What Does the Bible Say About Divorce?

A Summary of both New and Old Testaments

For almost twenty years, I have reflected on what the Bible says about divorce. I can remember in the early 2000s reading David Instone-Brewer and realizing how complicated the question could be. Nearly twenty years later, I find myself reading A. Andrew Das’s excellent work Remarriage in Early Christianity. While Das has helped clarify certain questions in my mind, I am left with many more.

Yet I have come to one important conclusion: The Bible says much less than we want it to say on divorce and remarriage. And for that reason, divorce and remarriage require deep pastoral wisdom on the basis of what the Bible says about them.

I plan to write on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. In this first of three or more articles that I hope to write, I will focus on divorce in particular as I survey what the Bible teaches about divorce. While most statements on divorce focus on the New Testament, I will argue that a whole Bible approach—that includes the Old Testament—leads to a fuller understanding of the topic.

I will conclude that Jesus teaches the permanence of marriage until death, although he permits divorce when one spouse commits a sexually immoral act. Paul agrees but adds that if an unbelieving spouse abandons a believing spouse, the believing spouse is not bound to that marriage. The Old Testament suggests a wider range of grounds for divorce, but we should be cautious in our conclusions given the specific contexts of these Old Testament passages.

Jesus on Divorce

Luke 16:18

Luke 16:18 presents Jesus’s teaching on divorce as an isolated saying between the parables of the dishonest manager and the rich man and Lazarus and other teachings. Given the domestic focus on the parables, however, Jesus’s teaching thematically connects to household morality. Here, Jesus says:

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.” (Luke 16:18)

• Jesus teaches that a husband who divorces his wife and remarries commits adultery

• Jesus teaches that a man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

No other details are given. At this point, Jesus seems to argue that marriage is permanent and that divorce is adulterous; and even marrying a divorced person makes one an adulterer. The focus here is on the husband, but in Mark 10:11–12 Jesus also includes wives who divorce their husbands.

Mark 10:11–12

Mark 10 parallels Matthew 19:3–12 but with a few key differences. I’ll cover the primary context when I discuss Matthew 19 below. Here, I want to point to the specific words of Jesus and also one important contextual piece in Mark’s Gospel book.

Jesus says in Mark 10:11–12:

“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

• Jesus prohibits both husbands and wives from initiating divorce. Mark is the only Gospel book that explicitly prohibits wives from divorcing husbands.

• Jesus points out that husbands who divorce their wives and remarry commit adultery “against her.” While the grammatical construction suggests that the husband commits adultery against the woman he remarries, it seems more natural to see the husband as sinning against his first wife (France, Mark, 393–4).

• Jesus states that wives who divorce their husbands and remarry commit adultery.

• Jesus thus has an asymmetrical teaching. Likely, it is implied that the wife who divorces commits adultery against her second husband; and it is assumed that the husband who divorces and remarries commits adultery. The asymmetry may be inclusive to both husbands and wives and simply a teaching method that Jesus uses to develop his doctrine of marriage.

The setting of this passage matters. After his confrontation with the Pharisees where Jesus reaffirms the permanence of marriage on the basis of Genesis 2 (Mark 10:2–9), he speaks privately with his disciples in a home (Mark 10:10). Here, Jesus gives insider information to his disciples.

This fits with Jesus’s explicit teaching in Mark 4:10–11:

“And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.’”

We then overhear Jesus speaking to his inner circle about a teaching that he gives to them privately. That teaching includes the permanence of marriage and the affirmation that remarriage after a divorce means the divorcer commits adultery and commits adultery toward another.

Larry Hurtado also points out that Jesus may explicitly prohibit both wives and husbands from initiating divorce as a way to condemn Herod and Herodias (Mark 166–7). They both (as husband and wife in different marriages) divorced their spouses, and then married each other. Given that Jesus speaks about a wife divorcing her husband which Jewish law does not envision but Roman law does, it stands to reason that Jesus thinks of a broader audience in his teaching here than just Jewish believers (R.T. France, Mark, 393)

Matthew 5:31–32

Jesus teaches on divorce during the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:31–32, he contrasts Deuteronomy 24:1 with his own teaching:

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (Matthew 5:31–32)

• Jesus teaches that a husband who divorces his wife makes her commit adultery.

• Jesus notes one important exception to that rule: a husband does not make his wife commit adultery if he divorces her after she first commits a sexually immoral act. (Jesus may simply mean that she has already committed adultery).

• A husband who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

While most people focus on the exception clause, Jesus’s primary point remains centred on the permanence of marriage, how divorce and marriage amount to adultery, and how even marrying a divorced woman means committing adultery.

The meaning of the exception clause (1) minimally points to the reality that a husband who divorces his wife who has already become an adulterer does not in this case make her an adulterer (she already is); or (2) maximally points to the reality that Jesus allows (not commands) divorce when a wife commits a sexually immoral act, which most often means adultery.

Why Does Matthew Alone Include the Exception Clause?

The exception clause is not Jesus’s main point, but a logically parenthetical clause that qualifies Jesus’s view of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Matthew is the only Gospel writer to include the exception clause, and he does so twice in his Gospel (Matt 5:32; Matt 19:9). Likely, he does so for Christological reasons.

Matthew is the only Gospel to remember how Joseph originally responded to Mary’s pregnancy. Joseph intended to divorce her quietly, an act that Matthew calls “just” in Matthew 1:19. As Matthew recounts:

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.” (Matt 1:18–19).

If Jesus had exclusively taught that there was no occasion for a just divorce, then Joseph would be unjust in his desire to divorce Mary and end their betrothal. But since divorce is permitted and so just when one discovers adultery, then it follows that Joseph’s intent was just. Joseph was of course wrong in his suspicions about Mary. An angel of the Lord reveals to him that Mary’s child was born of the Spirit (Matthew 1:20–21). The just Joseph thus remains with Mary his betrothed.

The point that I am making here, however, is that Joseph originally believed Mary had committed an immoral act. As a just man, he resolved to divorce her quietly. This just intent follows from his desire to divorce due to perceived sexual immorality. Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 preserve Jesus’s exception clause to demonstrate Joseph’s righteousness, the adopted earthly father of Jesus, the Christ.

If correct, we should probably not expect the Gospel books to recount the total teaching of Jesus on divorce and remarriage. That must be true in any case, given how little the Gospel books reveal of Jesus’s teaching. As John reminds us, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).

Matthew 19:3–12

Matthew 19:3–12 recounts the most extensive of Jesus’s teachings on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. But as it pertains to divorce, he says virtually the same things that he has in Luke 16:18, Mark 10:11–12, and Matthew 5:32. In Matthew 19:9, Jesus says:

“whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

• Jesus says that a husband who divorces his wife commits adultery

• Jesus says that a husband does not commit adultery when he divorces his wife “for sexual immorality,” that is, her prior sexual immorality. He may merely point out that she is already an adulterer, but most recognize that Jesus here permits divorce for cases of sexual immorality.

• Jesus possibly says that a husband who divorces a wife due to sexual immorality in her and remarries another does not commit adultery. The grammatical construction is ambiguous, and even leans towards the exception clause only referring to the divorce; but the natural or common sense approach suggests that if a divorce is just, then so is a remarriage after that just divorce.

Matthew includes additional teaching for the disciples in Matthew 19:10–12. Like Mark, Jesus likely gave this as private teaching to the disciples since he shares a similar “insider” and “outsider” perspective on his teaching (Matt 13:11).

When the disciples claim that it is better not to marry due to Jesus’s teachings (Matt 19:10), Jesus replies, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given” (Matt 19:11). The language of receive and given echoes Matthew 13:11—“ To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given”—and the surrounding context that shows that unbelievers cannot accept/receive the teachings of Christ (Matthew 13:12–17).

New Testament scholar A. Andrew Das explains:

"He was granting that outside his own disciples, this teaching about divorce and remarriage may be too difficult. Those outside may not accept it. When Jesus says in v. 11, "Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given [οἷς δέδοται]," this is not a contrast between some believers and other believers, as if some are capable of a life of celibacy while others are not." This, Das argues, is characteristic of Matthew who contrasts those who receive Jesus's teaching within and those who don't without (Matt 13:11; Mark 4:11).” (Remarriage 2014: 184)

The point here is that Jesus’s teaching on marriage, divorce, and remarriage seems so difficult to the disciples that Jesus has to remind them that: (1) only those who have been given the ability (2) to receive his teachings can do so.

So what exactly was Jesus’s teaching in fuller context? We need to look at how Jesus answers the Pharisees in Matthew 19:3–9 and what he means by saying that some have been made eunuchs while others have chosen to be eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:12).

Matthew 19:3–9: Jesus and the Pharisees

Matthew 19:3 says, “And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?’” The question harkens back to Deuteronomy 24:1–4. There, Moses speaks of men divorcing wives for “some indecency” [ervat dabar] (24:1). Many ancient Jews understood Moses to command or legislate divorce here in Deuteronomy 24. And in Jesus’s day, two schools of thought developed around the teachings of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai.

Rabbi Hillel believes that Moses allowed divorce for almost any reason, while Shammai restricted divorce to matters of indecency (so Mishnah Gittim 9.10). The Pharisees may be asking about Jesus’s opinion on Hillel’s view of divorce from Deuteronomy 24. Even if it does not, we can at least note that Jesus must have taught on divorce in such a way as to raise questions. Particularly, his view of the permanence of marriage and his interpretation of Moses would have made many uncomfortable as the response by the disciples illustrates in Matthew 19:10 illustrates.

Jesus answers the Pharisees (1) by rejecting their interpretation of Moses in Deuteronomy 24 and (2) by affirming the permanence of marriage according to God’s design in Genesis 2.

Quoting Genesis 2:24, Jesus first affirms God’s original intent in marriage in answer to the Pharisees:

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matt 19:4–6).

Jesus affirms that “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”In other words, Jesus believes marriage is a permanent union, one that God makes.

The Pharisees are not satisfied with this answer, and so they press Jesus by asking about Moses in Deuteronomy 24:1. They ask, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” (Matt 19:7).

In reply, Jesus points out that they are in fact wrong about what Moses did in Deuteronomy 24:1:

“Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Matt 19:8–9).

Jesus points to the hardness of the human heart as the reason why Moses allowed divorce, and he points again to Genesis by saying “from the beginning it was not so” in verse 8. Moses did not encourage or require anyone to divorce. But when he saw people divorcing, he legislated the process of divorce. We might say he accommodated the law to the hardness of human hearts.

This tells us something important about the Law of Moses by the way. While many aspects represent God’s eternal moral law, some legislative portions accommodate to our hard hearts. That is why Jesus renews our hearts so that we can be granted the gift of being able to receive his teaching as I noted above.

Then Jesus concludes: “whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” As noted, the exception clause matters but it is beside the point of the passage. Here, Jesus emphasizes the original intent of marriage as a permanent bond that God makes according to Genesis 2:24, Jesus interprets that passage to mean: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matt 19:6).

Matthew 19:12: Jesus and His Teaching on Eunuchs

Since both Roman and Jewish law allowed for divorce and remarriage in fairly broad ways, Jesus’s teaching would have shocked many. Hence, the disciples express their dismay in Matthew 19:10. Jesus agrees that their shock is warranted, but he also points to God’s grace or gifting to allow people to receive his teaching (Matt 19:11).

Then Jesus makes the curious point in Matthew 19:12 that some people are made Eunuchs while others choose it for God’s kingdom. He explains, “For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Likely, Jesus here metaphorically speaks of being a eunuch to refer to those who remain single after a divorce. In Matthew 5:27–30, Jesus speaks about adultery and advises cutting off body parts to avoid adultery. Right after this passage, Jesus speaks about divorce (Matt 5:31–32). Jesus had already spoken of cutting off body parts metaphorically in his prior teaching. In both of his teachings on divorce and adultery then, Jesus speaks metaphorically of mutilation to intensify the seriousness of adultery. Ancient Bible readers also took it this way. For example, Justin Martyr unites both passages in his First Apology (1.25).

In Matthew 19:32, those “who have been made eunuchs by men” may refer to those unjustly divorced, who remain single as a result. These divorced and single believers are able to receive Jesus’s teaching because God has granted it to them to be able to do so.

Presumably, someone who unjustly divorces his wife or commits adultery has no ground to remarry. So it could be that such persons are those “who have made themselves eunuchs” and upon repentance can be said to be eunuchs “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” For them, it is not just possible but a given grace by God to receive Christ’s teaching on this matter.

I risk saying more than Jesus does. So I will not make a final judgment but simply note the difficulty of the question here.

Paul on Divorce

1 Corinthians 7:10–11

The only non-Gospel book to record Jesus’s view of divorce and remarriage appears in 1 Corinthians 7:10–11. Paul wrote this letter in the 50s, and so it represents one of the earliest written witnesses to Jesus’s teaching that we know of. The Gospels are generally thought to be written between AD 55–96.

Here is how Paul remembers Jesus’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 7:10–11:

“To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.”

• The Lord taught that a wife should not divorce her husband

• The Lord taught that if a wife does divorce,^[1] then she should either remain single or reconcile to her husband.

• The Lord taught that a husband should not divorce his wife.

Paul summarizes Jesus’s teaching in virtually the same way as the Gospel books record his teaching. The new teaching that a wife should remain single or reconcile with her husband agrees with Jesus on the permanence of marriage, because the wife must remain single or reconcile with her husband. She cannot remarry.

But just as Jesus’s teaching on the permanence of marriage has one exception (an adulterous act), so we will see that Paul deepens Jesus’s teaching by recognizing (1) that unbelievers will sometimes abandon believers and thus divorce is permissible (1 Cor 7:15) and (2) that marriage remains permanent until death (“till death do us part”) which means that widows may remarry (1 Cor 7:39­–40).

Much more could be said about remarriage, but that is another topic. Here, I mainly aim to elucidate what the Bible says about marriage and divorce. And in 1 Corinthians 7:15–16, Paul clearly affirms that divorce is permissible when an unbeliever abandons a believing spouse:

“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. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?”

• Paul teaches that if an unbelieving spouse separates from a believing spouse, the believing spouse can "let it be so" and "is not enslaved.”

• Paul grounds his teaching in the inability to know if an unbelieving spouse may be saved; if they were saved, then the formally unbelieving spouse would follow the Lord’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 7:10–11 to reconcile with the believing spouse. And the believing spouse would do the same.

Romans 7:1–3

In a discussion of the law (Rom 7:1), Paul recounts how marriage remains permanent until the death of a spouse. In Romans 7:2–3, he says:

“For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.”

• Paul says that the law binds a married woman to her husband, but she is freed from the law of marriage if her husband dies.

• Paul states that the law calls a woman an adulteress if she lives with a man who is not her husband.

• Paul claims that the law allows for this woman’s remarriage if her husband dies because “she is free from that law.”

The language of free (eleutheros) here alludes to a common term in Greco-Roman and Jewish marriage certificates (Das, Remarriage, 206). These divorce documents certify that a divorced person is free to remarry. However, Paul restricts that broad freedom—common in both Jewish and Roman law—to a narrower freedom to remarry only when a spouse has died.

When it comes to divorce, Paul agrees with Jesus’s teaching that marriage is an enduring union and that remarriage makes one an adulterer. While Paul has marriage in mind, he implies that a woman remarrying another man while her husband lives is not a legal marriage—she would be merely living with another man (Rom 7:3). But if her husband dies, she can remarry and avoid the legal status of being an adulteress (Rom 7:3; cf. 1 Cor 7:39). In other words, her new marriage would be legally valid.

Old Testament Passages on Divorce

The New Testament allows divorce for two reasons: for sexual immorality and in cases when an unbeliever abandons a believing spouse. But the Old Testament may expand the scope of permissible divorces. One reformed theologian, Martin Bucer, studied the whole Bible and derived more exceptions than the two grounds listed above.

Frank A. James III explains: “Bucer did permit divorce for a whole range of reasons, including adultery, desertion, physical and psychological illnesses that inhabit sexual intimacy, and abuse. Bucer's most distinctive view is his willingness to permit not only the innocent partner, but also the guilty party in a divorce (upon repentance) to contract a new marriage” (Review of "Marriage and Divorce in the Thought of Martin Bucer," 252)

A number of passages in the Old Testament deepen our understanding of divorce and remarriage and even suggest the permissibility of divorce beyond sexual immorality and abandonment.

• Exodus 21:10–11 suggests that not providing food, clothing, and marital rights can be grounds for divorce in specific cases.

• Jeremiah 3:8 says God gave Israel a certificate of divorce because of her adultery: “I had sent her away with a decree of divorce.” God’s metaphorical divorce of Israel parallels the teaching of Jesus on divorce.

• Isaiah 50:1 metaphorically speaks of the servant’s mother, and in that passage, God asks Israel if he has divorced the servant’s mother. God here is viewed as divorcing and sending away Israel into exile. God’s metaphorical divorce of Israel parallels the teaching of Jesus on divorce.

• Malachi 2:13–16 provides a complex teaching on marriage and divorce. God speaks of Judah’s faithlessness by either literal remarriage or more than likely a metaphoric remarriage to a foreign god (and an implied divorce of God) [2:11]. God then warns that a husband divorcing his wife “covers his garment with violence” (Mal 2:16). Here, both unjust divorce and remarriage are seen as evils.

• Ezra 10 recounts a time after the exile when Israel married foreign wives. As they repent of this intermarriage (Deut 7:3–4), the people divorce their wives. Ezra the priest commands them to do it after praying to God (Ezra 10:10–11). In other words, Ezra applies the prohibition in Deuteronomy 7:3–4 to the people in his day by commanding them to repent by divorcing their wives. Perhaps Paul has this in mind when he says believing spouses are not bound to unbelieving spouses who abandon them in 1 Corinthians 7:15.

• Hosea 2 envisions a scene in which God has divorced Israel for adultery (Hos 2:2), yet God promises reconciliation in Hosea 2:17–20. This parallels Paul’s memory of Jesus’s teaching that a divorced woman should remain single or reconcile with her former husband in 1 Corinthians 7:11.

• Leviticus 21:7 forbids a priest from marrying non-virgins and divorced women, “for the priest is holy to his God.” While this implies a strict view of marriage and divorce, Leviticus 21:14 adds widows to the list of women a priest may not marry. And the Bible regularly allows and even encourages remarriage after a spouse dies (e.g., Levirate marriage). The focus here may simply be on virginal marriage as symbolic of God’s holy purity rather than the text speaking specifically on the nature of remarriage to divorced women. Ezekiel 44:22 makes this point as well but adds that a priest may marry a widow of another priest. (This writing is focused on divorce, although I plan to write on remarriage later. So I will let this matter lie).

These passages all agree with Jesus’s teaching as articulated in the Gospel Books and Paul. However, Exodus 21 and Ezra 10 suggest the possibility of further grounds for divorce. One must be careful here since Exodus 21 speaks of marriage to a slave, while Ezra 10 may only indicate a special cause for divorce, one that in a Christian marriage looks like permitting divorce when an unequally yoked (unbelieving) spouse abandons a believing spouse.

Conclusion

The Bible envisions marriage as an enduring bond broken only by death. Jesus particularly emphasizes God’s original intent for marriage as a lifelong commitment.^[2] That said, Jesus and Paul know that divorce will happen. Jesus permits (not requires) divorce for matters of sexual infidelity, while Paul permits divorce when an unbelieving spouse abandons a believing spouse. A number of Old Testament passages agree with the teachings of Jesus and Paul, although at least a couple of passages suggest a wider scope for permissible divorce than the New Testament specifies.

Given how little the Bible says about divorce, we should be careful that we do not assume or claim more than we can. We do not know if the two common grounds of divorce (adultery, abandonment) amount to the only possible grounds for divorce. Passages in the Old Testament suggest further grounds for divorce, and the limited examples of Jesus’s teaching on divorce may not cover everything that Jesus taught on divorce. We must admit, however, that these are the two that the New Testament highlights.

Most of life means living in the world of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. When it comes to divorce and especially remarriage (a topic for another day), we must in humility claim only what we can about the Bible and then prayerfully make prudent pastoral decisions. Every situation involving divorce is different. Pastors must bring to bear all the Bible says about divorce and use wisdom to give the best counsel possible.

With all that said, Christians should prioritize the teaching of Jesus. He points to God’s original intent in Genesis 2 to say that marriage is a permanent bond and that divorcing another makes one an adulterer. The only exception that Jesus explicitly mentions involves one spouse committing a sexually immoral act.

A Final Note for Christian Readers

While I wrote this article to inform readers about what the Bible says about divorce, I hope it in no way encourages anyone to focus on the exceptions to the rules. God hates divorce (Mal 2:16), and we should too. The commonness of divorce should not deaden our moral imagination. Divorce runs contrary to God’s act of union in marriage and against the natural order that God has ordained.

A Very Final Note on Porneia

When Jesus speaks of sexual immorality, he uses the Greek word porneia. I plan to write about that word at a later time to further define its meaning. I have yet to come to a confident conclusion on its exact reference.

Further Resources

Read my article, “What Does the Bible Say About Remarriage” here.

Read my article, “Did Jesus Side with Hillel or Shammai on Divorce in Matthew 19?” here.

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^[1] Ancients used diverse words for divorce. The terms “separate” and “divorce” mean the same thing in context, which verse 11 makes clear when it speaks of husbands and divorce. Further, no one in the ancient world knew of separation and divorce as two distinct things.

^[2] Depending on one’s view of Matthew 22:30, it appears that death finally severs marriage. Hence, remarriage is possible for this reason.