Sunday, July 26, 2015

Divorce/Remarriage: What the Bible teaches

Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet


Here is what the Bible says concerning divorce and remarriage. 

Jesus said ... 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. Mt. 19

Notice Jesus is speaking to men.

There are different commandments for men than there are for women.  It may not seem "fair" to your flesh but this is the way it is.

If the wife is committing fornication, the man can divorce her and remarry without committing adultery.

But Paul (by the commandment of the LORD) said if the wife leaves her husband, the wife is to remain unmarried or return to her husband. 

And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: 11But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.  I Cor. 7

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In our little church group, a man mentioned that he had filed divorce suit against his wife.  He had gone to lawyer and done this.  The minute I heard of this, I asked him this question:  "Was your wife unfaithful?"  

He replied that his wife had never been unfaithful to him.


In Bible (NT) the only grounds for a man to divorce his wife was her being sexually unfaithful to him.

After hearing this, this man dropped all worldly legal proceedings against his wife and stopped the worldly divorce.


We have to consider what we are doing on this earth.  Is what we are doing right in the sight of God?  You might do something approved in the worldly courts of law and not be doing that which is approved by God with examples in NT.



Paul says the following is a "commandment" of the Lord for the NT church.

I Cor. 7 ...  10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband:and let not the husband put away his wife.

The rules of this world change based on the periods of history and the countries involved. ... But the rules set up for us by God, showing us in the Bible do not change. 

So we of the church, need to choose to go by that ... by rules set forth in Bible.  The world can do what it wants to do.  We need to do what was shown the church by the Bible and the apostles of the Bible.  This is our rule. 

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Jesus said ... But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. Mt. 5:32


- man who divorces "faithful" wife will be the cause of her adultery if she remarries.
- "faithful" wife will commit adultery if she remarries
- man who marries divorced woman commits adultery

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Paul speaking to NT chuch said ...

Romans 7 ...Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 

I Cor. 7 ...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. 40But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God. 

Some today say we are not under the law so people are free today to divorce and remarry

But that which Paul wrote concerning divorce / remarriage was written to the NT church.

 And the following scripture was written "under the commandment of the Lord" concerning divorce/remarriage in New Testament church.

I Cor. 7 ... 10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband:and let not the husband put away his wife.
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And Jesus explained ... 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. Mt. 19:4-6 

At the time of sexual intercourse, the two become one flesh ...

I Cor. 6 ...Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 

18Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 

19What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 

Men are warned that even if they have sex with a prostitute, they will become one flesh at time of sexual intercourse.

Only death can separate flesh ... And this was a plan of God, that two would become one flesh at time of sexual intercourse.

Concerning the differences between men and women, from the beginning there was a difference.

 Society can rebel and try to make it seem that the sexes are the same, "equal", with same rules pertaining to both but this is not what Bible shows us.

Gen. 2 ... And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.  19And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.  20And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 
 

21And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.  

23And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.   

24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Different happening for men and women ...

Gen.3 ...And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
 

11And HE (God) said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 

12And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 

13And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? 

And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
 

14And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
 

16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 
 

17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;  19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 

For the divorced woman, if she remarries she commits adultery. (Mt. 5:32)

For the married woman, if her husband dies, she can remarry, but only "in the Lord" (someone who is born again) ... And Paul warns that it is his opinion that she will be better off if she does not remarry after her husband died. (I Cor. 7)

For the man, if his wife is committing fornication, he can divorce her and remarry. But this does not apply to the woman who's husband is committing fornication ... If she leaves her husband she is to remain unmarried or be reconciled with her husband.  I Cor. 7 ... This is the only way shown us in the New Testament.

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What if the woman divorced and remarried before knowing the above scriptures?  We have a case in our church group where the woman divorced and remarried and is still married to the second husband.  We have never told her to leave her second husband.  But we do ask her to speak the truth from the Bible to others concerning this subject and she has been faithful to do this.

We have two other women who divorced.  They remained unmarried after seeing the truth of the scriptures.  One woman was twice divorced.  

Another woman, before she was born again, divorced and wanted to remarry.  Though she was not born again at the time, she went to a pastor and asked if she was permitted to remarry after divorce. Pastor said she could remarry after divorce.  This is not what the Bible teaches.  This woman told me this story and showed some bitterness toward that pastor though she did say if he had said she could not remarry she would have likely just gone to another pastor and asked him until she found a pastor who would approve remarriage.  As she told me this story of going to the pastor to see if she could remarry, I clearly heard from Holy Spirit:  "Wasn't she committing forniction with this man she wanted to marry?"  I asked her this question and she replied, "Yes".   (Makes going to pastor for approval a moot point.)


Today in the USA churches, you would find few pastors who disapprove remarriage after divorce though the Bible does not approve such for women.

It reminds me of a statement reported on national TV news where they had asked the pope of the Catholic Church about homosexuals and he had replied he knew nothing to forbid homosexuality.  I was shocked and cried out at the TV, "What about Romans 1 in the Bible?"


Romans 1 ... 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
 

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
 

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections:for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;


Also we read in Bible that homosexual along with adulterers and fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I Cor. 6 ... 9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived:neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (homosexuals) , nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

NASB ... I Cor. 6 ... 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

NIV ... I Cor. 6 ... 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And I Cor 6:11 says ... 11 And such were some of you:but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

But after you are born again you no longer continue in that sin, nor do you approve others who commit these sins.

To the woman taken in adultery, Jesus forgave her but Jesus also told her, "Go, and sin no more."  Jn. 8

To continue in that sin after you are born again, would be very serious.

Heb. 10 ... 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses 'law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.


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Pam Padgett ... teacher

During the last months of college, I rented a room in a house owned by a woman I met in the singles group of the church group I attended at the time.  This woman had been divorced twice and had a young daughter.  At first she seemed content to remain unmarried and raise her daughter.  But then she started looking for another husband.  I shared with her scripture that tell us that a divorced woman commits adultery if she remarries, such as 

Matthew 5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I (Jesus) say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. 

Mark 10:11 And he (Jesus) saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.  

Romans 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

After sharing these scriptures, I was shocked when she told me that she didn't care what the Bible says, she knew what she believed.  I graduated and moved from her house shortly after this.

The place I moved was quite a distance from where this church group met.  Although I continued to attend the Sunday services and would sit in the area of the auditorium where the singles group sat, I no longer attended the singles meetings.  I heard this divorced woman was engaged to a man I also knew from the singles group.  I went and spoke with him, sharing scriptures such as Matthew 5:31-32 showing that they would commit adultery if he married her since she was divorced.  He said he would consider these things, but he did not stop the engagement.

Then I heard that the maid of honor at the wedding was to be a woman I also knew.  I went and spoke with her, sharing scripture about the adultery that would be committed by this marriage.  She said she knew it was wrong for them to marry but they would get married whether or not she was the maid of honor, so she was going to do it.

About this time, I went to one of the Sunday morning services.  I arrived before any of the other singles, and sat in the area where we usually sat.  But no other singles came to sit there.  Right before the service began, I looked around and saw that the singles were sitting a few pews behind me.  I thought this strange, but didn't think a lot about it.  The next Sunday I sat in the "new" singles area, but they sat in the "old" singles area.  The following week, I got there shortly before the service began, and went to where the singles were sitting.  Without saying a word, those I sat next to got up and moved away from me. It was obvious they wanted nothing to do with me, but I had no idea why.  I cried out to God asking what was going on?  Had I done something wrong?  For a few weeks I didn't hear anything, and didn't know why I had become an outcast from the singles.

Then after the service one Sunday morning, a woman I didn't know very well stopped me and said she had a message from God for me.  The message she delivered was that God knew how I was being treated by those in the singles group, and that I needed to know it was because of what I had spoken about this divorced woman remarrying and that this was what HE had wanted me to do.  I was so helped by this message, now knowing why I was being shunned and that it was for doing good in the sight of God.  It was also very helpful to realize so strongly that God was watching over me, and the mercy and kindness God had shown to me in having this woman deliver this message to me.