What God Joined Together - Family Radio

one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder.
Jesus indicates that it was never God’s intention for divorce to be
permitted. It is true that temporarily God did open a very narrow window
permitting a man to divorce his fornicating wife, but this was only so that God
could divorce fornicating national Israel.
Jesus says in Mark 10:11-12:
And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry
another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away
her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 allowed a husband to divorce a fornicating wife. A
wife was given no right whatsoever to divorce a fornicating husband. Jesus has
rescinded the husband’s right to divorce a fornicating wife, and He emphasizes
the impossibility of Biblical divorce from both directions, the husband
divorcing the wife and the wife divorcing the husband.
In Mark 10:11-12 God underscores another vital principle: A divorced
man or woman cannot become remarried. According to verse 11, if a man
remarries, he commits adultery against his first wife. Why is this
We learned in Romans 7:1-4 that the wife is bound to her husband as long
as they both live. Therefore, even though a divorce may have seemingly broken
the marriage relationship, from God’s vantage point the man and wife are still
bound to each other. Therefore, if the man takes another wife while his first
wife is still living, he is committing adultery. He is adulterating the lifelong
union God has made between this man and his first wife.
Likewise, verse 12 emphasizes that the wife may not marry someone else
after divorce. Even though she is legally divorced, in God’s sight she is still
bound to her first husband. Therefore, she commits adultery if she marries
another while her first husband is still living. The principle of the binding
relationship of the wife to the husband is repeated in I 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.
In I Corinthians 7:10 we are instructed, “Let not the wife depart from [that
is, divorce] her husband.” In I Corinthians 7:11 God says, “and let not the
husband put away his wife.” All of the Bible’s teachings are consistent and in
agreement.
In Luke 16:17 Jesus makes reference to the eternal nature of the law of
God: “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to
fail.” Having indicated the perpetual nature of the law of God, Jesus
immediately addresses the question of a man divorcing his wife. He exhorts
18 What God hath joined together...