Jesus' teaching on divorce
Below is printed all the teachings of Jesus on the subject of divorce as recorded in the New Testament. Following are several notes.
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Mark 10 2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3 "What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4 They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." 5 "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6 "But at the beginning of creation God `made them male and female.' 7 `For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." 10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery." Matthew 5 31 "It has been said, `Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. |
Matthew 19 3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?" 4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator `made them male and female,' 5 and said, `For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." 7 "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" 8 Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." Luke 16 18 "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. |
1 Corinthians 7
10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must
not separate from her husband.
11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to
her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife
who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not
divorce her.
13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to
live with her, she must not divorce him.
Notes:
(1) Matthew contains two separate sayings on divorce. Matthew 19:3-9 is obviously copied from Mark. The source of Matthew 5:31-32 is less clear, although Q is a reasonable guess: Luke 16:18a is almost identical with Mark 10:11, but Luke 16:18b is likewise almost identical with Matthew 5:32c, suggesting that Luke has combined the two sources and Matthew has kept them separate. However, Luke 16:18 may actually be pure Q. If we omit the statement particular to Matthew, "except for marital unfaithfulness", then Luke 16:18 bears a close enough resemblance to Matthew 5:32 to suggest that Luke has only used the original form of this saying as his source, and Matthew has added 5:32b in himself. In any case, a Q statement on divorce, similar to Mark 10:11-12, certainly existed.
(2) Is Matthew 5:31 part of the original source or not? Jesus statment on divorce here follows several statements with the same formula: "It has been said...but I tell you...". Jesus may well have spoken in the way, but Matthew equally may have edited the material in order to construct a continuous monolog - Matthew 5 is part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Matthew appears to have reordered and shaped the material quite extensively. There is not enough evidence here to draw a firm conclusion.
(3) Paul is aware of Jesus' teaching on divorce, perhaps without actually being aware of the exact wording. Paul does not make explicit the connection which Jesus makes between divorce and adultery, although it is highly probable that v11 is along those lines. 1 Cor. 6:15 speaks more clearly about the ramifications of sexual relations:
15 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh",
using the same quote from Genesis as Jesus uses in Mark 8. It seems certain that Paul equated remarriage with adultery, just as Jesus did.
(4) Both Jesus (in Mark 10:4-5) and Paul (in 1 Corinthians 7:1-6) make statements along the lines that sin has caused a warping of the ideal relationships between husbands and wives.
(5) Paul very carefully distinguishes between his own teaching and Jesus' teaching.
(6) Jesus as quoted in Paul, Mark and Q speaks consistently and strongly against divorce, and stongest of all against remarriage - this is undeniably Jesus' own teaching.