Divorce?

[Living Soul Dance]

Help!
Is divorce not the will of God? Why?
What scriptures support this?

If I am divorced, is God okay with me if I marry again?

Please. Only people who are mature in the Word of God, please answer.

 

[porcupine]

Help!
Is divorce not the will of God? Why?
What scriptures support this?

If I am divorced, is God okay with me if I marry again?

Please. Only people who are mature in the Word of God, please answer.

I see two specific places where divorce for believers is justified in Scripture. First is "for cause of fornication" (Matthew 5:32) Fornication covers all sexual sin.

Second, there is abandonment by the unbelieving spouse (1 Corintians 7: 15).

These cover believers. I am not addressing those who married and divorced BEFORE they became Christians. However, I caution against believers being unforgiving and just looking for an excuse for divorce. God still HATES divorce.

In the first instance, the fornication must be the "cause" not a later claim. In other words, if you divorce for incompatability, or physical abuse, or other non-biblical causes, you are not elegible for divorce. These circumstances fit 1 Corinthians 7: 10-11. Even if the person later finds out that the other was committing adultery, they cannot simply swab that over the top of the existing divorce.

Again in the second case, I caution against looking for an excuse. One will not be held guiltless if they drive away their unbelieving (notice this applies onlu to unbelieving) spouses by making life Hell for them. (I also think that a spouse who claims to be a believer but is put through the process of disfellowship in Matthew 18 may be regarded as an unbeliever for purposes of this Scripture.)

In both of these instances, remarriage is an option. The passage in 1 Corinthians 7: 10-11 allows for other circumstances where a spouse may separate, but not remarry.

Hope that helps.