Adultery No Ground for Divorce
The cause of the misunderstanding of this passage by many honest hearts lies in a difference between Oriental and Occidental customs and terminology. When a Westerner reads the words, “Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication,” () etc., he naturally supposes that “fornication” is used of something of which a “wife” can be guilty. A “wife” with us in the West is one who has already entered into the marriage relation. It is never used of a young women who is merely betrothed. But in the East betrothal is a very serious affair and is legally as binding as marriage itself, so that even before the marriage is consummated the young woman is a wife.
This is seen in the first chapter of Matthew, where in verse nineteen we read, “Then Joseph her husband… was minded to put her away privily.” (Matthew 1:19) He was not her husband according to our usual Western terminology as the verse preceding clearly states. Mary was merely “espoused” (Matthew 1:18) to him. The same thing appears in the next verse in which the Angel Gabriel counsels Joseph, “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife.” (Matthew 1:20) She was not yet his wife according to our Western usage. The use of “wife” for a betrothed girl is seen also in Deuteronomy 22:23-24.
It was the real occurrence in the case of a betrothed wife of what Joseph thought had occurred in the case of Mary that Christ had reference to in Matthew 19:9 as a just cause for terminating a betrothal contract which had not yet eventuated in marriage. It is noteworthy that Joseph planned to put away Mary. This implies a legal process and not merely an oral disavowal. The verb used in this case is exactly the same verb as the one used in every instance where it is translated “divorce”—apoluo. While Joseph himself, on the assurance of the Angel, became convinced that Mary had not committed fornication, the stigma of illegitimate birth pursued the Blessed Lord Jesus all through His life and never left His lovely mother. This is seen in the wicked taunt that His adversaries hurled at Him in later years, “We be not born of fornication.” (John 8:41) It serves only one purpose for us, and that is the further clarification of the use of that ugly word—unwed motherhood is invariably that—porneia.
We believe that every fairminded reader will follow us in concluding that the parenthetical phrases “saving for the cause of fornication,” (Matthew 5:32) and “except it be for fornication,” (Matthew 19:9) are not to be taken to contradict the whole trend of His remarks wherein He is setting forth the indissolubility of the marriage relation and the union into one flesh of two bodies, but simply to allow of the termination of a betrothal contract if the woman is found guilty of impurity before the marriage is consummated.
It is deeply significant that in Mark’s gospel, written more for the Romans than the Jews, the words of Christ with respect to the unbreakable nature of the marriage bond are again set forth, but the exception is omitted (Mark 10:2-12). The Gospel of Luke, written by a Greek to a Greek, carries only the one verse on the subject (Luke 16:18), in which Christ unequivocally affirms that divorce and remarriage are adultery.
“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3)
“The blood of Jesus Christ, His son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)