Today’s topic is going to be found in 1 Corinthians 7. We are not necessarily going to read the whole chapter or just a couple of verses, but we are going to be in this chapter for a lot of our study today. The particular issue that we are going to look at is that of divorce.
In terms of divorce, we know that this happens all over the United States and the world today. More than half of marriages today end in divorce. The population is growing and the number of people who get married, obviously, grows with it; and the number of people who get divorced, proportionately, is now in the majority, sadly. So we do see that more than 50% of marriages end up splitting up, and not through death, but through the fact that the parties do divorce.
We are going to look at this topic because as we have studied the Scriptures over the last few years, we know that the Bible is opening up to us all kinds of truth. Nothing is a “sacred cow.” Have you ever heard this term before? In business, this term is used a lot. A “sacred cow” is a term that is used in a situation where someone might say, “You cannot touch that; we have always done it this way.” However, this is not fair in terms of theology, because the Scriptures have been opening up lately in all kinds of areas.
One of the areas that I wanted to look at more recently, and have over the past few months, is the issue of divorce and remarriage. This is happening all over, so what does Scripture say in reference to this topic? Have we missed something? Has our understanding in the past—that you simply cannot divorce for any reason and if you do divorce, you cannot get remarried if your former spouse is still alive—does this still hold?
Fortunately, through speaking with many of the men and even some of the ladies here at the fellowship as I have endeavored over the past many months to really come to solid conclusions on this topic as to whether or not our position of the past been true, I really have appreciated everyone’s input because I am not an island out here trying to come up with ideas. We all have to get our heads together and look at the Scriptures. Ideas can come from anywhere and anybody, from a child to an adult, from a man or from a woman. As you speak to others about the Scriptures, you never know when an idea is going to come.
That being said, at least today I would like to look at some of the most difficult passages that are reasons why “conservative Christians” still think that it is okay to divorce and remarry. What does the Bible say about this? What does some of the literature out there teach, and why? Let us see if the Scriptures do indeed confirm that it is sinful to divorce and that it is sinful to remarry if your former spouse is still alive.
Some of the most challenging verses on this topic are in 1 Corinthians 7, so will look at these today. The first passage that we will look at is 1 Corinthians 7:27-28 where Paul says under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
There are two words in these two verses that really need to be understood. Can you take a guess at what these two words are? We are going to look at the words “bound” and “loosed.” What does it mean to be “bound” and what does it mean to be “loosed”?
Let us take a look at the first word “bound” that we see here in verse 27, 1 Corinthians 7:27:
Art thou bound unto a wife?…
What does it mean to be “bound unto a wife”? This means that you are connected to them; you are tied to them.
In Revelation 9:14, God uses this term:
Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
If the angels were bound, this is kind of like being in prison or being chained up or being tied up or held back, something of this nature. Then being loosed is like being released so that you can come out. So being bound means that you are tied or held, you are constrained.
In Acts 21, this same word “bound” is being used to help us understand it. In Acts 21:33, it says:
Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains…
This is the perfect word-picture for the word “bound,” being held by chains. You are there and you are being held there; you are forced. Whether you want to or not, you are being held. You are bound.
This is the key. When someone is held and bound by chains, typically, they do not want to be. If this is the case, they are held in a place that they cannot leave. They cannot move from their position; they are tied or bound.
Let us go back to 1 Corinthians 7 where we read in 1 Corinthians 7:39:
The wife is bound…
The wife is not bound by chains or ropes. What is the wife bound by?
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.
Notice the binding that God has in view in 1 Corinthians 7:27:
Art thou bound unto a wife?…
So this Greek word for “bound” or “to bind” means “to hold” or “to tie.” What ties you? If you are a wife, you are married to a husband, and 1 Corinthians 7:39 defined for us how you are bound, not with chains but by “the law.” What law? Is it by the law of the land?
No, it is not by the law of the land because the law of Pennsylvania, as an example, will allow you to unbind that marriage institution, and it only takes one party; you do not even need consent. As long as one party desires it, the law of Pennsylvania allows you to unilaterally divorce after two years; however, if both parties agree, you can get this done pretty quickly, within a matter of weeks or months. “The law” that is in view here is God’s Law.
The other word that we are looking at is what it says here in 1 Corinthians 7:27:
Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed…
So God is saying here that if you are bound by the Law of God, do not seek to be loosed. What does it mean to be “loosed”? The definition of this word “loosed” in the Greek is to be “set free.”
We find this in Luke 13:16:
And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
This is when Jesus healed her. The idea is that she was loosed or set free from that illness or from that predicament that she was in.
This Greek word for “loosed” also means “to dissolve.” The best verse that is used in the New Testament to really underscore this is in 2 Peter 3:11 where it talks about the end of the world. What is going to be dissolved at the end of time? The whole earth is going to be dissolved. 2 Peter 3:11 says:
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be…
And we read in the verse before this, 2 Peter 3:10:
…the elements shall melt with fervent heat…
So when the Bible says, “Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed,” it means seek not to set it free; seek not to have it “dissolved.” Seek not to have the marriage dissolved or nullified or set at nought.
Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is saying here in the Bible that if you are bound, do not seek to be loosed from it, and then he also says in the same verse, 1 Corinthians 7:27:
…Art thou loosed from a wife?…
So now he is saying, “Are you set free? Are you dissolved from a wife?” If so:
…seek not a wife.
So far, it sounds consistent and easy to understand, right? If you are loosed, do not seek a wife.
But then he says in the next verse, 1 Corinthians 7:28:
But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned…
Can you understand how people have mistakenly, or otherwise, thought that this verse meant that if your marriage was dissolved, however it was dissolved, “If thou marry, thou has not sinned”?
We can see how people would have construed this passage to represent a license to remarry. However, the key is how are you loosed? All this says is, “Art thou loosed?” Are you loosed due to a divorce? Are you loosed due to your spouse dying?
We know that, obviously, if you are bound by the Law of God to your spouse and then loosed by the Law of God, it would be because of what we read in verse 39, 1 Corinthians 7:39:
The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth…
So this binding only ties you together and holds you in place as long as your spouse is alive, as we read in the rest of the verse:
…but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
So the Law of God dissolves the marriage upon the death of a spouse.
If this happens, then Paul is saying here in verse 28, 1 Corinthians 7:28:
But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned…
So the Bible is saying, obviously, that if you have never been married before and you get married, it is not sin, even though he said that it was good not to marry. Earlier in the chapter, he had said that it was good to remain single for reasons that have to do with serving God.
Again, the key is what this word “loosed” means. Could this mean anything other than by death?
The Scriptures do not give us an exact definition of loosing by death only, to the extent that it is crystal clear and easy to understand. This is why we have to dig and try to relate and compare Scripture to have it harmonize. This is key: the harmony of all of these passages needs to be in synchronization for it to make sense, one way or the other.
Probably the best piece of literature that attempted to tackle this question and why many in the “conservative Christian” circles still hold that it is okay to divorce and remarry in certain instances is due to a book by Jay Adams. He used to be on Family Radio. He was in the field of Christian counseling. He is still alive today. He has published more than 100 books. His most popular book is called Competent to Counsel. He was best known for this book.
His whole theory was that a Christian who was well-trained in the Scriptures was much more effective at counseling anybody in any issue of life than a trained psychologist. This was his whole point. He said that God’s wisdom from the Scriptures far superseded anything that man could come up with in Freudian psychology or anything else. This was his whole point and it was very Biblical.
But now, I am going to read you an excerpt from another one of his books. He wrote a book called Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible. This book is used by many to justify some positions that would allow, in certain instances, divorce and remarriage. Most of the counseling in getting remarried and/or divorced is based on the circumstances of people, and he wanted to deal with this issue from a Biblical perspective. This is what he endeavored to do. I am going to read just a snippet of Jay’s attempt to define why he wrote this book and what the void is among those who profess to be Christians. I will read several sentences from the introduction to this book:
The great advantage of a time like this is that conservative Christians are willing to pay serious attention to new views, provided they are truly Biblical. To explore the Scriptures and to arrive at more concrete and more definite Biblical positions is my concern in this book. I want to be as Biblical as possible. The reader must decide whether I have succeeded or not.
So what do we understand was his desire in writing this book, which is used by many today? He was from the Westminster Theological Seminary here in Pennsylvania and a lot of his counseling techniques are still used today in conservative circles.
We can see that his desire was to write this book from a Biblical perspective. It was not like, “Well, if you feel a certain way, then do such and such.” Instead, it was, “Does the Bible say to do this or to do that? Whatever it says, that is what you should do.”
This was his whole approach, which is why he was respected in the “conservative Christian” community. This is why he was even on Family Radio where they aired brief counseling segments from him that were interspersed between different programs at different times.
Remember that the key word is “loosed.” How can you be loosed from your wife?
Again, 1 Corinthians 7:27-28:
…Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned…
The position that many of us in this room have held for a long time is that only by death can someone be loosed. So how did Jay Adams view these Scriptures? How are other people looking at this? Why do they think that it is okay to be loosed from a marriage?
He says here that in these verses, 1 Corinthians 7:27-28, it is plain that divorce is in view in both instances. In other words, loosing is by divorce.
Here is another quote:
Clearly when Paul says that one must not seek to be released from a wife, he does not mean by death. The release in view can mean only one thing: release by divorce.
What did you notice about his statement and about his introduction to this book that I read? He talks a lot in the rest of this chapter about these verses and about being loosed, that it is okay through divorce in certain instances. What did you pick up? The introduction talked about the desire to be as Biblically-directed as possible. So what was missing from this statement?
In particular and specifically, Jay makes the assumption and hypothesis that this loosing, because of the Greek word and how it is defined, automatically means to dissolve the marriage through divorce or death, without proving it.
I have read this whole book twice in search for a deep truth to really understand this topic, but one thing that Jay failed to do is to prove this. I hope that one day somebody can talk to him and say, “I heard someone saying something about your book; here is what was missing.”
Jay did not use the Bible to define that the word “loosing” means “divorce.” He did not use the Scriptures. He automatically presumed this to be self-evident and then used a lot of other things in the rest of these two chapters to talk about this one passage in 1 Corinthians 7; which, of course, we do not have time to go through. If you want to read this, you will see this for yourself.
Now, he does say, quite cautiously and properly, that you want to make sure that you understand this. One reason for this is because if we have, as a Christian community, been too restrictive, this is sin also. If God did not say, “Thus,” and we are saying that you have to be bound until death, that you can only be loosed through death, then this is sin.
One thing that Jay did was that he used a verse in Ezekiel from the Old Testament. But what is the one chapter that we think of from the Old Testament where God opened up divorce? We find this in Deuteronomy 24. I will just read the first two verses and then I will read Jay’s verse from Ezekiel that he used. Deuteronomy 24:1-2:
When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
We know that God has set this rule up. This is repeated in Matthew 19, which we will look at a little later in this study.
But there is also a verse in Ezekiel 44, so let us look at this because we may not have realized that this verse is there. In Ezekiel 44, God is talking about the priests in Israel and He is giving commandments for the priests to follow. We read in Ezekiel 44:21-22:
Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court. Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel…
In other words, being “put away” means “divorced.” But, obviously, it was okay for people to marry a widow, so the assumption would then be that it was okay to marry someone who was “put away” as well. However, this was not for the priests, just for the common people.
So Jay looked at this in his book and said that God recognizes that a marriage can be dissolved not only by death. He uses this, though, without defining or doing a diligent word study on the word “loosed.”
So I do not think that this book helps the cause of those who really think that it is clear that you can loose a marriage in many ways, more than just by death; nor does it help the cause of those who believe that when Paul says, “and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned,” that it is not sin to remarry.
Now, let us take a look at another issue with this same passage. Let us turn to 1 Corinthians 7:17, ten verses earlier from what we looked at previously. What was the context of the passage in 1 Corinthians 7 that we read? If you remember, we started in 1 Corinthians 7:27. Here, we read in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24:
But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches. Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
Let us summarize this. What does it mean to be “called”?
When you are called by God, as in, “For many are called, but few are chosen,” the idea is that God is getting your attention. You are hearing the Scriptures. You are paying attention to the Lord’s things.
What is the context, then? What is the meaning of what we just read in these eight verses?
The context of this passage relates to being content where you are when you are called. He asks here, “Art thou called being a servant?” Let us say that you are a slave. You start reading the Scriptures and realize that you are being dealt wrongfully. Your master is a sinful and mean despot; and yet the Bible says that if you are called by God while being a servant, you stay there. You are to be content. If you are free, be content because you are Christ’s servant anyway.
He also asks, “Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised.” If you are called as a Jew, you do not have to become an un-Jew. He also says, “Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.” Do not think that you now have to get physically circumcised, because it no longer means anything: “Circumcision is nothing.” Therefore, wherever you were when you were called, be content there.
Then he transitions to the virgins in verse 25, and we read in 1 Corinthians 7:25-26:
Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
So he is saying, “If you are unmarried when you get the call of God and you start to pay attention to the Lord’s things, be content. Do not be seeking and looking and earnestly desiring to change your state and become married. If it happens, that is fine; but be content; be happy.”
Are you married? Maybe you are now saying, “Oh, I have too many obligations at home. I would rather get out in the mission field or do Bible studies every night. I want to do whatever it is at the expense of my family, so I need to divorce. It would be much better if I were single. I could serve God so much better. I mean, look at what Paul is saying here in this whole chapter. He is saying that it is better to be single than to be married if you want to serve God.”
But the Bible says, “No.” 1 Corinthians 7:27:
Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed…
This is what Paul is saying. This is the context of this verse. Do not seek to undo what God has done, thinking that you can do more for God when you are not married. This is the issue here; because the context is: wherever you are, be content with your situation.
This is why he does say in verse 28, 1 Corinthians 7:28:
But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
What trouble is she going to have in the flesh? She is only going to have a little bit more difficulty exclusively focusing on a lot of the ministry work for God’s kingdom. That is all. That is what Paul means by this. This is because her attention is going to be drawn to her husband, as it should be. There is a place for all of these things, even though everyone is being called.
Again, the key in 1 Corinthians 7:27 is:
…Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
Do you know what the challenge has been while we have held the position that this means by death only? It is one of the things that I have talked about with a lot of you who I have discussed this topic with over the last few months to try to get to the bottom line of truth concerning this issue. Or do you know what the challenge was from Jay Adams? He actually says this in his book. He understood this. He must have been listening to the “Open Forum” back then when he wrote this. He said:
It is ludicrous for people to think that “don’t seek to be loosed” would obviously then mean that you seek that your wife would die.
This is why people think that it is too restrictive to believe that you can only be loosed by death, because 1 Corinthians 7:27 would then mean, “Are you bound unto a wife? Do not seek to be loosed, if you can only be loosed legally to remarry if your wife has died.” Or that “Do not seek to be loosed” could mean, “Do not think that getting divorced and staying single to serve God makes you a hero.”
But Paul says, “No, this is not the case. Instead, be content where you are.” Wherever you work, whatever your state in life is, married or unmarried, whatever it is, this is where you serve God when you are called, when you become enlightened to the truth of God’s Word.
Herein lies probably the best explanation for this verse because it really is defined in verse 39, 1 Corinthians 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.
Do you know what could have made this crystal clear? If God had not wanted this to be at least somewhat difficult to understand in 1 Corinthians 7:39, what word that begins with the letter “L” would have been given a different Greek word? The word is “liberty.”
What word could God have used to have made this absolutely crystal clear? The word “loosed.” If God would have used that exact same word, “She is [loosed] to be married to whom she will,” then 1 Corinthians 7:27 would have been simple and easy to understand and nobody would have been able to mess this one up.
But God did not do this and this is how God wrote the Bible. This is our challenge. He wrote the Bible somewhat difficult to understand. He left the door open just a little bit so that people could think what they wanted to.
For example, this is like our previous understanding of “hell.” We thought that hell was eternally suffering under God’s wrath for an unending period of time, because there were Scriptures that seemed to indicate that maybe this was the case. This seemed to be it.
So God wrote this to be very difficult to understand. He has allowed this to happen for His own purposes and for His own reasons. But it does seem that when 1 Corinthians 7:39 says, “she is at liberty to be married to whom she will,” it is saying that she is only loosed when she is dissolved through the death of her spouse.
There is one other passage that is very difficult that needs to be tackled as well and it is in the same chapter. It is earlier in 1 Corinthians 7. However, before I go there, can you understand why others have thought that there are certain instances where it is okay to divorce and remarry? I do not think that this understanding is doing the Scriptures justice, and I was disappointed that Jay Adams’ work was not more Biblically diligent in defining the words that were the fulcrum of this whole doctrine.
Jay Adams’ book is not a thick book, but he did spend a lot of time talking about the practical issues about husbands and wives and when a believer or an unbeliever divorces for certain reasons, but his whole point in the beginning of the book was to be Biblical. However, his book does not provide a Biblically-sound road map for this issue; yet his endeavor in writing this book was to do just that. I am challenging him that he did not do justice to the Word of God by teaching that being loosed was referring to being divorced.
Let us go back to 1 Corinthians 7 and look at this other issue. 1 Corinthians 7:8:
I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
What word in this verse needs a better definition in order for us to understand what we read here? The word “widows” is pretty easy. What does that mean? A widow is someone whose spouse has died and the other marriage partner is still alive.
But what could “unmarried” mean? What are the two states of being unmarried? One is single and the other is divorced; it could be one of the two, right? So what does God mean?
Again, Paul says here:
I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
How was Paul abiding? He was single; he was unmarried.
Then we read in the next verse, 1 Corinthians 7:9:
But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
So he was referring to those who are single, those having never been married before, which is clearly and definitely what this word “unmarried” means in 1 Corinthians 7:8.
Could it also mean those who are divorced? We need to find this out. This is the challenge in this verse. Obviously, the understanding of “widows” is clear.
In 1 Corinthians 7:8, he again is saying that it better for them to remain single to serve God, “It is good for them if they abide even as I.” 1 Corinthians 7 is filled with the benefits of remaining single for the purpose of serving God. But then Paul says that if you cannot contain yourself physically, “it is better to marry than to burn.”
Then we read in 1 Corinthians 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.
We still cannot tell for sure, because he uses the word “unmarried” in verse 1 Corinthians 7:11:
But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried…
Can you understand how somebody might then think that marriage and divorce is okay?
In 1 Corinthians 7:8, we read:
I say therefore to the unmarried and widows…
They might think it is okay if they believe that “the unmarried” included people who have never married as well as divorced people, especially since Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:9:
But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
Again, 1 Corinthians 7:11:
But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried…
If the divorced are being referred to as the “unmarried,” then people could think that this could mean that it is okay to remarry, because it is better to remarry “than to burn.”
However, the key in understanding this is in 1 Corinthians 7:10 where Paul says:
And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
Therefore: “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” If we remember, this is God’s rule. This is His Law. We are not to divorce. Period! God joined you together in marriage and He does not want you to “put asunder” what He has “joined together.”
However, through the Holy Spirit, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:11:
But and if she depart…
So God is recognizing that this is going to happen. Human beings are going to split up and they are going to divorce.
But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
What is the issue in this verse that we need to understand? If she does depart from her husband, what is she supposed to do? What are the two options that she is given by God? One of the options or commands is to “remain unmarried.” The other option is to “be reconciled.” Does this leave room to remarry?
This is the key to 1 Corinthians 7:11 where we read:
But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried…
It is this word “remain,” even though she is called “unmarried.”
We could look at 1 Corinthians 7:8 and say, “Well, to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them to stay single; but if they cannot contain, let them marry because it is better to marry than to burn.” However, Paul says here to “remain unmarried” if you do split up. God understands that this could happen. It is wrong; but if it happens, remain unmarried or be reconciled.
What does Jay say about this in his book? I am going to read several sentences here as well. Concerning the four verses in 1 Corinthians 7 that we just looked at, Jay believes:
They are required by the command to remain unmarried in order to be able to become reconciled.
He then goes on to say after a lot of verbiage later:
If they can’t, then that spouse is free and dissolved. They are free to remarry.
What is wrong with this statement? He said that they were to remain unmarried in order that they can be reconciled. The insinuation later is that if they did not become reconciled, then that person is now dissolved of that marriage and free to remarry.
But what did God say? 1 Corinthians 7:11:
But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband…
So what is the key word that Jay did not understand?
He did not recognize the word “or.” Jay said that they were to remain unmarried to become reconciled. In other words, give it time; try to reconcile. But if you cannot is when Jay brings in verse 15, 1 Corinthians 7:15:
But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
He uses this verse to justify remarriage. But can you see why? It is not that easy to understand. It really is not.
However, God is saying that if you depart, as a believer or an unbeliever, remain unmarried or be reconciled. Therefore, if you do not reconcile, what is the only other option? You are to remain unmarried.
But Jay is basically saying to remain unmarried for awhile so that you can become reconciled. But if this does not happen, then you are free because God has “called us to peace.”
So I am disappointed in his attempt for a Biblical dissertation without attacking the key words in these very difficult passages to understand. However, we can see how someone could read Jay’s book or be counseled into thinking that it is okay to divorce and remarry after a divorce.
This is where people are led astray. These are the verses that people use, along with the one in Matthew 19, but these are the blanket verses from 1 Corinthians 7 that leave it more open. The strictest verse is found in Matthew 19.
What one option for divorce are you left with, if you look at Matthew 19 in a certain way? Matthew 19 says, “except it be for fornication.” But we know that divorce and remarriage is not to happen today.
How many marriages do you know of, even from those in the church, where someone gets divorced for fornication; in other words, because of adultery? However, this reason is almost never mentioned today.
So why is it that even the church community, as well as the world’s population, is getting divorced at the drop of a hat and thinking that it is also okay to remarry?
It is because of these things that we are looking at in 1 Corinthians 7. This is why. It is because these verses seem to be broader, if you look at them in a more shallow way.
But let us look at several passages quickly to firm this up, as far as to why God does not want people to get divorced in the first place.
In Matthew 5:31, we read:
It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Remember that this is being quoted from Deuteronomy 24:1. Then we read in the next verse, 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.
So Jesus is saying here that this is adulterous because “what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6). Man attempts to divide and dissolve the union that God joined through marriage.
Mark 10:9 says the same thing:
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
So let us also look at Mark 10, starting in verse 6. Mark 10:6-12:
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.
So this whole stigma of committing adultery by remarrying is really what the other passages in Matthew 5, Matthew 19, and Mark 10 are talking about. However, there are these nebulous phrases that lead people to mistakenly think that it is okay to divorce because of formation and to legally be able to then, in God’s eyes, remarry. There are a lot of explanations for these, which we do not have time to get into today.
I want to close with this final theme on these issues that we have looked at—why it is so difficult and not as crystal clear to everybody—by looking at the spiritual lesson behind this.
Why would God have instituted a marriage relationship where there was not to be divorce or the possibility of marriage to another person if they have a former spouse who is still alive; in other words, their first spouse? What is the analogy of the marriage relationship, spiritually speaking? The physical marriage relationship in the Bible is used to give a spiritual analogy of what?
The marriage relationship is used to give the spiritual analogy of Christ and His people, the elect of God. Let us prove this by going to Ephesians 5:31:
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
And in the verse next verse, Ephesians 5:32, we read:
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
And then we read in Ephesians 5:33:
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
So what is the permanency of the marriage union between Christ and His people? Can this be dissolved? Never. It cannot, because Romans 8 tells us this. He says in Romans 8:35:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?…
Remember that we were just reading about the love of Christ for His bride, the church, in the mystery of the relationship between the husband and the wife.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Some of these situations can cause men and women to separate, but “who shall separate us from the love of Christ”?
Then He says in Romans 8:38-39:
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So the main thrust of why God has such serious and severe restrictions on the marriage institution, no matter what uncleanness you find in your spouse, is because of the union between Christ and His people. This is why He has given the marriage analogy as a picture, like He does with many things in the world. He gives pictures on the physical plane that point to spiritual truths.
The spiritual truth in this is that Christ will never divorce His elect. He will never separate or leave His elect. He will never forsake His children and He wants to show us how serious and tightly bound we are to Jesus Christ when we become saved. We cannot loose it. We can try, but He will “never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
This is a tough issue and it is challenging. It is complex, and yet the Lord has given us His Word to study to try to dig for truth. Hopefully today, this was a little bit more of an in-depth detailed study of a topic and an issue that has been around us our entire lives. Since we have been born, people have been divorcing, even more so currently. This is an unfortunate happening in the human race, but may God give us all the grace to be given the ears to hear this and the grace to obey it. Amen.
1st Question: I was curious as to why Harold Camping’s book on marriage and divorce (What God hath Joined Together) was not mentioned. [Note: this book is available for free at: www.familyradio.com/graphical/literature/joined/joined_contents.html.] I do not recall ever hearing of this gentleman and his book, but maybe he was on Family Radio before I started listening.
Anyway, concerning your teaching of 1 Corinthians 7:15, you said that if they depart, whether it would be a believer or an unbeliever, but that is not what the Scriptures say.
John: Yes, you are right. That is true, but that was what was in Jay’s book.
1st Question (continued): The believer has no option to depart.
John: Correct; however, in Jay’s book, he does gives this allowance, which is surprising.
1st Question (continued): I understood this to be your position.
John: No, but thank you for clarifying this. 1 Corinthians 7:15 clearly says:
But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
If the “unbelieving depart,” you are “not under bondage”; because you cannot keep this from happening. If the unbeliever leaves, what are you going to do? In this case, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 7:11 to “remain unmarried, or be reconciled” to your spouse.
This is what I mean. Jay’s book has a lot more to do with the circumstances and the human emotions that are involved with marriage and divorce and the practical implications of it, although he tries to be very Biblical in many instances.
If you read the book, you will see that he is very Biblical in many of his conclusions. He does not just have a blanket option for divorce, but he does see things a little differently than what we clearly read from 1 Corinthians 7:15.
This is why I think that this book did not do the conservative Christian community enough justice, because this book is really held up as the book that Biblically attempts to answer the dilemma of divorce and remarriage.
Thanks for your attention today.