Bible Question:
In this verse it says if a man takes a bride and finds she is not a virgin when he marries her, he may than put her away - divorce her but if her father proves she was a virgin by the tokens, than the man would be chastened. Deut. 22:13-18 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, [14] And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: [15] Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: [16] And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; [17] And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. [18] And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; Is this the law that Joseph was using to put Mary away when he found that she was pregnant? And Christ referred to in - Matthew 5:32 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. Is not fornication sexual act outside of the marriage covenant? Why do so many today say they can divorce because of adultery? Where does Christ? Paul? allow for divorce because of adultery. It seems if adultery was the reason for divorce than how could that same adulterous spouse than get remarried with the sanction of the church? |
Bible Answer: Question: Where does Christ? Paul? allow for divorce...? An answer: God's utter hatred of divorce is very clear in Scripture. Nonetheless, there are two extraordinary cases in which Scripture teaches that God does permit divorced people to remarry. First, note that Jesus Himself included this exception clause: "Whosoever shall put away his wife, *except it be for fornication*, and shall marry another, committeth adultery" (Matt. 19:9, King James Version, emphasis added). He allows an exception in this one case, only "because of the hardness of your hearts" (Matt. 19:8). Clearly, Jesus is treating divorce as a last resort, only to be sought in the case of hard-hearted adultery. The apostle Paul allows one more reason for divorce: if an unbelieving spouse abandons a believer, the believer is under no obligation in such a case (1 Cor. 7:14). This would free the abandoned spouse to remarry. But we must emphasize that apart from those two specific, exceptional cases, divorce is not sanctioned in Scripture.(http://www.gty.org/IssuesandAnswers/archive/divorce.htm) More extensive answers to this question are available in John MacArthur, The Fulfilled Family (Chicago: Moody, 1981); and, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 16-23,(Chicago: Moody, 1988). |