Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage
Genesis 1
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
The LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed to work it and take care of it.
It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.
Then the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky.
He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
So, the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.
Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
Adam 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.
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Matthew 5:19,
“Anyone who sets aside ‘ one of the least of these commands, and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.”
God’s plan has always been about delivering, rescuing, and redeeming a people from bondage, making them His own, and setting them apart as a people, different from those in the world for His glory and the world’s good.
Jermiah 3:8,
“I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.”
Deuteronomy 24:1,
“If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her, and sends her from his house.”
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
“At the beginning, the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
‘For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’. So, they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
“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.’”
1 Corinthians 7: 15,
“If the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.”
Facts to Remember:
- God wants and designed marriage to be Permanent.
- Marriage is the most powerful test for Discipleship.
- God has Allowed, but not Mandated divorce.
- God does Hate divorce.
- Divorce was actually designed to Protect people.
- Divorce even for non-biblical reasons, is Not the unforgivable sin.
- God is Not pleased with an attitude of, ‘I know that my divorce is not biblical, but I know that God can redeem it later.’
- The healthiest second marriages, are those who are Really Saddened and Repentant over their divorce.
- The Restoration of our marriage should always the first goal.
- God intends for our marriages to be Lived Out in the Christian Community.
