What does the Bible really say about divorce & remarriage?

FURTHER, Jesus was not changing the Old Testament laws on morality. Rather, he is pointing out prevelent inaccuracies in interpreting scripture within his day and time.. In other words, he was quoting a common statement of his day, where they conviently left out part of the Old Testament quote. They were just saying "give a writ of divorcement" for ANY reason! So, instead of including the requirement of "uncleanness", they were allowing people to divorce for any reason, which is quite similar to today's reasoning.

Jesus' command was actually just an explanation of the law stated in Deuteronomy 24:1-4.

What am I Saying?

The act of committing fornication is equivalent to commiting "idolatry" or "adultery" or any "sexual sin" in general. I believe this is equivelant to the term "uncleanness" in the Old Testament passage and is acceptable grounds for divorce. However, to curb the misuse of this rule, God also said that if you divorce your spouse, you can not get back together with that person ever again. This was to make the decision for divorce as serious as your decision to first marry. In other words, it isn't to be some flippant decision.

So what is idolatry? Is it just worshipping an idol? Or is it more than that?

Colossians 3:5 says this about idolatry:

http://www.godrules.net/library/kjv/kjvcol3.htm#5

"3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: "

IN other words, your spouse cheating on you is not the only grounds for divorce, but rather is more broad as the Old Testament says "some uncleaness".. So, the term porneia (except for the cause of fornication) includes also having various evil desires, such as wanting to hurt your spouse, a desire to treat them in an evil manner, etc. So men and women who are emotionally, verbally, physically abused are not required to stay with their abusive spouse, as their spouse has and acts on their evil desires, which is a form of idolatry according to Colossians 3:5. Of course, it could be your spouse has other evil desires which are manifested and intolerable. These also can be grounds for divorce. Keep in mind, though, it is to be a very important decision and not something you do flippantly or for the wrong reasons. If the marriage can be salvaged, it should be done, as God's ideal is for those who God has joined, let not man put asunder.

Lets revisit the scripture again and analyze the end part of the verse.

"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."

When it says "whosoever shall marry a woman that is divorced committeh adultery", it is refering to a woman who went through a divorce, where the marriage was not legitimately ended. For instance, lets say two are married and there is no uncleanness found and they just go their separate ways. IN this instance, they are still married in God's sight and for them to remarry, they would be committing adultery. Ironically, once they have committed the sex act with their new spouse, this will officially end the first marriage in God's sight, because now, there is uncleanness and legitimate reason for the first divorce. However, obviously, this is not a good pattern and the idea is to stay married to the one you are with and be serious about the relationship. Don't keep making the same mistakes over and over like the woman at the well.

I believe that many of Jesus' commands, particularly those mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount, are literally just quotes or explanations or rewordings of Old Testament morals and commandments.. Many people beleive he "changed" various moral doctrines or they just do not consider what the Old Testament says and try to deduce what Jesus meant.. As Isaiah 28:10 says, "28:10 For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little".

To prove my point, consider the passage about looking at a woman with lust in your heart, Matthew 5:27-28.. I would say MOST Christians misunderstand this scripture passage.

"5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. "

Jesus is literally quoting the 10th commandment of the Ten Commandments:
http://www.godrules.net/library/kjv/kjvexo20.htm#17

" ...thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife... "

So, Jesus was not saying you can not "covet" ANY woman. He was saying you can not "covet" a married woman. For adultery ONLY occurs when a married woman is involved, as the Old Testament's definition of adultery is:

Strong's Concordance (along with virtually all others): "have unlawful intercourse with another's wife.". Which makes sense, as that is a form of theft and violation of another man's rights.

Or for those not getting it, "5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery(unlawful intercourse with another's wife) with her already in his heart. "

The Ten Commandments are based off these two principles: Love God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength and love thy neighbor as thyself. So, it would be logical that coveting(earnestly desiring) your neighbor's wife would be not "loving your neighbor as yourself".

However, noticing a married woman's beauty or "thinking she's hot" is not the same as coveting thy neighbor's wife. Just like admiring your neighbor's car is not the same as coveting his car (only when lust/coveting conceives, does it bring forth sin -- theft of your neighbor's property).

Look at the Greek and Hebrew behind those verses above I quoted from Jesus and it makes a lot of sense and correlates with the Old Testament..

As God said, I am the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrew 13:8, Malachi 3:6 .

For a more elaborate explanation of divorce that harmonizes all scripture on the topic, click here.