Biblical Reasons For Divorce

In Malachi, God makes it very clear how He feels about divorce. When He joins two sinful individuals together, they are to be together until death. In the wedding vows you say, “for better or for worse for richer or for poorer.” Things like adultery are for worse. When it comes to things like verbal and physical abuse there should be separation, counseling from your church elders for both parties, and constant prayer.

Marriage helps conform you into the image of Christ. Your marriage will often be tough and sadly there are many who want to get divorced for bad reasons. Our first option shouldn’t be divorce because we know the Lord hates it. How can you break something that our holy God has made for $150?

This should not be. We should always seek forgiveness and restoration. The Lord can fix anyone and any relationship. The only time divorce should be considered is when there is deliberate continuous horrendous unrepentant sin.

Marriage vows are not something you can take lightly.

Proverbs 20:25 “It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider one’s vows.”

Ecclesiastes 5:5 “It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.”

Matthew 5:33-34 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne.”

Ephesians 5:31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

If Jesus ever abandons the church, then divorce may occur.

The church is the bride of Christ. If Christ ever abandons the church, then divorce may occur.

Ephesians 5:22-32 “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

Revelation 19:7-9 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

Abandonment

1 Corinthians 7:14-15 “For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.”

The sin of adultery is grounds

Matthew 5:31-32 “You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’ But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery. But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne.”

Matthew 19:9 “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Regardless of what the reason is, God still hates divorce.

Malachi 2:16 “For I hate divorce!” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”

The significance of the marriage covenant

Marriage is a work of God not man, so only God can break it. Do you understand the seriousness of this passage?

Matthew 19:6 “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.”