Look at the legalized adultery we call divorce. Men marry one wife after another and are still admitted into good society; and women do likewise. There are thousands of supposedly respectable men in American living with other men’s wives, and thousands of supposedly respectable women living with other women’s husbands.
–R.A. Torrey
What would R.A. Torrey say of today’s Christianity that has a higher rate of divorce than that of the world?
Related Scriptures:
Mat 5:31-32 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 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.
Mat 19:3-10 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? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 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 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away 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.
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. His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
Mar 10:2-12 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Luk 16:18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
Rom 7:2-3 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. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
1Co 7:10-11 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
1Co 7:39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
May 28th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Last May when I was reading Romans 7:2-3 the Lord suddenly removed the scales from my eyes to show me that I was in an adulterous remarriage by being “married” for over 17 years to a divorced man whose covenant wife was still alive.We have two children together.The realization of my offence towards God’s holiness was a deep shock to me, but God gave me the grace to repent and forsake the adulterous remarriage.I will always be grateful to Christ and for the good news of the gospel of Christ. Many Christians object and say the Lord forgave us and that He would never require us to separate. They don’t understand the scriptures or the power of God. Only the Lord can open blind eyes.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:04 am
Hi Judy,
I am sorry to hear that you married a divorced man. Was the marriage that you were in a good relationship or was it on the rocks. It is one thing to forsake a marriage that is not working out but it would be another think to forsake a marriage that where the couple deeply love each other and have strong romantic feelings for each other.
Would you feel that you are free to remarry in the Lord? Also the divorced man who has a covenant wife, was that his first marriage and her first marriage?
May 29th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
My first (covenant) husband died, and I was left with three children, and then when I married my non-covenant husband he had one child that was also living with us, so the first four years of our marriage were quite stressful for everyone.We had our problems, but we loved each other and were definitely committed to our marriage.
I am not sure if I am free to remarry in the Lord, but feel that it is best if I remain single and focus on the Lord. I do not wish to complicate my children’s, grandchildren’s, or my life anymore. The lesson has been learned the hard way.
The man that I separated from was divorced from his covenant wife as it was a first marriage for both of them. She never did remarry.
January 9th, 2012 at 10:38 am
Judy’s story reveals the anguish of a betrayed husband, the feelings of illegitimacy of the two children born of this union. Those who surround her life are confounded by her behavior. Judy is at fault for these things but the source for her actions is the view that takes God’s Word one set further. She doesn’t realize that instead of escaping sin she has abdicated the God ordained role she is responsible to fulfill.
This needless sin, all it infects, affects and effects is revealed in part in her story. The magnitude of harm this one story reveals is compounded by other testimonies of abdication. Christianity itself is unnecessarily maligned all because of those who add to God’s Word. Ask these permanence view advocates to show you where Jesus or any New Testament writer instructed the remarried to abandon their present union and you will find that they will resort to deductive reasoning from their premise. The Bible does not instruct this sin.
What’s so admirable about Judy is she’s doing what she believes God expects her to do. It doesn’t dawn on her that the New Testament never instructs a remarried individual to leave their present spouse. With the exception clause redefined in her mind she doesn’t realizes that her husband had justifiable grounds for divorce in regard to his former wife. A second marriage is acknowledge as such in scripture even if adultrous. But for Judy the indoctrination of the permanence view teachers lead to fear of eternal damnation so she left her husband. Another broken home resulting from an eisegesis interpretation of Scripture. Only eternity will reveal the harm false suppositions like this cause.
January 14th, 2012 at 10:54 pm
I meant to say in the above comment that the view Judy believes takes God’s Word one step further than the bible. To advocate that Jesus was saying that from this point on a second marriage after divorce would no longer be a binding marriage exceeds the text, as well as the rest of the New Testament. No New Testament writer ever instructed an individual to leave their second spouse as these men do. No New Testament writer affirms the extra-biblical idea that “Marriage survives remarriage and precludes it”. No New Testament writer ever taught that divorce and remarriage was now impossible. No New Testament writer ever instructed the remarried to vacate there present marriage in order for adultery to be forgiven. These permanence view teachers advocate these things not because the bible affirms them, but because the premise they created logically leads to these conclusions.
February 27th, 2012 at 11:13 am
For hundreds of years God had not forced perpetual singleness on His people even though they had obstinately insisted on rights to divorce. He had responded to divorce by giving subsequent legislation that prohibited the reclaiming of a wife if she had entered another covenant of marriage (Deut. 24:1-4). Proving that God saw the second marriage as binding. It is wrong to expand the teachings of Christ and make Him to say He is overruling His Father‘s tolerance. Again the text in which Jesus addresses divorce does not address a solution after the fact of remarriage. It doesn’t even prohibit remarriage, but rather exposes it’s consequence. It revealed to the Pharisees and the nation of Israel that their obstinacy had always been sinful. That was Jesus’ point, for hundreds of years God’s people had been adulterating the covenant of marriage. The only solution He gives is, to stay married. He says nothing about undoing remarriages. It is imperative that the Church and for Christians in general, not to offer solutions that add to God’s Word. We mustn’t impress upon the conscience of those who come to realizes their sin, that they are to follow a new formula for forgiveness.
April 3rd, 2012 at 12:19 pm
The eisegesis hermeneutic of the Pharisees added many laws to their interpretation of the Law. By reading into God’s Word they created more restriction to be observed. You couldn’t be right with God unless you followed all these laws. The Judaizers of the early Church had added circumcision as the means to salvation. Denominations of our time add water baptism. Within the permanence view there are those that advocate that the remarried can’t be forgiven unless they vacate their present marriage. These teachers have been successful in getting individuals to divorce their present spouse in hopes of experiencing forgiveness. “Judy’s story” (in it’s entirety) reveals the belief that an adulterous remarriage is unforgivable in it’s present condition. This is not only extra-biblical but subverts God’s plan of salvation. We must not offer a plan of salvation that is pharisaical in nature.
We are not only instructed not to take away from the Word of God but not to add to it. This is the sinful guilt of those within the permanence view who take liberty to add that Jesus was changing the ability to divorce and remarry. His objective was to change individuals by reestablishing in their hearts the sacred union of marriage and the sinful consequences when one follows their own will. He does not go on to offer a new policy of forgiveness for the remarried. For those who are already remarried God’s grace is sufficient, that is it is enough to experience forgiveness without following extra-biblical counsel to break another marriage. Stay the course that God had in place at the time Christ. Praise Him for the restoration He provided then and now through a penitent heart.
April 10th, 2012 at 11:09 am
@Neal
>>>With the exception clause redefined in her mind she doesn’t realizes that her husband had justifiable grounds for divorce in regard to his former wife.
Judy didnt tell why her second husband and his first wife seperated. All she noted was her second husbands wife didnt remarry. So where do you get that he had ustifiable grounds for divorcing his former wife.
>>>Ask these permanence view advocates to show you where Jesus or any New Testament writer instructed the remarried to abandon their present union and you will find that they will resort to deductive reasoning from their premise.
The Bible states that unlawful marries are adultery and the Bible clearly instructs us to forsake all sin. So the question really is, is a marriage to a person that has a living covenant wife adultery? If it is adultery then it needs to be forsaken.
The Bible doesn’t give examples of separating polygamy marriages in the NT either but that is not a case for not separating polygamy marriages. Polygamy is sinful and therefore we know those in that sin need to separate.
>>>A second marriage is acknowledge as such in scripture even if adultrous.
The fact that it is acknowledged as a marriage doesnt mean it should not be forsaken.
>>>“Judy’s story” (in it’s entirety) reveals the belief that an adulterous remarriage is unforgivable in it’s present condition. This is not only extra-biblical but subverts God’s plan of salvation. We must not offer a plan of salvation that is pharisaical in nature.
Sin is only forgiven when forsaken. If you wont forsake your sin you cant be forgiven.
April 10th, 2012 at 9:13 pm
* Judy has a written letter on another web site as well as a You Tube segment detailing her story.
* Bob you deduce from what you believe that God won’t forgive this case of adultery unless the remarried couple divorce. I believe He will if His Spirit draws them to repentance. Two wrongs won’t make a right. We should forsake sin where our actions don’t result in more sin. In this case God is the only one who can absolve the sin of adultery. If Judy’s marriage had been adulterous, divorce would not have render her guiltless.
April 18th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
The biggest error that can be found in almost all position on divorce is the failure to differentiate between marriage and covenant bondage or covenant obligation. It is imperative to understand in sequence when these things end or become invalid in the divorce and remarriage process. Because there is common ground in the different positions found in the Old Testament, it is the best place to start. There, there is mutual consent that God tolerated divorce and remarriage even though it was not His will. The fact that remarriage resulted in a binding marriage then should not be overlooked now. This is the point of contention in the opposing views. This is where the mutual road of understanding forks.
Remarriage had both legal and moral obligations. It resulted in a subsequent covenant of marriage in which those who entered therein where bond. The point I’m making is remarriage was not only a legal marriage but one that resulted in a moral obligation to remain faithful. Covenant responsibilities ensued in remarriage. These facts are either set aside, denied or forgotten by some in the permanence view when it comes to New Testament interpretation. Some claim that Jesus changed remarriage possibilities by making it adulterous where it hadn’t been before. They stumble at the fact that remarriage can be both binding and adulterous. An adulterous remarriage for them necessitates the belief that remarriage has no covenant obligation. Only one’s first marriage now is a covenant marriage. For them remarriage is merely a legal procedure that needs to be undone.
As Steven Wilcox says “It is necessary therefore to warn those who have remarried while a former spouse lives that they are in a continuing state of adultery according to the scriptures, and must repent of it by confessing that sin and vacating that relationship.” and “Marriage is a lifelong covenant that will never be invalidated by God while both parties live.”
The immediate question should be, is this true? We fully agree that marriage is intended by God to be a lifelong covenant, but can this covenant be invalidated by God? If marriage is a lifelong covenant that will never be invalidated by God, then why did He tolerate divorce and remarriage? Why doesn’t the bible tell us that remarriage is not a marriage or as some would argue a binding marriage? Steven Wilcox advocates “Marriage survives remarriage and precludes it.” Why doesn’t the bible inform us as these men do that divorce and remarriage is impossible? These question reveal the conflict within the permanence view itself. How should the remarried be instructed?
Most in the permanence view acknowledge that a second marriage after divorce supplants the former. They as the proviso view does stays with this Old Testament reality. It becomes necessary for those who disagree to either deny this reality or to advocate that Jesus change it. The confliction within the permanence view itself reveals something amiss. Someone is adding to the Word of God. Who? Which permanence view advocate should we believe? If the permanence view advocates can’t arrive at the same conclusion, is there a better view? Who is reading into the words of Christ?
June 18th, 2012 at 12:20 am
Take a look at our church’s history and present practice concerning divorce and remarriage.
Once the church started to ignore God’s Word on that, they are now trying to ignore His Word on homosexuality.
Twenty-five years ago, the clergy was not allowed to perform weddings for people who were divorced.
While there are many scriptural references “forbidding the remarriage of divorced persons,” the clearest is found in the gospel of Luke;
“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery.”
What’s more, in Luke’s gospel, these are not Luke’s words, they are not Moses’ words, or Peter’s or Paul’s. These words are attributed straight from the mouth of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Hence, the Church did not perform remarriages, because it believed that to do so, would be to bless a union that Jesus Himself describes as adulterous.
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus makes it clear that the new marriage is viewed by Him to be adultery. So what happened?
Our culture changed. While divorce was rare 50 years ago, it is no longer rare anywhere.
The result is; now our pews are being populated by couples in second, third and fourth marriages. We stopped seeing these marriages as Jesus Himself sees them, as adulterous unions.
How can the Church join unions that Jesus Himself, according to Luke, defined as adulterous, I ask you? The Word of God will not change, even if the Church does!
June 18th, 2012 at 12:22 am
Origen:
A.D. 248
“The marriage covenant between a man and a woman is permanent, as long as both husband and wife are alive.
No matter what the legal circumstances may appear to be to the contrary, a remarriage relationship when either or both parties are divorced, while a former partner lives, is adultery.
The intimate relations between the man and the woman remarried while former spouses still live are adulterous, and considered sin.
A remarriage is not an actual marriage whatsoever, but disguised adultery.”
June 18th, 2012 at 12:25 am
Professor David Engelsma:
Holy Scripture forbids remarriage after a divorce.
What we witness today is simply the logical, inevitable outcome of the approval of adulterous remarriages. The evil tree now bears its evil fruit. And the fruit is exceedingly bitter, both in the dishonoring of God and in the destruction of marriage, family, husbands, wives, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and others.
To be sure, this approval of remarriage adultery is a nasty, disgusting business. A fellow church member may well tempt my wife to leave our marriage, then, after he divorces his wife, he may remarry mine. If he confesses his sin of adultery and my wife does the same, he may then be allowed membership with me in the same church, while living with my wife.
What happens to all the children involved, only the devil, who is behind this whole evil business knows. And this grim, damnable state of affairs actually continues on in “evangelical” and “conservative” churches today.
This is what the churches are approving…even though the Word of God teaches…in language that a child can understand…
“A wife is married to her husband as long as he lives.” 1 Corinthians 7:39
When a man obtains a divorce and marries another, he is committing adultery. The relationship is an adulterous relationship and he goes on committing adultery as long as he maintains it.
Jesus Christ forbids remarriage for the divorced. The churches approval of remarriage has brought the church into open war with Jesus Christ.
It is unbiblical to view marriage as a contract that man can dissolve by his own hands and at his will. Scripture teaches that marriage is a lifelong bond established by God and that God makes the two one flesh.
Only the death of one of them dissolves the bond, so that the other has the liberty to marry again. 1 Corinthians 7:39
Let it be shouted from the housetops:
Divorce does not dissolve marriage.
Only God puts asunder what He has joined together and He puts asunder by death.
August 19th, 2012 at 12:08 am
whoever puts aside his wife and marries another commits adultery. That is what the Bible says.
August 25th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
“Polygamy is sinful and therefore we know those in that sin need to separate.”
Show me ONE example in the Bible where Elohim called or indicated that polygamy was sin! Moses, David, Solomon must be great sinners indeed, never in scripture did they repent of their sinful polygamy, without repentance they must all surely be destined to hell. Speaking as if polygamy were just another word for adultery!
A man can have as many wives as he can take care of. Polygamy is only outlawed in our civil society, WE have made laws against it and nowhere does Elohim forbid it, he forbids Polyandry. Why do I bring this up? Stay with me.
ONLY a man who put his wife away commits adultery. A divorced women, regardless of how she was divorced is always guilty of adultery when she marries another man. She may well be innocent and have that divorce forced upon her… she is a victim sadly, but it is a truth never the less.
“If a man divorces his wife and marries another he commits adultery, and whosoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Assumptions are being made with the above statement by Yeshua. Women and men are NOT equal in the eyes of God. What applies to one does NOT apply to the other. So we have to change that, twist scripture to fit both male and female, it must apply to both! We have become such a politically correct society when it comes to gender!
Your husband did not divorce his wife, she divorced him, and she has NO right to divorce in the eyes of Elohim, ever, that was not a right women were ever entitled to.
Of course Yeshua knew the Greeks and gentiles allowed women to divorce their husbands, but THEY gave women these sinful rights, not Elohim, it didn’t change anything to him.
Now whoever your husbands “ex-wife” marries it will always be adultery, for her and her new “husband” always, for any man that has sexual relations with her for that matter, even if he is not married. This by default does not also apply to him, don’t make assumptions and apply scripture equally to both parties.
Yeshua NEVER says whosoever marries a divorced man commits adultery! Because men did and are allowed by God to have more than one wife!
If you were a divorced woman and married him you would be an adulteress, and it would be an adulterous remarriage for both of you “whosoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
I don’t quote the scripture with the “exception clause” of Matthew because it does not apply to us. He was speaking to the Jews, they had a betrothal period before they consummated the marriage. That meant a Jewish man could divorce his wife if she was unfaithful without him committing adultery.
Joseph was considering this with Mary when she was pregnant with our Savior, he “assumed” she had been unfaithful… that is understandable though, she was pregnant.
HOWEVER your first husband died, you are free from the law. You might not like it but your new husband could have seven hundred wives as King Solomon did, never was he called an adulterer in scripture. Why? Because he did not divorce any of those wives unlawfully. If ANY of those 700 wives divorced him they would always be guilty of adultery if remarried, regardless of the circumstances.
Paul does not say that the husband MUST remain single or be reconciled, it’s the wife if she divorces or separates from the husband. Paul indicates that a husband should not divorce his wife.
PLEASE, PLEASE take the time to visit the link below. Scripture is being twisted and turned by our own civil laws and traditions. You are tormenting yourself and your husband for no reason at all. We have let our society permeate our Churches and our teachers, we call things sin that are not, then teach them and they become doctrine.
http://www.righteouswarriors.com/controversial/article12.html
December 19th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
I am in a situation where my husband left after 27 yrs of a non abusive marraige on my side he was abusive in adultery continually, he is now living with a young girl 15 yrs younger only 5 yrs older than our daughter, yes he did give his life to Jesus, but that was short lived, his first marraige, we are not divorced purely becaus he is not paying maintenance as court order for 6 yrs hav no finance, lost all, I was married at 19 and had no christian upbringing, got divorced after being badly abused and only when I gave my life to Jesus age 28 then got married 29, I am in the ministry and I need to clarify where does my husband stand in Gods law, if he were to die and has not repented?
December 19th, 2012 at 10:34 pm
@Neal
>>>Bob you deduce from what you believe that God won’t forgive this case of adultery unless the remarried couple divorce.
Sin must be forsaken before it can be forgiven. I
>>>We should forsake sin where our actions don’t result in more sin.
The bible way to forsake sin will never result of a necessity in more sin.
>>>In this case God is the only one who can absolve the sin of adultery.
In all cases god is the one who can only forgive sin.
>>>If Judy’s marriage had been adulterous, divorce would not have render her guiltless.
It is a given that the only way to receive forgiveness is from God.