Divorce then Remarriage – What does the Bible really say?

Fri Jan 18, 2013

Editor: This is the 5th article in the series. May the Lord do for you what he did for the disciples in Luke 24:45: “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures”.{{more}}

I therefore encourage you to search the scriptures to see if these things I am telling you about are truly from scriptures.

A woman cannot be bound by the law of her husband if she does not have a husband; that is, if she has been put away and given a certificate of divorce as God did with Israel.

What about John the Baptizer telling Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his brother Philip’s wife?

According to Josephus, Herod (Antipas) was a guest at his half-brother Philip’s house. While there, Herod and Herodias eloped and got married. This was an incestuous relationship and forbidden by the Old Testament law (Lev 18:6 and verse 16). That is why John said what he did.

Does the Bible anywhere prohibit a woman from marrying a divorced man? No. Does the Bible anywhere prohibit a man from marrying a divorced woman? No.

Therefore, under what circumstances does the Bible prohibit divorce? Remember the Bible has the answer to this very important question. (Deut 22: 13-19). In essence if a man publicly accuses his wife of not being a virgin, then he may not put her away (and, of course, or divorce her) as long as he lives.

Again, if a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to another man and they are discovered, he must marry her and may not put her away nor divorce her as long as he lives, Deut 22:28-29. This command would be senseless if divorce was prohibited in all other circumstances, too.

What about the passage in Romans 7:2-3? This is saying to us, for a married woman who is not divorced is bound by the law, not the Mosaic Law, but the law of her husband, not ex-husband or former husband as long as she lives. If her husband, dies, she the wife, not ex-wife, is released from the law concerning the husband. Therefore, if while her husband, it does not refer to former or ex-husband, is still living, she went and joined to another man, which means married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. Why? Because she is still married, not divorced; but if her husband, not ex-husband dies, she is free from the law of her husband. Therefore, if she is not an adulteress, because her husband, not ex-husband, died, though she is joined to marry another man.

Stay tuned for the 6th article.

On the ground observer