Any departure from Scripture invariably works evil in one form or another. The first and most detrimental result of the Roman Catholic doctrine that not even adultery is a proper ground for dissolution of the marriage bond (although annulments are granted for much less serious offenses), is to render that crime easier of accomplishment and more frequent. An unscrupulous husband or wife knows that his or her partner cannot obtain a divorce on the ground of adultery and so feels less restraint.Loraine Boettner, Roman Catholicism, p. 354.
First and foremost, the doctrine that not even adultery is a proper ground for dissolution of the marriage bond is not Roman Catholic—it is biblical! Jesus does not teach that divorce is allowed for the committal of adultery. Read those passages carefully and note precisely what they are saying. They are saying that those who divorce are committing, and are causing to commit, adultery if re-marriage should take place. Let's take a look:
1. "Everyone who divorces his wife...makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." Matt. 5:32
The person who marries a divorcee is committing adultery.
2. "Whoever divorces his wife...and marries another woman commits adultery." Matt. 19:9
The person who divorces their spouse and marries another commits adultery.
3. "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery." Mark 10:11-12
The person who divorces their spouse and marries another commits adultery.
4. "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery." Luke 16:18
The person who divorces their spouse and marries another commits adultery, and the person who marries a divorcee commits adultery.
5. "So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man." Rom. 7:3
Again, being married to another while your spouse lives is committing adultery.
According to the Bible, remarriage after divorce is committing adultery. In fact, the Greek word translated "commits" and "committing" is in the middle voice, which is present tense continuous, meaning a constant state of adultery. When Paul gives exposition on this subject, he begins with "To the married I give instructions (not I, but the Lord)," and then he makes it clear that "the wife should not divorce her husband (but if she does, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife" (1 Cor. 7:10-11). These are not Paul's words—they are God's! The only dissolution of the marriage bond given in Scripture is that of death (Rom. 7:3; 1 Cor. 7:39).
Secondly, such a doctrine does not render adultery easier of accomplishment or more frequent. That is a fallacious declaration. Such a doctrine, or a lack thereof, is not going to place any more or less restraint on an unscrupulous husband or wife. Any such unscrupulous husband or wife obviously is not Christian to begin with, and any such unscrupulous husband or wife clearly does not understand, nor obey, the teachings of Scripture regarding marriage and the duties and responsibilities of the husband or wife. The husbands and wives who know what the Bible teaches in regard to marriage and embrace their responsibilities as husband and wife will have no issue with purposefully committing adultery.
Thirdly, marriage is a picture of the Gospel, as well as a picture of Christ and the church. If the Bible taught that there was proper ground for dissolution of the marriage bond, apart from death, then what does that say about the Gospel? What does that say about Jesus and the church? What does it say about the teachings of forgiveness and reconciliation that run through both pictures? If God hates divorce, how can Jesus, Who is God, provide any sort of ground for dissolution of the marriage bond, other than death, when He explicitly said, "What God has joined together, no man is allowed to separate" (Matt. 19:6; Mark 10:9)?
Lastly, most Christians, when regarding divorce, ignore what all the passages say as a whole and focus only on the two found in Matthew, latching onto the phrase "except for fornication" at the cost of the rest of the context. Let's break Matthew 19 down into a conversational script format so that we can understand the context clearly:
Pharisees: "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?"
Jesus: "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no man is allowed to separate."
Pharisees: "Then why did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND HER AWAY?"
Jesus: "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way."
Moses was merely regulating what they were already doing because of the hardness of their hearts. If the supposed "exception clause" is as most Christians understand it to be, then why does it appear only in the book of Matthew and not in any of the other books? For more on this, please read a previous blog entry of mine entitled Divorcing Divorce. It is important that Christians understand the correct teaching on this important issue and that they live it out practically with the help of the Holy Spirit. A husband/wife who loves God first with his/her entire heart, entire soul, and entire mind, and loves their spouse as themselves will never have to be concerned with adultery of either type, whether in marriage or the result of re-marriage.