The Word On Divorce Series

I. The Covenant of Marriage (19:3-6)

A. Affirmed by Creation

1. God created 1 male & 1 female

2. The Creator determines the ideal in marriage

B. Affirmed by Connection

1. Abandonment of blood relations

a. ‘Leave’ – forsake utterly

2. Attachment to wife

a. ‘Cleave’ – glued to

C. Affirmed by Contract

1. ‘One flesh’ – denotes a covenant

2. Malachi 2:14b, “she is your companion and your wife by covenant”

3. God joins them together (vs. 6)

4. Man cannot separate them (vs. 6b)

II. A Confusing Message (19:7-8)

A. Moses’ Allowance

1. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 gives instructions for divorce

2. Given for hardness of heart

3. Given to protect the females

4. Never God’s plan

B. Jesus’ Appeal

1. God’s original plan didn’t include divorce

2. God makes no mistakes

3. God’s plan for marriage has not changed

III. The Clarification of Meaning (19:9)

A. Divorce

1. Is considered to be adultery

a. Matthew 5:31-32

b. Luke 16:18, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery”

c. Mark 10:11-12, “So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery”

d. Romans 7:2-3, “For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man”

2. Exception Clause

a. Not the focus of the passage

b. It is permissible because of fornication

c. It is not required in cases of fornication

B. Remarriage

1. Is considered to be adultery

a. Luke 16:18

b. Mark 10

c. 1 Corinthians 7:10-11, “Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife”

2. There is no exception clause

a. 1 Corinthians 7:10-11

b. The exception only refers to the ‘putting away’

c. The plain sense of the text is clear

3. Remarriage distorts the picture in Ephesians 5

a. Marriage is a symbol of the relationship between God and the redeemed through Christ

b. God is faithful to us

c. We cannot be separated from Him (Romans 8:35; John 10:28-29)