In the beginning, God instituted and blessed the first marriage between the first man and woman—Adam and Eve. The Bible describes the union of the two as becoming one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 “That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he will stick to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”
God intended the marriage between mates to last forever, as death is non-existent back then. But since death has taken hold of mankind,the marriage between the two persons is only valid until the death of their spouse.(Romans 7:2,3; 1 Corinthians 7:39)
During the course of time since then, the marriage validity again changed when the Israelites made a concession that they could divorce their wives. But why did God allowed it? Jesus Christ explains:
Matthew 19:8 “He said to them: “Out of regard for your hard-heartedness, Moses made the concession to you of divorcing your wives, but that has not been the case from the beginning.””
Jesus continues to tell the Pharisees and those hearing him that you can’t divorce your spouse in any sort of grounds, unless the spouse committed adultery.
Matthew 19:9 “I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the grounds of sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery.”
Now that the Lord Jesus gave an advise on what grounds those under Mosaic Law can divorce their spouse, does this mean he completely agrees with this provision, to be specific—the divorce? Not necessarily. He just gave a more reasonable and just way for divorce so that no one abuses the law regarding divorce and make the spouse be dealt with treachery, as in the days of Malachi the prophet.(Malachi 2:13-15)
We have to remember that when the Lord Jesus gave instruction about the exception on divorce, he is speaking with the Mosaic Law in mind.
We can see here the perspective of the Lord Jesus regarding divorce, reflecting that of his Father. We can see why Jesus is not in favor of divorce, because when Jehovah God allowed divorce, it was used for treacherous reasons.(Also read Malachi 2:13-15) That’s why God said:
Malachi 2:16 “For I hate divorce,” says Jehovah the God of Israel, “and the one who covers his garment with violence,” says Jehovah of armies. “And guard yourselves respecting your spirit, and you must not deal treacherously.”
Then again, remember, the law on divorce was only made valid when the Mosaic Law come into effect, but as the Lord Jesus said: “. . .that has not been the case from the beginning.”(Matthew 19:8)
Now that Christians are NOT under the Law of Moses BUT under the Law of Christ, he made the law consisting of decrees—which includes divorce— INVALID by nailing it to the stake.(Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:15) Thus, making the original plan of marriage restored in the New Covenant. And this echoes with the words of Jesus:
Mark 10:9 “Therefore, what God has yoked together, let no man put apart.”
Now, divorce is not valid in the Law of Christ. As the Lord Jesus said:
Mark 10:11,12 “. . .Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if ever a woman after divorcing her husband marries another, she commits adultery.””
May peace be to all who follows God’s words with humility.
Comments (0)