Divorce and the Bible Part 2
The Book of Mark
Mark 10:1-12
I.Introduction
A. Last week we began our study on this issue of divorce by looking at the marriage relationship from God’s perspective.
1. We found that marriage, the way God intended it, is to be a life long commitment between one man and one woman.
2. It was never to be violated by thought or deed.
B. This is the ideal
1. God intended it to be permanent because,
a) He instituted it at the very beginning of creation.
b) The marriage relationship is an illustration of His relationship to Israel and the church.
(1) Hosea 3
(2) Eph.5:22ff.
2. As a result of this the Bible says that God hates divorce.
a) It is a destructive element.
b) Never constructive.
c) Divorce is never encouraged or commanded in the Bible as a normal course of action.
d) I must say by way of full disclosure that the bible does record some instances of divorce which are prescribed by the Godly leadership.
(1) These incidents are rare and they are accompanied by special circumstances.
(2) In every case they are the result of a failure to comply with the ideal set forth by God.
C. Now that we have defined marriage biblically lets take a look at what the bible has to say about divorce.
II. Divorce – the violation of the Ideal.
A. Why divorce in the first place?
B. For the answer to that we have to go back to Gen.3:16-19
1. The basic problem in marriage is two sinners trying to get along.
2. God’s original design was for a life long monogamous relationship between a man and a woman – the ideal.
3. Sin entered and the conflict that resulted shattered that ideal.
4. Divorce became the inevitable result.
C. Gen.3:16.
1. Prior to the fall Adam and Eve were co-regents of God’s creation.
2. After the fall man became ruler over his wife.
a) Adam was elevated over Eve.
b) Before he exercised headship but now it is different.
c) Now he rules with authority.
3. This is a part of the curse applied to Eve; because of her sin she and her daughters were to be dominated by men.
4. This has become in some cases very abusive.
5. Her desire will be to him.
a) This doesn’t mean she will want to please and serve her husband.
b) Just the opposite.
(1) The word desire is only used 3 times in the OT
(a) Here and 4:7, and Solomon’s Song.
(b) The context determines the meaning.
(c) In 4:7 it refers to sin desiring to dominate Cain.
(d) He had to rule over it – put it down so that it would not have mastery over him.
6. The curse of Gen. 3 then set in motion what we see today and in fact have seen down through the centuries.
a) Men oppressing women for their own selfish desires.
b) Women striving to usurp the role of the man
D. So at the Fall the age old battle for dominance began in the relationship between men and women.
1. As a result marriage became a sort of king of the mountain contest.
2. Eventually this caused separation and divorce and as a result the Ideal is destroyed. Mk.10:4-5.
E. That brings us to our next question. Are there Biblical grounds for divorce?
F. Let me repeat something I said earlier – The bible never commands nor encourages divorce.
1. It is never God’s will for some one to get a divorce.
2. God doesn’t condone divorce he merely regulates it so that sin doesn’t get out of hand.
III. Biblical grounds for divorce.
A. In order to get the true picture of the whole issue we need to look at it from 3 perspectives.
1. The teaching of the Pharisees
2. The teaching of the OT
3. The teaching of the NT.
B. The teachings of the Pharisees vs.4
1. Divorce for any reason.
a) That was the prevailing attitude toward divorce in that day.
b) There was a minority of those who were opposed to this but most people thought along these lines Matt.19:10.
2. No specific reason.
a) It could be for anything from burning supper to immorality.
b) Not wearing a veil in public or the man finding a woman who pleased him more.
c) The same pattern exists today.
(1) I’ll stay married until something better comes along.
(2) I’ll stay married until I decide I don’t love you any longer.
(3) I’ll stay married until… fill in the blank.
3. The most important thing to the Pharisees was the paperwork.
a) They were more interested in the legal requirements than they were the reasons.
b) They kept the letter of the law.
c) But the question is was this really the intent of the law to begin with?
4. The tradition of first century Judaism with regard to marriage was based upon a flawed interpretation of Deut.24:1-4.
C. The teaching of the OT.
1. By misinterpreting the passage in Deut.24 the Jews had come to accept divorce as a right sanctioned under the law.
a) Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of this view in Matt.5/
(1) 21-22
(2) 27-28
(3) 31-32
b) It isn’t the external keeping of the law that makes a person righteous it is what is inside.
c) The Jews of Jesus’ day were proud that they didn’t commit adultery because they kept the letter of the law.
d) This is similar to the practice of the RC church today with annulments.
2. The problem is that Deut.24 isn’t commanding that people divorce it is setting down regulations to protect those who are the victims of divorce.
a) We know from other scripture that God hates divorce.
b) It would stand to reason that this would be the consistent pattern in the rest of the bible.
3. What is Moses saying here then?
a) First off the bill of divorcement was not God’s design.
b) Mark 10:5.
(1) Jesus is only recognizing the existence of the regulation.
(2) Matt.19:7-8
c) The context of Deut.24 has to do with the protection of the woman who is divorced by her husband.
(1) It was a testimony of the woman’s freedom from the husband who divorced her.
(2) It was evidence for a new husband of her legal freedom to remarry.
4. This passage is pointing out the evil of divorce not commanding it.
a) Uncleanness
(1) The exact meaning is unclear – lit. Shameful exposure or nakedness improper, indecent, obnoxious
(2) It isn’t adultery because that carried the death penalty chapt.22.
(3) So it was for something less than that.
b) The actual command is in verse 4.
(1) The previous 3 verses are “if” clauses.
(2) By this we can see clearly that the law was applying consequences to divorce not sanctioning it.
c) It a man divorces his wife and she marries another and he divorces her or dies the first husband can’t remarry her because she is defiled.
(1) This word is translated adultery in another place.
(2) She becomes by her first husband’s actions a legal adulteress.
5. Hardness of your hearts Mk.10:5.
a) Because of man’s sinfulness divorce is a fact of life.
b) Remarriage is also a fact of life.
c) God recognizes the fact of divorce and therefore sets forth guidelines to mitigate the destructiveness of divorce.
6. The point of this command was to graphically illustrate the destructiveness of divorce by making the man consider the ultimate consequence of his actions.
7. By the 1st century the leadership had corrupted it into a simple paperwork issue with no ensuing consequences.
