Divorce?

In the "Sermon On The Mount" in Mathew 5: 31,32 Jesus said,   “Furthermore it has been said, "Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.  But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except fornication causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery."

Jesus said there is no reason for divorce.  Jesus said, a couple should not get divorced except for fornication.

What is fornication?  Fornication is sex before marriage.  So how can a married person commit the sin of sex before marriage?

Jesus is referring to an “engaged” couple, when he says, they can get divorced, if one of them cheats during the engagement period.

Remember the story of Joseph and Mary?  The Bible says they were “espoused” or engaged to be married.

Then Mary became pregnant by God, and the Bible says that, Joseph being a good man was going to “put her away” or divorce her quietly.  

Then an Angel appeared to Joseph and told him not to divorce Mary, because she was bearing God's child.  So Joseph stayed engaged to Mary and eventually married her.

I've been told; the Jews had a one-year engagement period.  During this engagement period, apparently they were almost like being married except they did not have sex with each other.

So Jesus is saying, that if one of them cheats on the other (fornication) during this engagement period, then the other may back out of the marriage.

But for married couples, Jesus does not give any reason or excuse that can be used to divorce your spouse.

If Jesus had allowed married couples to divorce, he would have used the word “adultery", instead of the word “fornication”.

Jesus goes on to say that if you do divorce your spouse and remarry; you are committing adultery with your new spouse.  

Comments From Readers

A reader says ...

A reader says ... The NIV version states in Matthew 5:32 "But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery."

Therefore, the word "fornication" is to be taken into the entire meaning of the passage since it was later translated to be "marital unfaithfulness".  I would think Jesus was pertaining to unfaithfulness as it pertains to breaking the bonds of being promised to one another. The meaning I take from this is that if you are promised, engaged, or married then breaking of that bond would probably define the meaning Jesus had in this passage that would define a marriage that has essentially become broken, therefore leading to the only acceptable reason for divorce.