Sovereign Grace of God - God's view of divorce

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Although this reads clear and coincide other verses tend to cloud up the subject.

"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."

"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 a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness (ERVA DEBAR) in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house."

These were Old Testament laws. They show us that Israel was not right about divorce. The Jews disregarded marriage, they would use Deuteronomy 23:1 to divorce for many things. They referenced 'ERVA DEBAR' of Deut. 24:1 to Duet.23:14 where it talks about a discharge from a persons body.

"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.... What therefore God hath joined together, let man not separate." This indicates that if a man divorces for fornication it is because of the hardness of his heart.

But why did God permit this? He permitted divorce of a woman because he had to divorce his unfaithful wife, Israel. If God did not divorce Israel he would have had to destroy them for their disobeying the Old Covenant Law.

"And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce..."

Even though God permitted divorce for awhile the Jews showed their rebellion against God by divorcing for many things. But God's original plan was that there would not be any divorce. He clearly stated in Mark that there is to be no divorce. Only death can free you from marriage.

One explanation of the 'exception' statement in Matthew 5:31-32 is that if the woman committed fornication, she had already committed adultery. The husband did not cause her to commit something that she was already guilty of.

"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."

So we can see God does not permit divorce. For a time he permitted divorce because of Israel's hardness of their hearts, but this is not true today.