When man and woman are joined together
they become one flesh as the scriptures verify, living for each other
and seeking God's will for instruction. No man has the authority
to separate them, for marriage is of God.
And said, For this cause shall a man
leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain
shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one
flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder. [Matthew 19:5-6]
So ought men to love their wives as
their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
[Ephesians 5:28]
Husbands and wives ought to love each other in the Lord, to love each
other is to walk in the harmony of the word of God. God doesn't
just want to be our marriage councellor, he wants us to have a
relationship with him.
This is a great mystery: but I speak
concerning Christ and the church. [Ephesians 5:32]
The Lord compares matrimony as his Holy Spirit and the children of God
walking in accordance with God's divine instruction, oneness.
And the Pharisees came to him, and
asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting
him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command
you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement,
and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For
the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. [Mark10:2-5]
We can see here that Jesus did not support the idea of man putting his
wife away but enforced His Father's word that no man would separate what
He had joined.
While one is truly married, can he or she be joined to another without
committing adultery?
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and
marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that
is put away from her husband committeth adultery. [Luke 16:18]
Do the scriptures show exceptions to the above rule?
The wife is bound by the law as long
as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to
be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. [1 Corinthians 7:39]
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. [Matthew 19:9]
What instructions do we get concerning those who are truly married, or
who God hath truly joined together?
And unto the married I command, yet
not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But
and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her
husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. [1
Corinthians 7:10-11]
Note: The Church of God stands opposed to divorce and remarriage for
any cause except as recorded in Matthew 19:9.