The Truth About God and Divorce

He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. Matthews 19.8(KJV)

Does God Hate divorce?

In a single word YES! Because divorce is a sin, but so is murder, and adultery, and covetousness, and homosexuality. Yet, God has not weighed one sin greater than another, no matter how we humanly perceive them the wages of all sin is death. But the word of God deals with our heart more than it does our hands. Let me explain if I may.

Divorce has always been a way of life, The bible records divorce as far back as the exodus from Egypt. and the reason for divorce is imperfect people make imperfect decisions. Yet we must understand that from the very beginning when God put Adam under a deep sleep (Genesis 2:21-24) to right now, God has always hated divorce.  So I think it both foolish and an insult to everyone’s intelligence for me to try to justify divorce. I also think it is a denial of the inerrancy of scripture and disrespect of the faith to say that the Bible which is the word of God revealed to man by the power of Holy Spirit is flawed (1 Thessalonians 1:5). I believe 100% in Tota Scriptura, all of scripture is perfect even if I don’t necessarily agree with it. Therefore where scripture and I come in conflict it is always me that is incorrect and must make the change and never scripture.

My point is that many of the brethren (non-gender specific)  have gone to their graves struggling to live their lives for Christ, trying to, by their works, become worthy of the promise and salvation all because  because of an errant interpretation of scripture, or because of  legalist leaders who by the law keep them in bondage.

Consider the following passage of which many that have been divorced have become enslaved to because  their past decisions to divorce.

“… Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.  And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.  For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth Malachi 2:14-16(KJV)

In the New Testament not only does Jesus speak against divorce, for the married couple He speaks against the sin of marring a known women that is divorced. 

"But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; amd wjpspever shall marry her that is divorced commiteth adultery" Matthews 5:32 (KJV)

 “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.” Matthews 19:9 (KJV)

From these three passages we would find ourselves regulated to either a marriage that we hate, or a life stuck in divorced never to find the comfort of a loving spouse. But is this really what scripture is saying to us?

It is my goal in this wordy excerpt to not give an answer to the question does God hate divorce,  but rather to give clarity to the intent of the heart of whom Jesus spoke of in both Matthews 5, 19. To do this I direct my attention to Matthew Henry's commentary on the book of Malachi chapter 2, he writes;

Corrupt practices are the fruit of corrupt principles; and he who is false to God will not be true to his fellow mortal.  In contempt of the marriage covenant, which God instituted, the Jews (Men) put away the wives they had of their own nation, probably to make room for strange wives They made their[lives bitter to them; yet, in the sight of others, they pretend to be tender of them. Consider she is thy wife; thy own; the nearest relation thou hast in the world. The wife is to be looked on, not as a servant, but as a companion to the husband. There is an oath of God between them, which is not to be trifled with. Man and wife should continue to their lives' end, in holy love and peace. Did not God make one, one Eve for one Adam? Yet God could have made another Eve. Wherefore did he make but one woman for one man? It was that the children might be made a seed to serve him. Husbands and wives must live in the fear of God, that their seed may be a godly seed. The God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away. Those who would be kept from sin, must take heed to their spirits, for there all sin begins. Men will find that their wrong conduct in their families springs from selfishness, which disregards the welfare and happiness of others, when opposed to their own passions and fancies. It is wearisome to God to hear people justify themselves in wicked practices. Those who think God can be a friend to sin, affront him, and deceive themselves. The scoffers said, Where is the God of judgement? but the day of the Lord will come. ( Matthew Henry's commentary on Malachi 2)

After reading this commentary by Matthew Henry let’s look at Malachi 2:14-16 once again.

“… Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: In context we can see that the husbands were secretly treating their wives badly, But God says He knows how badly you have been treating your wife, even though the rest of the world thinks you are a good husband God knows the truth.

…yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.  God says she (Your wife) is not your slave, she is your wife, your equal, your companion and you must treat as such. I think it’s important to know that in that time, in fact since Moses wrote Exodus divorce was pretty common. However only men could get a divorce by writing a letter of divorcement and leaving their wives to fin for themselves (Matthew 5:31) What this meant for many older women, especially if they did not have children or could not go back to their parents, is that she would become homeless. Or regulated to a life of prostitution.  So divorce for the most part was a horrible death sentence for the wife. In fact for the attractive women that refused to rely on prostitution for their means,  and were unable not go back to their parents, or had no male to support them, being raped, sodomized and left on the street to die from injuries or hunger was just what they got. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. This is the bottom line, for the scripture says that in the lust of a man’s heart, by the covetousness of his flesh he has divorced his wife. And because he know what could happen to her if she had no place to go, his actions are evil in every way. Now we can see that Our Lord and Savior is pointing back to Malachi 2 when he speaks of divorce and the wickedness of the heart of men.

And Jesus answered and said unto them, “For the hardness of your heart he [Moses gave a precept concerning divorce] wrote you this precept. Mark 10:5 KJV

Summary;

I cannot say with any measure of surety that God allows divorce except in the three ways outlined in my post " Is Remarriage Continual Adultery? " because the Bible is pretty clear on this subject God hates all sin and divorce is a sin. However in most passages in the Bible God is speaking of the divorce of men that comes from the lust and covetousness for what they cannot have. I am not saying that God only hate this divorce, and that its OK if you have another reason.  I'm  saying that divorce is a single sin as is remarriage, and I believe that on thises deeper issues we all must seek God with prayer and meditation and fasting for His wisdom and understanding. 

Your Brother in Christ 

Soli Deo Gloria