What does God think about divorce?

There are several Old and New Testament scriptures in regards to divorce. In Malachi 2:16 we get God’s opinion of divorce: "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. If this were the first reference that I read of God’s opinion of divorce I would have felt like there was no hope as I am divorced. That is why I am glad that I knew of God’s amazing saving grace first. We all sin, we were born that way. It is something that we cannot escape on our own. That is where God’s saving grace comes in. He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. The moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior those sins are washed away by His blood.

So does that make divorce ok? Let’s look at what Jesus tells us in the New Testament. First let’s see what He said in Matthew 5:31-32: "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. Here he tells us that for a man should not divorce a woman for any reason other than marital unfaithfulness. This is reiterated in Matthew 19:9: I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."

The Pharisees questioned Jesus about the certificate that Moses allowed in Matthew 19:7-8: "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.

In order to understand what Jesus meant by "it was not this way from the beginning" we will need to look at Genesis 1:27 and 2:24:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
God created us (men and women) in His image. Genesis 2:22-23 says "Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
This is where we get that men and women were designed by God to be married as husband and wife and not any other combinations.

It can be interpreted from what Jesus said that adultery on part of the husband or wife is an exception and likely the only reason for divorce. So who gets to remarry? In interpreting the passages I came to the conclusion that the person that the sin was committed against would be allowed to remarry, but the person who committed the sin was not.

Ultimately I think that God would have us try to repair a relationship rather than to end it in divorce. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32)

Are there any other reasons for getting divorced? I found one in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. "To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?" (1 Corinthians 7:12-16)

Paul is basically telling us that if a believer is married to an unbeliever and the unbeliever leaves then the believing man or woman is not bound to the marriage.

Bottom line literally and figuratively, we all sin. Christ will wash that sin away with the blood He shed on the cross if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. If you want to know more about Jesus, let me know. If you have accepted Jesus then your sins are washed away, now go out and introduce someone to Jesus so they can have their sins washed too.

Because of Him,

Terry