Christian Divorce and Remarriage
Attempting to Make Sense of the New Testament Divorce and Remarriage Verses
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Update 01/27/2024
What Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7 is for Christians, and what Jesus said is for the Jews
Read everything below in that context, and it all makes sense.
Matthew 5:31-32 - It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery.
Matthew 19:8-9 - He said unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery: and whoso marries her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Luke 16:18 - Whosoever putts away his wife, and marries another, commits adultery: and whosoever marries her that is put away from [her] husband commits adultery.
Mark 10:7-12 - "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he said unto them, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, commits adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she commits adultery."
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 - But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband. But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife.
1 Corinthians 7:15 - But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
I Corinthians 7:25-28 - Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, [I say], that [it is] good for a man so to be. Are you bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But and if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
1 Corinthians 7:39 - The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
What Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7 is for Christians, and what Jesus said is for the Jews
Read everything below in that context, and it all makes sense.
Matthew 5:31-32 - It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery.
Matthew 19:8-9 - He said unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery: and whoso marries her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Luke 16:18 - Whosoever putts away his wife, and marries another, commits adultery: and whosoever marries her that is put away from [her] husband commits adultery.
Mark 10:7-12 - "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he said unto them, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, commits adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she commits adultery."
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 - But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband. But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife.
1 Corinthians 7:15 - But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
I Corinthians 7:25-28 - Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, [I say], that [it is] good for a man so to be. Are you bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But and if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
1 Corinthians 7:39 - The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
Old Testament Divorce and Remarriage Verses
Leviticus 21:7 - They shall not take a wife [that is] a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he [is] holy unto his God.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 - Suppose a man marries a woman but she does not please him. because he has found some uncleanness in her, he writes her a letter of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's [wife]. And [if] the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and gives [it] in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her [to be] his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that [is] abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God gives thee [for] an inheritance.
Jeremiah 6:12 - And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 8:8-10 - How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them? Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one deals falsely.
Ezra 10:2-3 - And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
Malachi 2:13-16 - Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure. You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows. Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. “For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”
Quotes By Early Christians on Divorce and Remarriage
“Tradition is the fruit of the Spirit’s teaching activity from the ages as God’s people have sought understanding of Scripture. It is not infallible, but neither is it negligible, and we impoverish ourselves if we disregard it.”
– J.I. Packer, “Upholding the Unity of Scripture Today,” JETS 25 (1982): 414
“The best way to guard a true interpretation of Scripture, the Reformers insisted, was neither to naively embrace the infallibility of tradition, or the infallibility of the individual, but to recognize the communal interpretation of Scripture. The best way to ensure faithfulness to the text is to read it together, not only with the churches of our own time and place, but with the wider ‘communion of saints’ down through the age.”
– Michael Horton, “What Still Keeps Us Apart?”
A person should either remain as he was born, or be content with one marriage. For a second marriage is only specious adultery. Jesus says, “For whoever puts away his wife and marries another, commits adultery.” He does not permit a man to send her away whose virginity he has brought to an end, nor to marry again.
[Athenagoras, 133-190 A.D.]
That erring Samaritan woman did not remain with one husband. Rather, she committed fornication by many marriages.
[Irenaeus, 130-202 A.D., who learned from Polycarp, who learned from John the Apostle, who learned from Jesus Christ ]
But now, contrary to what was written, even some of the rulers of the church have permitted a woman to marry—even when her husband was living, doing contrary to what was written. For it is said, “A wife is bound so long as her husband lives.”
[Origen, 248 A.D.]
A woman is an adulteress—even though she seems to be married to a man—if the former husband is still living. Likewise, also, the man who seems to marry the woman who has been put away, does not so much marry her as commit adultery with her—according to the declaration of the Savior.
[Origen, 248 A.D.]
All who have been twice married by human law, are sinners in the eye of our Master.
[Justin Martyr, 151 A.D.]
That the Scripture counsels marriage and allows no release from the union is expressly contained in the law, “You will not put away your wife, except for the cause of fornication.” And it regards as fornication the marriage of those separated while the other is alive. . . . “He who takes a woman who has been put away commits adultery.”
[Clement of Alexandria, 208 A.D.]
And I said to him, “Sir, if anyone has a wife who trusts in the Lord, and if he detects her in adultery, does the man sin if he continues to live with her?” And he said to me, “As long as he remains ignorant of her sin, the husband commits no transgression in living with her. But if the husband knows that his wife has gone astray, and if the woman does not repent, but persists in her fornication, and yet the husband continues to live with her, he also is guilty of her crime, and a sharer in her adultery.” And I said to him, “What then, sir, is the husband to do, if his wife continues in her vicious practices?” And he said, “The husband should put her away, and remain by himself. But if he puts his wife away and marries another, he also commits adultery.”
[Hermas/Hermes, 90 A.D.]
The Lord holds it more pleasing that marriage should not be contracted, than that it should at all be dissolved. In short, He prohibits divorce except for the cause of fornication.
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
Christ prohibits divorce, saying, “Whoever puts away his wife and marries another, commits adultery. And whoever marries her who is put away from her husband also commits adultery.” In order to forbid divorce, He makes it unlawful to marry a woman who has been put away.
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
Christ plainly forbids divorce; Moses unquestionably permits it. . .
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
The reason why He has abolished divorce, which “was not from the beginning,” was in order to strengthen that thing which “was from the beginning”—the permanent joining of two into one flesh. . . . So He permits divorce for no cause, except one. . . . So true is it that divorce “was not from the beginning,” that among the Romans, it was not until after the six hundredth year from the building of the city (of Rome) that this type of “hard-heartedness” began to be permitted. . . . To us, even if we do divorce them (i.e., adulterous spouses), marriage will not be lawful.
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
She must necessarily persevere in that peace with him whom she will no longer have the power to divorce. Not that she would have been marriageable—even if she had been able to divorce him.
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
We gladly abide by the bond of a single marriage. In the desire of procreating, we know either one wife, or none at all.
[Mark Minucius Felix, 150?-270? A.D.]
A wife must not depart from her husband. Or, if she should depart, she must remain unmarried.
[Cyprian, 200-258 A.D.]
The man who has deserted his wife and goes to another is himself an adulterer because he makes her commit adultery; and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has caused another woman’s husband to come over to her...The woman who lives with an adulterer is an adulteress the whole time. The woman who has been abandoned by her husband, ought, in my judgement, to remain as she is. The Lord said, “If anyone leaves his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, he causes her to commit adultery;” thus, by calling her an adulteress, He excludes her from intercourse with another man. For how can the man, being guilty as having caused adultery, and the woman, go without blame, when she is called an adulteress by the Lord for having intercourse with another man? A man who marries another man’s wife who has been taken away from him will be charged with adultery...
[Basil the Great, 375 A.D.]
“No one is permitted to know a woman other than his wife. The marital right is given you for this reason: lest you fall into a snare and sin with a strange woman. 'If you are bound to a wife do not seek a divorce,” for you are not permitted while your wife lives to marry another.' You dismiss your wife, therefore, as if by right and without being charged with wrongdoing, and you suppose it is proper for you to do so because no human law forbids it; but divine law forbids it. Anyone who obeys men should stand in awe of God. Hear the Word of the Lord, which even they who propose our laws must obey: 'What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.' "
[Ambrose of Milan, 387 A.D. - Commentary on Luke, Sec. 8:5]
“Do not tell me about the violence of the ravisher, about the persuasiveness of a mother, about the authority of a father, about the influence of relatives, about the intrigues and insolence of servants, or about household [financial] losses. So long as a husband lives, be he adulterer, be he sodomite, be he addicted to every kind of vice, if she left him on account of his crimes he is still her husband and she may not take another.”
[Jerome, 396 A.D.]
“Wherever there is fornication and a suspicion of fornication, a wife is freely dismissed. Because it is always possible that someone may calumniate the innocent and, for the sake of a second joining in marriage, act in criminal fashion against the first, it is commanded that when the first wife is dismissed, a second may not be taken while the first lives.”
[Jerome, 396 A.D.]
"This we now say, that, according to this condition of being born and dying, which we know, and in which we have been created, the marriage of male and female is good, the compact whereof divine Scripture so commends, as that neither is it allowed one put away by her husband to marry, so long as her husband is alive; nor is it allowed one put away by his wife to marry another, unless she who have separated from him be dead."
[Augustine, 419 A.D.]
"A woman begins to be the wife of no later husband unless she has ceased to be the wife of a former one. She will cease to be the wife of a former one, however, if that husband should die, not if he commit adultery. Therefore to serve two or more (men), so to pass over from a living husband into marriage with another, was neither lawful then, nor is it lawful now, nor will it ever be lawful. To apostatize from the One God, and to go into adulteress superstitions of another, is ever an evil."
[Augustine, 419 A.D.]
“And observe Him everywhere addressing His discourse to the man. 'Thus, he that puts away his wife,' says He, 'causes her to commit adultery, and he that marries a woman put away commits adultery.' That is, the former, though he take not another wife, by that act alone hath made himself liable to blame, having made the first an adulteress; the latter again is become an adulterer by taking her who is another’s. For tell me not this, 'The other hath cast her out;' nay, for when cast out she continued to be the wife of him that expelled her... And not thus only, but in another way also He hath lightened the enactment: forasmuch as even for him He leaves one manner of dismissal, when He says, 'Except for the cause of fornication;' since the matter had else come round again to the same issue. For if He had commanded to keep her in the house, though defiling herself with many, He would have made the matter end again in adultery. But mark Him arguing strongly not from the creation only, but also from His command. For He said not, that He made one man and one woman only, but that He also gave this command that the one man should be joined to the one woman. But if it had been His will that he should put this one away, and bring in another, when He had made one man, He would have formed many women. But now both by the manner of the creation, and by the manner of law-giving, He showed that one man must dwell with one woman continually, and never break off from her."
[John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D.]
- Updated 12/25/2022
[Athenagoras, 133-190 A.D.]
That erring Samaritan woman did not remain with one husband. Rather, she committed fornication by many marriages.
[Irenaeus, 130-202 A.D., who learned from Polycarp, who learned from John the Apostle, who learned from Jesus Christ ]
But now, contrary to what was written, even some of the rulers of the church have permitted a woman to marry—even when her husband was living, doing contrary to what was written. For it is said, “A wife is bound so long as her husband lives.”
[Origen, 248 A.D.]
A woman is an adulteress—even though she seems to be married to a man—if the former husband is still living. Likewise, also, the man who seems to marry the woman who has been put away, does not so much marry her as commit adultery with her—according to the declaration of the Savior.
[Origen, 248 A.D.]
All who have been twice married by human law, are sinners in the eye of our Master.
[Justin Martyr, 151 A.D.]
That the Scripture counsels marriage and allows no release from the union is expressly contained in the law, “You will not put away your wife, except for the cause of fornication.” And it regards as fornication the marriage of those separated while the other is alive. . . . “He who takes a woman who has been put away commits adultery.”
[Clement of Alexandria, 208 A.D.]
And I said to him, “Sir, if anyone has a wife who trusts in the Lord, and if he detects her in adultery, does the man sin if he continues to live with her?” And he said to me, “As long as he remains ignorant of her sin, the husband commits no transgression in living with her. But if the husband knows that his wife has gone astray, and if the woman does not repent, but persists in her fornication, and yet the husband continues to live with her, he also is guilty of her crime, and a sharer in her adultery.” And I said to him, “What then, sir, is the husband to do, if his wife continues in her vicious practices?” And he said, “The husband should put her away, and remain by himself. But if he puts his wife away and marries another, he also commits adultery.”
[Hermas/Hermes, 90 A.D.]
The Lord holds it more pleasing that marriage should not be contracted, than that it should at all be dissolved. In short, He prohibits divorce except for the cause of fornication.
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
Christ prohibits divorce, saying, “Whoever puts away his wife and marries another, commits adultery. And whoever marries her who is put away from her husband also commits adultery.” In order to forbid divorce, He makes it unlawful to marry a woman who has been put away.
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
Christ plainly forbids divorce; Moses unquestionably permits it. . .
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
The reason why He has abolished divorce, which “was not from the beginning,” was in order to strengthen that thing which “was from the beginning”—the permanent joining of two into one flesh. . . . So He permits divorce for no cause, except one. . . . So true is it that divorce “was not from the beginning,” that among the Romans, it was not until after the six hundredth year from the building of the city (of Rome) that this type of “hard-heartedness” began to be permitted. . . . To us, even if we do divorce them (i.e., adulterous spouses), marriage will not be lawful.
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
She must necessarily persevere in that peace with him whom she will no longer have the power to divorce. Not that she would have been marriageable—even if she had been able to divorce him.
[Tertullian, 160-220 A.D.]
We gladly abide by the bond of a single marriage. In the desire of procreating, we know either one wife, or none at all.
[Mark Minucius Felix, 150?-270? A.D.]
A wife must not depart from her husband. Or, if she should depart, she must remain unmarried.
[Cyprian, 200-258 A.D.]
The man who has deserted his wife and goes to another is himself an adulterer because he makes her commit adultery; and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has caused another woman’s husband to come over to her...The woman who lives with an adulterer is an adulteress the whole time. The woman who has been abandoned by her husband, ought, in my judgement, to remain as she is. The Lord said, “If anyone leaves his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, he causes her to commit adultery;” thus, by calling her an adulteress, He excludes her from intercourse with another man. For how can the man, being guilty as having caused adultery, and the woman, go without blame, when she is called an adulteress by the Lord for having intercourse with another man? A man who marries another man’s wife who has been taken away from him will be charged with adultery...
[Basil the Great, 375 A.D.]
“No one is permitted to know a woman other than his wife. The marital right is given you for this reason: lest you fall into a snare and sin with a strange woman. 'If you are bound to a wife do not seek a divorce,” for you are not permitted while your wife lives to marry another.' You dismiss your wife, therefore, as if by right and without being charged with wrongdoing, and you suppose it is proper for you to do so because no human law forbids it; but divine law forbids it. Anyone who obeys men should stand in awe of God. Hear the Word of the Lord, which even they who propose our laws must obey: 'What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.' "
[Ambrose of Milan, 387 A.D. - Commentary on Luke, Sec. 8:5]
“Do not tell me about the violence of the ravisher, about the persuasiveness of a mother, about the authority of a father, about the influence of relatives, about the intrigues and insolence of servants, or about household [financial] losses. So long as a husband lives, be he adulterer, be he sodomite, be he addicted to every kind of vice, if she left him on account of his crimes he is still her husband and she may not take another.”
[Jerome, 396 A.D.]
“Wherever there is fornication and a suspicion of fornication, a wife is freely dismissed. Because it is always possible that someone may calumniate the innocent and, for the sake of a second joining in marriage, act in criminal fashion against the first, it is commanded that when the first wife is dismissed, a second may not be taken while the first lives.”
[Jerome, 396 A.D.]
"This we now say, that, according to this condition of being born and dying, which we know, and in which we have been created, the marriage of male and female is good, the compact whereof divine Scripture so commends, as that neither is it allowed one put away by her husband to marry, so long as her husband is alive; nor is it allowed one put away by his wife to marry another, unless she who have separated from him be dead."
[Augustine, 419 A.D.]
"A woman begins to be the wife of no later husband unless she has ceased to be the wife of a former one. She will cease to be the wife of a former one, however, if that husband should die, not if he commit adultery. Therefore to serve two or more (men), so to pass over from a living husband into marriage with another, was neither lawful then, nor is it lawful now, nor will it ever be lawful. To apostatize from the One God, and to go into adulteress superstitions of another, is ever an evil."
[Augustine, 419 A.D.]
“And observe Him everywhere addressing His discourse to the man. 'Thus, he that puts away his wife,' says He, 'causes her to commit adultery, and he that marries a woman put away commits adultery.' That is, the former, though he take not another wife, by that act alone hath made himself liable to blame, having made the first an adulteress; the latter again is become an adulterer by taking her who is another’s. For tell me not this, 'The other hath cast her out;' nay, for when cast out she continued to be the wife of him that expelled her... And not thus only, but in another way also He hath lightened the enactment: forasmuch as even for him He leaves one manner of dismissal, when He says, 'Except for the cause of fornication;' since the matter had else come round again to the same issue. For if He had commanded to keep her in the house, though defiling herself with many, He would have made the matter end again in adultery. But mark Him arguing strongly not from the creation only, but also from His command. For He said not, that He made one man and one woman only, but that He also gave this command that the one man should be joined to the one woman. But if it had been His will that he should put this one away, and bring in another, when He had made one man, He would have formed many women. But now both by the manner of the creation, and by the manner of law-giving, He showed that one man must dwell with one woman continually, and never break off from her."
[John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D.]
- Updated 12/25/2022