Steps for divorce?

[tonychanyt]

Watch the parallelism:

Husband marries wife
Christ marries church

Earthly marriage is supposed to reflect heavenly marriage, Ephesians 5:

31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Failing to love the wife is grounds for divorce. Still, the actual divorce should not be taken lightly or routinely. Follow these guarding steps:

1. Make sure the couple involved are both Christians (1 Corinthians 7:15)
2. The husband and wife must repent of sinning against each other. Matthew 18:15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you."
3. Get one or two other trusted believers involved, Matthew 18:16 "But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses."
4. Matthew 18:17a "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church." The church can recommend separation.
5. Matthew 18:17b "And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." Contact the police if necessary.
6. If reconciliation between the husband and wife is still not possible after following the above steps, then divorce is possible.

Divorce is the last resort. God hates it.

 

[RDKirk]

Something I'd point out about your step 3: Those witnesses are supposed to be witnesses of the offense, not merely people brought into the confrontation. The charge is not established and there is no evidence if there are no witness of the offense itself.