The Question of Divorce Part 2

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Teaching About Divorce

10 And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.

2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” 5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Mark 10:1-12 ESV

Mark 10:33-34 ESV - 33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

Mark 10:5 ESV - 5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.

Romans 3:24-26 ESV - 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

1. God’s Design for Marriage

Mark 10:6-9 ESV - 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Genesis 1:27 ESV - 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:24 ESV - 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

a. Marriage is Exclusive

b. Marriage is Leaving Family Behind

Mark 10:7 ESV - Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,

c. Marriage is an Intimate Union

Mark 10:8 ESV - and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.

Ephesians 5:28-32 ESV - 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

d. Marriage is Permanent

Mark 10:9 ESV - What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

2. Jesus’s Discussion with the Disciples

Mark 10:10-12 ESV - 10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Matthew 19:9 ESV - 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

a. God Hates Divorce

b. God Permits Divorce in Certain Situations

Matthew 5:32 ESV - 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife (or husband), except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her/ him commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV - 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.

c. God Forgives Divorce

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV - 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.