1 Corinthians 7
" To the married I give this command ( not I, but the Lord): A wife must not seperate from her husband. But if she does , she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. "
-I interpret this to mean if a situation is really unliveable, then seperate and work for reconciliation. Why would a woman seperate from her husband in this passage? To my thinking this covers situations where the man is difficult to live with to the point where common sense dictates seperation until the problems can be worked out. By standing in faith for God to change her husband, she is keeping the marriage covenant.
Malachi 2:13-16
" Another thing you do; You flood the Lord's altar with tears, You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask "why?" It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the Lord made them one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. " I HATE DIVORCE, " says the Lord God of Israel. "
-I interpret this to mean it is beyond our authority to make up whatever rules suit us. We may have "moved on" as the saying goes, but has God? Funny thing about these type of passages. Although there is a 50% divorce rate in the church, almost no one thinks that their divorce was wrong.
1 Corinthians 7
" To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.... But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances:"
-I interpret this to mean that in cases where a christian is married to a non-christian, that the believer is not to intiatiate the divorce from an unbelieving spouse. It also seems to infer abandonment as a legitimate reason for divorce since it says "let him do so" and also "not bound" implies in biblical language able to remarry (see romans 7:2,3).
matthew 5:31-32
" It has been said, Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery."
Matthew 19:3-9
" some pharisees came to him to test him. they asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?' Haven't you read, he replied, that at the beginning the creator made them male and female, and said , for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? so they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man seperate.
'Why then, they asked, did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?' Jesus replied, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another commits adultery. "
This passage refers to Deuteronomy 24:1-4 , the portion of the law which deals with divorce. There was a debate among the jews between two rabbi's on this passage. One strict and one more liberal. jesus takes the side of the strict interpretation. In these two passages all three parties are accused of adultery. The husband , the ex-wife and the man she marries in her second marriage.
If I had said all this instead of Jesus , I would likely be accused of many things, none of them good. Jesus was pretty strict about divorce.
By the way the certificate given is known as a "ghett"(not sure the spelling. To this day in the jewish community, a woman cannot remarry without one. The husband issues her a "ghett" so that she is not left single all her life. Without the "ghett" , no other jewish man will consider her. To send a wife away(seperate from her) and not give her a "ghett' is a cruel practice in the jewish community to this day.
Luke 16:18
" Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
Mark 10: 5-12
"... Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. and if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
- the passage from matthew 19 seems to be an alternate account of the same teaching. Since it includes the phrase " except for the cause of marital unfaithfulness" it is infered in these passages as well. This phrase seems to imply that despite jesus strict stance on marriage and divorce he allowed divorce for this reason.
Do not ask me to give the final answer to this issue. But one thing is very very clear to me. Divorce is a very serious issue biblically speaking.