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Arkadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church Plant

Eugene Prewitt

Adultery, Divorce, and Remarriage in God’s Church

When Jesus was speaking about his own generation, he didn't have a lot of good to say about his generation.

He did mention that the field was already ripe for harvest, but he said that his generation was a wicked and adulterous generation.

And I'd like to share with you this morning an idea that there was a connection between their idolatrous practices and the belief system that they had.

If you're not, you can turn there with me.

Matthew 19, look at the question the Pharisees asked.

They said, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

You know, that was a question that they didn't agree on.

And there were some there who would have said that once you're married you ought to stay married and there were some who would say that if you wish to get a divorce that that's perfectly legitimate you can get a divorce.

We're going to come back to how he answered this question But turn from your Bible to Deuteronomy chapter 24.

We're speaking this morning about the topic of divorce, remarriage, marriage.

I answer questions sometimes for Amazing Facts Radio and Television.

People send in Bible questions to that organization.

And I think that out of a thousand questions that come in to them, you might have 100 to 150 that are asking about this topic.

People want to know, does God approve, can he approve, will he approve of the way I'm living or what I'm doing, what if I've made mistakes, what now, What does God require?

And I think the Bible answers those questions well.

Deuteronomy chapter 24, let's look at verse 1.

When a Man has taken a wife and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he had found some uncleanness in her.

Then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it to her hand, and send her out of the house.

And when she is departed out of the house, she may go and be another man's wife.

It was a question among the Jews, what kind of uncleanness he would need to find in her that would warrant a bill of divorcement.

And can you see that it makes a real difference, whether it would be, for example, an adulterous type of uncleanness, or whether it would be the fact that she didn't properly clean the living room.

That those would be very different concepts.

Verse 3, And if the latter husband hates her and writes her a bill of divorcement, and gives it into her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife.

Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife.

For that is abomination before the Lord, and you shall not cause the land to sin, which the Lord your God gives thee for an inheritance." Whatever that uncleanness is that is mentioned, what is apparent is that if this poor lady is divorced from her first husband, and then her second husband leaves her, divorces her, or dies, maybe she can marry anyone in the whole world, but who is the 1 person she's not permitted to marry?

And I'd like to suggest to you a reason, I won't prove it to you, but we'll look at other data soon, of why this law is there.

God did not want men to get involved in experimental marriages.

Leave this 1, try that 1, doesn't work, go back to this 1.

And to protect the world from this kind of trivial way of viewing marriage, this kind of light way of viewing marriage, God forbade that this kind of thing could happen, that a man could divorce a woman and expect to get her back at some other time.

In Matthew 19, the disciples were around Jesus when the Pharisees tried to trap him.

And they heard what Jesus said, and it made them curious about some things.

Wherefore they are no more twain, the married couple, but are 1 flesh.

What therefore God has joined together let no man put asunder.

They said to him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement to put her away?

The Pharisees asked the question, if you're saying that it wasn't that way from the beginning, then why did Moses command to divorce her?

But do you see that they're exaggerating a little bit in the question?

When we read Deuteronomy 24, did Moses command the man to divorce the woman?

Notice that Jesus catches this exaggeration and corrects it in verse 8.

He said unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives.

Is there a difference between allowed and commanded?

He allowed you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

But I say unto you, whoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery.

And whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

Jesus is answering a question and he answers it so plainly.

If a man or woman divorces his or her spouse for any reason, any reason except adultery, they are doing wrong.

There is no grounds, no biblical grounds for divorce except that.

It happened to me recently, in fact this week, that I had an email from a man who was very perplexed about this topic and I want to show you why.

Luke chapter 16 is the parallel passage to Matthew 19.

Parallel passage to Matthew 19, Luke 16, we're looking at verse 18.

Whosoever puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery.

And whosoever marries her that is put away from her husband commits adultery.

The reason this man was so perplexed is that he is in his early 30s and he is divorced.

And he is understanding from Luke 16 that even if his ex-wife marries someone else, that he for the rest of her life is never free to marry again.

That is, he understands that once you get married, that nothing can dissolve that marriage vow, not even adultery of your spouse.

And because nothing can dissolve it except death, then you understand why he's so perplexed about this situation?

Because his ex-wife is likely to live for another 40-50 years.

I'd like to show you why I think he's being, why he's misunderstanding the passage.

We're talking right now a little bit about how to understand the Bible, how to interpret scripture.

And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage.

But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage.

I hope to be accounted worthy to obtain the resurrection of the dead and to get that world.

But if verse 35 was the only passage I had in all of scripture on this topic, I might conclude that I couldn't even get married here on this earth.

I could read verse 34 and verse 35 and think that the contrast here on earth is between the wicked and the righteous, the wicked get married and the righteous don't.

If God intended that we would only understand a verse based on the verse itself, maybe you could justify someone coming to that false conclusion.

But God never intended that a verse would be understood all by itself.

God intended that we would compare Scripture with Scripture.

So Isaiah 28 said, Who will God teach knowledge?

Those that take here a little and there a little.

And you know, the parable passage to Luke 20 specifies when it is that the righteous are not going to get married.

Verse 30 it says, for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage.

Doesn't Matthew help with the timing of Luke?

When we put them together we have information.

Luke gave us the summary, the succinct version.

Matthew filled it out and when we put them together, we can see what God is saying.

The same is true with that passage that we observed earlier where Luke said that it is adultery to marry a divorced person.

Matthew filled in the context of the story.

And the context of the story was that Jesus had been asked a very specific question.

What was the very specific question he was asked?

Is it acceptable to get divorced for any reason?

And in the context of that question the answer is to marry someone who was divorced for no good reason is to commit adultery.

It's because God does not recognize frivolous divorce.

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Adultery, Divorce, and Remarriage in God’s Church

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