Divorce, 1/16/20

There is much debate in the Body of Christ about what the bible teaches about divorce. But the scripture is very clear on what are the grounds for divorce in God's eyes.

Let's look at the meaning of the original Hebrew word used to help us see what is being said in the scripture.

Deuteronomy 24:1 New King James Version (NKJV)

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house,

The word to look at here is "uncleanness" since it describes the grounds for the divorce. The original Hebrew word here is "ervah." In the Strong's it is defined as: "nudity, nakedness, shame, uncleanness."

This word is obviously about sexual sin.

And Jesus said the same thing:

Matthew 5:32

But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

Thus what is clear from both Deut. 24:1 and from Matt. 5:32 is that some sort of sexual sin is the only grounds for divorce in God's eyes.

Yes, as we would expect. The two passages are consistent with one another

So, obviously, some of the divorces of today are 'legal' in God's eyes but some are not. We can't paint them all with the same broad brush.

Steve Pursell, 1/16/20