Introductory

Although there are certainly other references in the scripture to marriage, I’m concerned here particularly with the teaching of the scripture on the subject of marriage with respect to divorce and remarriage.

The Old Testament scriptures on the subject and the New Testament scriptures on the subject convey different standards. The Lord has not left us without help in this matter. The Pharisees challenged Jesus on the discrepancy between what He taught and what Moses wrote, and we find a light for our path in his answer. “Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives”* (Matthew 19:8); and, “For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.”* (Mark 10:5) As it is written: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”* (John 1:17)

Jesus brought in the perfect standard—truth—and the grace to live to it. Our attitude toward the Old Testament laws about marriage and divorce should be as that of Jesus our Lord: “It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”* (Matthew 5:31-32)