Divorce and Remarriage
Earl Fly
Jackson, Tennessee
Jesus gave only ONE condition for divorce and remarriage. He teaches that if one of the marriage partners commits fornication, the INNOCENT party has a right to divorce the GUILTY party and remarry (Matthew 19: 3-9). If one divorces the companion for any other cause and remarries that one is committing the sin of adultery, and the person married to such a divorced person is likewise guilty of adultery. And whosoever marries the one put away also commits adultery with that one. This is the law of God. It cannot be changed or set aside to suit the desires of the people.
Adulterers cannot enter heaven (1 Cor. 6:9, 10). If they would be saved they must cease living in adultery, which means separation. "The way of transgressors is hard" (Prov. 13:15) Sometimes children are involved and thus the innocent suffer for the sins of the guilty. In such a separation the father has a responsibility to properly care for mother and children. While some rebel at the thought of such a separation in order to be a Christian, they thought little or nothing about the first separation and divorce, which also may have involved children. If one can leave his wife and children the first time to commit adultery with a second wife which displeases God, can he not leave the adulterous marriage to obey God?
While it is true that all sins are washed away when one obeys the gospel of Christ, relationships are not. The person must cease the relationship. Thus one who is a partner in a liquor business must sever that relationship when he obeys God, otherwise he has never truly repented. Likewise repentance will demand that those living in adultery cease doing so. There is no other way of salvation for them. Those living in adultery must choose whether they will separate and obey God and be saved, or live with their companion in adultery and be lost in eternity.
TRUTH MAGAZINE XIV: 2. p.26
November 13, 1969
