Re-Marriage

Matthew 5:31-32

World Christian

Fellowship

Marriage may be made in heaven, but it is lived on earth. Because earth is the way it is, marriage is often irritating, hellacious, unsatisfying, boring, and shaky.

Matthew 5:31-32, “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

There are four views about Divorce. 1. No divorce ever. 2. Divorce but no remarriage ever. 3. Divorce and remarriage whatever and whenever.

4. Divorce and remarriage possibly only under certain

limited circumstances.

Ephesians 5:22-24, Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the

body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. The fact that marriage is a picture of Christ and His church.

Ephesians 5:25, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

Ephesians 5:32, Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Marriage becomes a symbol defining for us in visible terms the relationship between Christ and His church. Is the relationship between Christ and His church permanent? Yes.

Then it is demonstrably significant that marriage be permanent if in fact it is to reveal the truth about Christ and His church.

Ephesians 5:31, “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’

The reason it should be that way and the reason it should sustain its relationship in that way is because it is an emblem of Christ and His church.

• Husbands are to be as faithful as Christ is to His church,
• Wives are to be as faithful as Christ is to the church and
• The church is to Christ.

That is the imagery of Ephesians. Marriage should be viewed purely on the divine perspective not on human perspective. Marriage is a symbol of the relation between Christ and His church. Marriage was not designed primarily for your happiness, or my happiness, but was designed primarily to be an illustration on a human level of a divine relationship.

We can’t expect the world to understand this, but we people of God, we can expect the church to understand it.

2 Corinthians 11:2, A believer is united to Christ in a kind of a marriage perspective.

We find further as you read in Revelation 19, as you read again in Revelation chapter 21, the church is seen as a bride, and the city where the church dwells is seen as a bride city, and joined together with the bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:4, Marriage is honourable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Because its greatest honour is that it proclaims to the world that symbol of the union between Christ and His own blessed church. And as permanent and as full of love and as absolutely binding and as wonderfully unique as is Christ’s relationship to His church, so is to be your marriage and mine. In the very beginning God designed marriage.

Genesis 2:23-24, And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

God designed that marriage be two people becoming one for life. Even then it was to be the emblem of God’s relationship to man.

Matthew 19:4, And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’

We have seen this in great detail in God’s perspective.

Malachi 2:16, “For the Lord God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one’s garment with violence,” Says

the Lord of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously.” Whatever may be the reason, divorce always violates that imagery God has designed for marriage as well as violating the marriage itself.

Now, the Old Testament, lays down a standard and it never changes. Divorce is never God’s way to resolve a conflict. Never. That’s why God never commands divorce, and God never really condones divorce in the Bible. God knows it will happen, and God tries to regulate its consequences, but He never commands it because it’s never the solution.

We want to find out is which is Biblical?

Matthew 5:31-32, “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

Jesus is still facing the sins of the Pharisees, and He is unmasking their hypocrisy. They believed that you could be righteous by your works, but they couldn't keep God's standard, so they invented their own and then called it God's standard.

God had a very high view of marriage, and very clear command regarding marriage and divorce. The attitude of God towards marriage was never in question but they couldn't live by that standard, so they invented a new standard, called it God's standard.

They brought God and His standard down to their level, they invented their own code of ethics. What was worse that they misinterpreted the Bible to fit their own view. Even today that anybody does what he wants to do, they make up their own view and find a verse to go with it. Exactly what they did, they decided that you ought to be able to divorce your wife whenever you want. They just twisted around the Scripture to fit that.

The Scripture they used to fit their view was Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which we had seen in detail in our first two lessons. Verse 31, "It has been said." Verse 32, "But I say." Now, it has been said does not refer to the Old Testament law, it refers to what these people had been taught by the rabbis.

Matthew 5:21, "You have heard that it was said by them of old."In other words, it was the traditional Jewish view passed down by certain rabbinical teachers, not the view of God, not the Old Testament, not the Pentateuch, but their own misinterpretation of it. So, Jesus says, you have heard, but I'm telling you, in other words what you have heard is wrong, what I'm telling you is right.

Matthew 5:22, But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 5:27, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’

Matthew 5:28, But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:33, “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’

Matthew 5:34, But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne;

The Sermon on the Mount Jesus wanted them to lay these people bare and naked as sinners before God, He says to them, your interpretations of God's Truth are all wrong. In verse 31, they tolerated divorce for any reason. Jesus says, I am just the opposite, I don't tolerate it for any reason.

They tolerated divorce for any and all reasons, and tolerated remarriage for any and all reasons, and on the other hand Jesus did not. We have got to be honest with the Bible. The Bible teaches no divorce, no time, for no reason. Never allowed!

There are some who take this view are very comfortable and they say that we must deny divorce and remarriage because of what it leads to. If we can just stop divorce and remarriage, we can clean up the church. If we allow divorce and remarriage, we got problems, social problems, guilt problems, and the floodgates of sin open.

We looked at several weeks how God intended the marriage should be from Genesis 2:23-24.

Two becomes in one flesh. Death penalty for the adultery.

Leviticus 20:10, ‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.

Deuteronomy 22:22, “If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.

But God in His grace and mercy allowed divorce so that sinner may live.

Matthew 19:8, He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so

This is never God's intention. No place in the Bible is divorce ever commanded. Moses never did command it, that's how twisted they were. And Jesus says, "Moses, because of the hardness of your heart's permitted it."But never did he command it.

Mark 10:4-6, They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.” 5 And Jesus answered

and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ We looked at Malachi 2:13-16 great length.

Genesis 3:16-19, To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” Man and woman have sinned, and they have fallen, as soon as they have fallen into sin marriage was going to be cursed, like every other human relationship you are going to have trouble, because you have two vile sinners separated from God. Sin brought curse and curse brought Man separated from God, Man separated from Man, and Man and Nature.

V 16, "your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you." This one statement we have the basic problem in marriage. Two cursed sinners trying to get along. Before the curse, the woman's being a help mate was a loving, caring submissiveness to the one who was given as her leader.

It was beautiful, her heart was totally devoted to him, and his heart was totally devoted to her.

Genesis 1:27-28, So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

They ruled together, but that ended. Now the woman cursed, and her desire is to her husband, and he shall rule over her. The word rule here is ‘mashal’, it means to rule or to reign, it means to be set in an elevated position or an elevated office, and literally what happened was in the fall man was elevated to rule in the house, to rule in the home.

Because of the curse and because woman led in the sin God set man over her to control her, to subdue her as it were, to be her head. Without Jesus Christ it can be very abusive, sinful man has been chauvinistic. Only in Christ, and through His Spirit can a right kind of headship be restored and that's the meaning of Ephesians chapter 5.

Man is installed in this case as a ruler and woman, her desire shall be to her husband.

Matthew 5:32, But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

What Jesus is trying to do is to stop adding adultery to the already sinful thing of divorce. Adultery was the only just grounds for a writing of divorce, but they were giving bill of divorce for everything under the sun.

Perfect example in the New Testament.

Matthew 1:18-19, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy

Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. Joseph finds his wife Mary is pregnant. Joseph has an option. Joseph minded divorcing her, privately. He could have stoned her by the law, but the Romans had taken away the right to kill, so he really couldn’t do that.

Could have made her a public spectacle but he didn’t choose to do that, so he did what he could have done in his own mind, he would divorce her, ‘apoluō’. It’s the same word used for divorce other places in the New Testament. So, he could have divorced her for adultery.

Joseph was a true Old Testament saint according to v19. A righteous man could divorce an adulterous wife. If Mary in fact had been adulterous and that is how she got pregnant rather than by the Holy Spirit, he was a righteous man and he could have done what was very legalistic and divorced her.

Joseph would have had that right. He couldn’t take her life because the Romans had taken away the right of the Jews to execute.

We must admit that a person could divorce, you could technically divorce. But beyond that, you’ve got to see the grace, mercy, and the forgiveness of God. Technically, if you’ve got an unfaithful wife or an unfaithful, husband you can divorce them, move on. But in so doing, you bring about a divorce, and God always hates divorce because divorce is never the best solution to anything. Never.

V 32. “Now I say unto you that whoever divorces his wife causes her” “to commit adultery.” Lord is teaching in this passage that you say you are not adulterers, but I am telling you that you are not only adulterers, but you are also making other people adulterers.

By divorcing.

Why? Because remarriage is inevitable, and when people have no right for a divorce and they enter into another union, they consummate an adulterous relationship. Jesus is saying it isn’t even their sin, it’s yours, you make them commit adultery.

Jesus assumes the remarriage, it’s inevitable.

Mark 10:11-12, “You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together. 12 “You shall

make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself. You not only make your wife an adulterer, but when you remarry, which, again, is inevitable, you become an adulterer. If a woman puts away her husband and she’s married to another, she commits adultery.

The Lord is saying divorce leads to adultery!

Luke 16:18, “Whosoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whosoever marries her that is put away or divorced from her husband commits adultery.” Now, those passages don’t even have any exception clauses.

They don’t even have any “except for the cause of” in there. When you get a divorce or you divorce somebody, you cause adultery all over the place. Divorce leads everybody into sin. It’s precisely what Deuteronomy was saying. Divorce leads to adultery because remarriage is inevitable. So, the sin of adultery has become added to the sin of divorce, and that’s what really is the whole sum of the passage.

Verse 32, “Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery.” No matter how you look at it, the meaning is the same.

Divorce leads to adultery is the main theme our Lord taught here. The disciples who were with Jesus got this message loud and clear.

Matthew 19:10-12, His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: 12 For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.” If divorce is only a concession to an evil, sinful society, if divorce is only something as a last-ditch technicality for fornication and other than that marriage is permanent, it’s better not to get in it because you might have made a mistake and then you are stuck.

1. There are some eunuchs who were so born from their

mothers’ wombs

2. There are some eunuchs who were made eunuchs by

men

3. There are eunuchs who have made themselves

eunuchs for the Kingdom of heaven’s sake.

There are some people for varying reasons who can handle singleness, but not everybody can handle it. Jesus saying that if you want to marry then get married for right reasons if not then you are either stuck for life or else when you divorce you commit adultery.

You can’t unscramble the eggs. In the Gospels we have about Divorce on the following passages. Matthew 5, Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 16. What is the big idea of God on this issue? God is not making a great announcement, “You can get a divorce for fornication.”

His announcement is, “Divorce creates adultery except, of course, for the cause of fornication.” That’s just a concession. ‘Porneia’ is the Grrek word translated as ‘Fornication’. Meaning every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Divorce is not only technically allowable when your partner has a relationship with somebody else, but a divorce is technically allowable when your husband has any kind of unlawful sexual relationship or when your wife has any kind of unlawful sexual relationship with a man, a woman, a child, or an animal. Because all of those things in the Old Testament brought about the death penalty.

By the way, Jews in Israel were put to death for acts of fornication, both before and after marriage. The death penalty was imposed upon marriage used for incest, sodomy, bestiality, every forbidden sex act. Read Leviticus chapter 20, it’s all mentioned there.

There were all those things that brought the death penalty, and it is that divorce is allowable when death could have ensued.

Numbers 25:1-2, Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. 2 They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 23,000 of Israel, including the chiefs who committed sexual sin with the daughters of Moab, were not all unmarried and yet their sin is called fornication.

1 Corinthians 10:8, Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; Jesus never advocates divorce, He only admits there are times when it doesn’t lead to adultery, that’s all. He hates it all the time.

But there are times when it doesn’t lead to adultery. There are times when you are the innocent party in a divorce and you have tried every way you can to reconcile, every way you can to redeem and forgive and put it together, and it just doesn’t happen. Then you are free, and if you remarry again it won’t be adultery.

So, the Bible recognizes it will happen. When it does, those who remarry, which is inevitable, will commit adultery unless sex sin was the cause. So, Jesus sets the record straight. God still hates divorce. His ideal is still monogamous, lifelong marriage, and divorce only brings adultery apart from the cause of fornication.

1 Corinthians 7:10, Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. Now, Paul is saying, I am giving you a direct command from the Lord, I got this right from the Lord. This is Matthew 19, this is Luke 16, this is Mark 10, this is Matthew 5.

The Lord has told us this, I am quoting the Lord here. No divorce”.

1 Corinthians 7:11, But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. If something happens in a marriage, and you leave, there’s no adultery, no fornication then you are left with two options.

• a. you can stay single the rest of your life or
• b. you can be reunited to your husband.

If you had a divorce less than biblical grounds, not on the basis of adultery, either you have to go back to him or stay single the rest of your life? Yes! If you say that some of these things happened before I was a Christian.

Remember Paul is writing to believers! Now that you are a Christian then you have to live in the light of 1 Corinthians 7:11, just like you do in light of the gospels.

1 Corinthians 7:12, But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her.

The Lord simply said there is no divorce for less than adulterous grounds, but Paul want to add something to this, this is also inspired by the Holy Spirit. You stay with her.

1 Corinthians 7:13-14, And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. If you have got an unsaved partner, stay married.

Why? You stay in that family going to be a sanctifying influence. The best thing you can do for an unsaved husband and the best thing you can do for the children that are going to come through that marriage is to stay there and be God’s representative in the family.

What if my unbelieving partner wants out?

1 Corinthians 7:15, But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. If the unbelieving divorces, let him divorce.

If an unbeliever departs, seeking a divorce, the unbeliever divorces, you’re not in bondage in such cases.

Why? Because God has called us to peace. God doesn’t want you to try to hang on to somebody who hates everything you believe in. That would not be peaceful. Please do remember, Paul is not presenting conditions for a possible divorce, because a believer is not to divorce at all.

That’s the ideal. It may happen that some unbeliever leaves you because he can’t stand what you believe in. The believer is not to divorce at all. But if a believer is divorced and he is a victim of adultery or a divorce by somebody who doesn’t want anything to do with Christ, then and only then is he or she free to remarry.

Conclusion

We live in the age of grace! If you’re a Christian, there is a great news you! Everything you have ever done in the past is forgiven. Everything! You may have messed up a marriage, some of you may have messed up more than one.

You don’t know how to unscramble the egg? I also don’t know how to put it all together. But I can tell you one thing I do know, and that is that whatever you have done in the past is under the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen!

You start from here.

2 Corinthians 5:17, “And if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.” Old things have passed away and all things have become new.

Forget the past, will you? Will you take a hold of the moment and live it according to God’s ideal!