/