Divorce & Remarriage

Many have asked me, “If I have been divorced, can I remarry?” The answer is, “Yes,” if there were scriptural reasons for your divorce. The answer is, “No,” if there were not scriptural reasons for your divorce. Many preachers hold the doctrine that if you have been divorced, no matter what the reason, you can never again remarry. The Bible simply does not say that. I believe that it is a misunderstanding of Scripture. In fact, the Bible gives three scriptural reasons for divorce: Death, Adultery, and Desertion.

The first justifiable reason that we’ll deal with is death. I think that this ones an automatic “give me” that no one who’s reasonable can argue with. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 7:39, The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

Notice that it says, only in the Lord. That means that they must marry another Christian. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? Simply put, believers are not supposed to marry unbelievers. I can’t tell you how many I have watched suffer over the years because they refuse to be obedient to this command.

The second justifiable reason is adultery. This is the first exception to death as a reason for divorce. Jesus said in Matthew 19:3-10, The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, 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. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 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. 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. His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

Why does God allow divorce in the case of adultery? He allows it because adultery divides the one flesh that was created at marriage and creates another one. We see this “one flesh” being created in Genesis 2:24 when God said, Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. We see that another flesh is created in 1 Corinthians 6:16 when Paul said, What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

The third justifiable reason is desertion. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:12-15, But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. Here is a case where a husband or a wife gets saved and the unbelieving spouse decides to leave. Paul said, "Let them depart." If they do go, Paul recommends that the deserted spouse remain single in 1 Corinthians 7:27. But, he also tells them that it is not a sin if they decide to remarry instead in 1 Corinthians 7:28. The only condition on the remarriage is that the deserted spouse must marry a Christian (1 Corinthians 7:39).