So many people in the world today are completely ignorant of what God teaches in His word. They are certainly ignorant about His laws on marriage. People get married at the drop of a hat and get divorced just as quickly. The issue then becomes, when said people become Christians, what ought they to do if their divorce was not for fornication?
More needs to be said than what can be written in 500 words but here are some brief thoughts.
In Matthew 5:32, Jesus said, “But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Two people are in view here who commit adultery – the put-away-woman who remarries and the person who marries a put-away woman.
In the similar passage, 19:9, Jesus says, “whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” There is a third person who commits adultery in this passage – the one who “puts away” and remarries (unless the cause is fornication).
Adultery is sexual relationships with someone who is not, in God’s eyes, your spouse. Theological dictionaries are unanimous on that point. The word can refer to rape, seduction, lovers, mistresses, and prostitutes. The argument made is that “commit” is a one-time act that refers to the divorce and remarriage. The argument suggests that “commit” does not involve an on-going relationship that must be stopped.
Notice that Jesus uses the present tense – “makes her commit adultery” and whoever marries a divorced woman “commits adultery.” Mark 10:11-12 tell us that the situation holds true for men as well.
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Thus, if a man divorces his wife (or vice versa) without fornication being the motive, then he makes her commit adultery (if she remarries) and he commits adultery (if he remarries). Also, if someone marries the divorced woman commits adultery. That is, their behavior puts them into the category of being an adulterer (or adulteress).
The only way they can get themselves out of that category (the “fruit of repentance” – Luke 3:8) is for them to leave that relationship. They should never have been in it in the first place.
Baptism cleanses one from the sin of adultery without any doubt. But if someone should not have been divorced in the first place (fornication being the only God-given exception), baptism does not make that person marriage-able.
The Scriptures are clear if we’ll allow them to lead us.
–Paul Holland
