Question #6
Does God permit divorce?
A Christian lady is crying for help in living with a drug addict. She has grounds for divorce but knows God hates divorce. Please advise with some scriptures.
The Answer:
It is true that God hates divorce, or “putting away.” Malachi 2:16. This does not mean, however, that God forbids it under any and all circumstances. For example, God did not require a believing companion to remain married to an unbeliever if the unbeliever desired to depart. (1 Corinthians 7:15.) However, under this circumstance there can be no remarriage. “But unto the married I give charge, yea not I, but the Lord, That the wife depart not from her husband (but should she depart, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband); and that the husband leave not his wife.” (1 Corinthians 7:10-11.) Thus, while God hates divorce, he also permits it.
Your question speaks of “grounds for divorce.” I understand this to mean that her husband is guilty of adultery. Under this circumstance, God not only permits divorce, he also permits remarriage. “And there came unto him Pharisees, trying him, and saying, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses for your hardness of heart suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it hath not been so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her when she is put away committeth adultery.” (Matthew 19:3-9.) One who puts away a spouse AND marries another commits adultery. These is no such charge against the spouse who puts away a mate AND DOES NOT remarry. Neither is there such a charge against a spouse who puts away a mate because of fornication AND marries another. The logical conclusion is that one may put away a spouse for fornication and marry another without being guilty of adultery. In the instance that you describe, the innocent party (the wife that you describe) may divorce and remarry if the divorce is BECAUSE of the fornication. If the cause of the divorce is the drug addiction there is no basis for remarriage. In conclusion, in both instances she may obtain a divorce without violating scripture; in only once instance (fornication) may she remarry.
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