Is Divorce and Remarriage Adultery?
- Mark 10:11 “And he 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.”
John Mark was a succinct writer. You may have noticed how short Mark’s gospel is (only 16 chapters) and how he constantly gets right to the point. The Holy Spirit used John Mark’s personality perfectly here in Mark 10:11-12 to address the issue of divorce and remarriage. Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Mark states that remarriage of a new partner after divorce is adultery.
- Luke 16:18 concurs, “Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.”
The only way for one to remarry is for their spouse (whether married or divorced) to die.
- Romans 7:3 “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.”
There have been many reasons and excuses for divorce and remarriage through the years, but God makes it repeatedly simple and plain that divorce and remarriage is adultery.
- Disclaimer: If you are already divorced and remarried, do not divorce. The deed is already done. Confess your divorce and remarriage to the Lord for what it was, and build your present marriage strongly in the Lord. For those around you who have divorced and remarried, love them and treat them as any other believer. We all are sinners who have been mightily forgiven by God for many sins. However, make sure you do not go down the same road.
- (This article is from the, “Divorce and Remarriage” series.)