- In the beginning God created man in His own image, Gen: 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." At the end of the account in Genesis, God says that he looked on his creation and said it was very good. Clearly, God's plan was that man and woman should be together in order to subdue and replenish the earth. Once sin entered the world and man fell, this relationship between man and woman deteriorated because man drifted away from obedience. By the time of Moses, man had given up all pretenses of following God's perfect plan of marriage and sought for Moses to approve the dissolution of marriage. Many verses began to reference divorce in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 24:1 says "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."
- The inclusion in the law might appear to give some credence to the argument that God allows divorce, but later in scripture, Jesus himself rebukes the Pharisees when they bring up divorce to try to trip him up. Matthew 5:31 and 32, Jesus says "It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 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." But what about the law of Moses discussed earlier? Does Jesus discount that? Later in Matthew, the Pharisees challenged Jesus asking him why then did Moses allow a writ of divorcement and Jesus explains; "He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 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."
- In the previous verse, Jesus does indicate that divorce is acceptable for fornication, or sleeping with someone else, but he also says, from the beginning it was not so. Only after sin entered the world did this stipulation emerge. The Bible clearly states in several verses that a divorced man or woman who remarries commits adultery and causes the other person to sin. In today's society, it is possible obtain a divorce for almost any reason, even irreconcilable differences.
- God meant for one man and one woman to constitute marriage. "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Matthew 19:5,6. "No man" means anybody, even the man or woman who is part of the marriage contract can "put asunder" that contract. The marriage union is a serious matter in God's eyes and should not be dissolved, especially for the trivial matters people use today.
- Marriage is hard work. Two distinct personalities coming together to make a life is not always easy. God never intended you to give up however, he wants you to work through whatever difficulties arise and make your life like "one flesh." Even in the case of adultery, you can learn to forgive and strengthen your marriage through the power of God. While being a Christian does not guarantee you will not suffer the heartaches of divorce, living a life of selflessness, devotion and service will go a long way towards putting off the cares of this world while you focus on Heavenly Father and his perfect plan for your marriage.
Comments
eeknothow said
on 7/8/2009 Selfish-, hedonistic- people ought not marry. Those with a life long habit of fornicating ought not marry.
They apparently do so anyway.. big surprise they seek divorce. As many were incapable of entering into marriage they likely were not and should instead seek annulment.