Is Divorce and Remarriage An Abomination?

  • Deuteronomy 24:4 “Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”
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  • I Corinthians 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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During my childhood, my mother and father divorced and remarried each other a number of times. In my early teens, my mother married a different man and divorced him after a week. My mother and father then married each other again before they divorced for a final time.

I used to think my story was unusual, but sadly, even our churches are starting to carry such confusion. Of course, God is not the Author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). As we have discussed in our other articles on divorce and remarriage, God is not for divorce in the first place. (I Cor. 7:10 “Let not the wife depart from her husband…; vs. 11 “…let not the husband put away his wife.”)  Divorce and remarriage are ugly for all parties involved.

Maybe, though, you have experienced a divorce and want to rectify the situation. “Can I remarry the spouse I divorced?” you ask. In our text, I Cor. 7:11, we read, “But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband….”. Yes, you may remarry your spouse if neither of you have married someone else. Although my mother’s and father’s constant separation and reconciliation was difficult on themselves and on us kids, they were attempting to fix their problems which was biblical. However, when my mother married another man, it became unbiblical for her to remarry my father. If you or your spouse are married to someone else, God states in our other text, Deut. 24:4, that you “may not take her again to be his wife.” God reveals that someone who has divorced and remarried another person has been “defiled”. To remarry a previous spouse who has been married to someone else is abomination to God. The word “abomination” is God’s harshest word for sin.

In Jeremiah 3:1, God addresses this issue again and declares, “They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted?” To remarry a divorced spouse who has been married to another spouse is abomination, and this defilement greatly pollutes the land. However, if neither you nor your previous spouse have remarried another person, you are exhorted to reconcile your differences with your previous spouse and remarry them.