Upside Down Kingdom
Pt. 8 Dealing With Divorce
Matthew 5:31, 32

God allowed DIVORCE
In the Garden of Eden, God created the first human male and female and officiated the first marriage. These two complimentary genders were designed to covenant together, complete each other, and create a family together (Gen. 1:26-28; 2:18-25). God designed marriage as a permanent, life-long commitment where a husband and wife serve each other, do life together, and worship God together. However, because of sin and rebellion, people broke their covenant with God and each other. As some people were unwilling to repent and reconcile—shown by unchanged behavior—God allowed divorce. The Law permitted it for sexual immorality, which was adultery or indecent exposure of a sexual nature (c. 1440 BC; Ex. 20:14; Lev. 20:10; Deut. 24:1). What God allows is not always what He desires. Greek, Roman, and Jewish cultures allowed both men and women to divorce (Mark 10:11, 12). But marriage was to only end by death (covenant permanently destroyed), adultery (covenant broken with someone else), an unbeliever abandoning a believer (covenant forsaken; 1 Cor. 7:1-16). Divorce is never a command of God but a concession from God.

Jesus prioritized MARRIAGE
By Jesus’ time (30 AD), men abused this divorce allowance for ‘any cause’, which was not God’s intent (Matt. 19:3-9). Jesus rejected the idea a man could abandon his covenant for any reason if his wife displeased him. This created serial monogamy. And— shockingly for them—as their divorces were not lawful, made them adulterers. Placing the blame on the offending husband, the innocent wife, who will probably marry again, will now be an adulteress because of his bad choice. Don’t use God as a moral scapegoat for your negative emotions, bad choices, or fleeing from relational tension. As Jesus called the second marriage a real marriage, it must not be broken up either. But, any previous failure to follow God’s will must be repented of moving forward. God wants marriages to flourish. Marriage is such a high value to God, that even in sexual immorality (Gr. porneia, illicit sexual intercourse of any kind) the ideal is recovery by repentance, reconciliation, and restoration. There aren’t perfect people or perfect marriages, but there can be a perfect resolution to love, serve, and forgive one another (Eph. 4:32)!