By Andrew Williams – June 24, 2022
And indoors the disciples questioned Him again about this subject. And He said to them, Whoever dismisses (repudiates and divorces) his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;
Mark 10:10-11 AMPC
Good morning fellow disciples.
I have struggled with the writing of this series. I have tried to stick to what the Word says within the passages quoted. I, however, still have a lot of questions.
We see that Jesus’ disciples also had other questions about the topic of divorce because they questioned Him about it privately afterwards. In answering them Jesus added something to the conversation.
In addition to divorce not being a part of God’s plan for mankind, Jesus stated that if a man divorced his wife and married another woman he would be committing adultery. Isn’t adultery one of the sins that God told the Israelites not to commit?
So we see that another part of God’s plan for marriages to remain intact was to keep persons from committing adultery. Although divorce was permitted by Moses, God still frowned upon it.
So, is there any reason why God would allow a divorce?
“It has also been said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. But I tell you, Whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery.“
Matthew 5:31-32 AMPC
Sexual immorality is the only grounds that Jesus gives for a divorce.
God does not want His children to divorce one another. God doesn’t want His children to commit adultery. Let us live according to His will for our marriages.
Be faithful to your spouse! Don’t put aside your spouse and then go and commit adultery!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, many of us will not want to listen to what You have said. Many of us will have more questions than the answers that we seek. But God, we humble ourselves before You and ask You to reveal to us through Your Holy Spirit what we need to know, and how we need to act.
Father God, You say that if we confess our sins You are faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, where we have gone wrong in our marriages, we confess our sin God! We ask You to forgive us! Cleanse us Lord!
By Your grace, sanctify our marriages. Help us to cleave to our spouses the way that You require. We renew our commitment to You and to our spouses as we seek to live committed to You, and to cleave permanently to our spouses. Amen