why is remarriage a sin?

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 Good News Translation (GNT)
Divorce and Remarriage
24 So he writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home. 2 Then suppose she marries another man, 3 and he also decides that he doesn't want her, so he also writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home. Or suppose her second husband dies. 4 In either case, her first husband is not to marry her again; he is to consider her defiled. If he married her again, it would be offensive to the Lord. You are not to commit such a terrible sin in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

visionary said:

It is the mental and emotion gymnastics that he had to jump through to receive a woman another man has had. It is the hurdle of the emotional past that blocks the union from being complete. It is hard to have a relationship without trust. The first break in a marriage is the bond of trust. When he discarded her, it was because found fault, even if it is not true. To return, he has to spiritually beg God to give them another change and rejoin these two in HOLY matrimony. God does not want you or any partner to deal with all this baggage. Good thing there is forgiveness or we would all be without hope.

In this particular case, both men found fault and divorced this woman. For the first man to take her back, he has to have an agenda. It is not going to be a healthy relationship. He will hold whatever that fault of hers is, and rule over her, punishing her mentally, physically, or emotionally for hurting his ego, emotions, or pride in the first round and the stigma in the community for him to take her back is without solution.

He could hope that Hosea gives him some answers as to the who, what, where, why and how of it all. After all, Hosea was asked to marry one of ill repute. One who didn't give up her bad habits, and one who needed rescuing on more than one occasion as she wondered off from her marital bliss and parental responsibilities. My heart goes out to the children who are named after the sins, episodes of foolishness, and moments of reconciliation.

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What about Hosea?

I don't really see anyone dealing with the text that I asked about.

Justin Robinson said:

This is pretty spot on. In the Old Testament the law was sacred obviously; and people were killed for being disobedient. But in this case, the woman’s chastity has been defiled by the second man, therefore man #1 could not re-marry her.

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Hi Friend what you wrote makes sense, what is your take on the book of Hosea?

Justin Robinson said:

Ok so Im assuming you are referring to the first three chapters in the book as most of Hosea is directed to the sin of Israel, God's wrath (that he wants to do) to Israel, God's love and anger towards Israel, which inevitably leads to God's compassion towards Israel.

For me, the main principle of the first three chapters is clear. God tells Hosea to go and marry the adulteress (her name was Gomer).

*Who am I to decipher or judge what God told Hosea to do? Simple, I am no one to do so.

Hosea marries her and they conceive three children. God is direct in the names of the children: Jezreel, Lo-Ruhamah ("not loved"), and Lo-Ammi ("not my people"). God makes an example of these children of the adulteress Gomer. However God then reclaims Israel (Jezreel) and unites them with Judah "in the place of Lo-Ammi". Check the following reference:

Reference (I like the NIV ): v10 - "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them,'You are not my people,' they will be called 'children of the living God'. 11- The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will point one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the the day of Jezreel."

The woman, Gomer ends up trying to go back to her lovers in which God blocks her with thorn bushes and takes everything from her (including the vineyards which were payment from her lovers). Gomer then says,"Ill go back to my husband..." God leads her into the wilderness to be restored to Him. She ends up calling God her husband and not her master (2:16).

The Lord again tells Hosea to show love to his wife even though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. 'Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites.' Hosea ends up buying her back and tells her not to prostitute.

So when its all said and done. In my eyes, God made Hosea marry an adulteress, and make an example of their children in order to ultimately restore them which leads to Israel - His people.

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Thank You,
Daniel

Always trying to learn.

hedrick said:

In Jesus' teaching about divorce, remarriage always seemed to appear as a part of divorce, not a separate thing. The justification for not divorcing was God's intention for marriage. In Luke 16:18 the problem with remarriage is that the divorce wasn't real. So it's adultery against the original wife. Thus I'm not convinced that for him (or us) remarriage is a problem on its own, independent of divorce. That is, if a divorce is justified, remarriage isn't an issue.

Jesus' own teaching is pretty hard-core about divorce. Yet Matthew understands exceptions (unchastity), and Paul gives a different one (if a non-Christian husband has problems with the wife's Christianity). Jesus' general approach to law doesn't suggest that he would want to hold people within a marriage that had ceased to be a reflection of God's intention.

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And, what about the cases where God did not join two people together?

There are cases where people join themselves together in illicit sex, but God had nothing to do with it.

1 Corinthians 6 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Judging Problems Between Believers
6 When one of you has something against someone else in your group, why do you go to the judges in the law courts? The way they think and live is wrong. So why do you let them decide who is right? Why don’t you let God’s holy people decide who is right? 2 Don’t you know that God’s people will judge the world? So if you will judge the world, then surely you can judge small arguments like this. 3 You know that in the future we will judge angels. So surely we can judge life’s ordinary problems. 4 So if you have such matters to be judged, why do you take them to those who are not part of the church? They mean nothing to you. 5 I say this to shame you. Surely there is someone in your group wise enough to judge a complaint between two believers. 6 But now one believer goes to court against another, and you let people who are not believers judge their case!

7 The lawsuits that you have against each other show that you are already defeated. It would be better for you to let someone wrong you. It would be better to let someone cheat you. 8 But you are the ones doing wrong and cheating. And you do this to your own brothers and sisters in Christ!

9-10 Surely you know that people who do wrong will not get to enjoy God’s kingdom. Don’t be fooled. These are the people who will not get to enjoy his kingdom: those who sin sexually, those who worship idols, those who commit adultery, men who let other men use them for sex or who have sex with other men, those who steal, those who are greedy, those who drink too much, those who abuse others with insults, and those who cheat. 11 In the past some of you were like that. But you were washed clean, you were made holy, and you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Use Your Bodies for God’s Glory
12 “I am allowed to do anything,” you say. My answer to this is that not all things are good. Even if it is true that “I am allowed to do anything,” I will not let anything control me like a slave. 13 Someone else says, “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” Yes, and God will destroy them both. But the body is not for sexual sin. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 And God will raise our bodies from death with the same power he used to raise the Lord Jesus. 15 Surely you know that your bodies are parts of Christ himself. So I must never take what is part of Christ and join it to a prostitute! 16 The Scriptures say, “The two people will become one.” So you should know that anyone who is joined with a prostitute becomes one with her in body. 17 But anyone who is joined with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

18 So run away from sexual sin. It involves the body in a way that no other sin does. So if you commit sexual sin, you are sinning against your own body. 19 You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit that you received from God and that lives in you. You don’t own yourselves. 20 God paid a very high price to make you his. So honor God with your body.

Genesis 2:24 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife. In this way two people become one.

My curiosity, is why one can not remarry their wife?

Hebrews 13:4 King James Version (KJV)
4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled