Divorce

A marriage is to be a bond between two (a male and female) that become one (Spiritually and Physically), and thus between them and The LORD. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and break it according to the WORD.

And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. (Mal.2:16) Lk.16:18

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. Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:

"Adutery" has both a physical and Spritual context within the scriptures (just as virginity does). Marriage is centered around two devoted to each other as one (Gen.2:24), when this harmony is broken the two are no longer one in agreement (Spirit and Works).

Are there grounds for divorce? Again vows arent to be made to be broken, yet when a house is divided against its self it will not stand. No one should be looking to justify divorce. The one responcible for breaking the vow has need of repentance.

And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:(Lk.11:17) And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

While believers should look to take believers as mates there are situations where believers find themselves in marriage to non believers. This isn't grounds for divorce if the other allows you to practice your faith and there is peace in the home. (Decendants of Jacob were not to take those of other faiths or cultures to marry /example Deut.7:3-4)

1 Cor.7:1-9 Paul mentions that marriage for today is that of one man and woman (Ex.20:14/ Matt.5:27-28), and while Paul personally finds himself more fruitful being single he writes its better for a widow and the unmarried to marry than to burn with lust.

Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

* Rom.7:2-3 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. (Christ retored Israel)

This carried over to the divorce God gave Israel for their adultry. (Matt.15:24) Messiah died inorder to Renew the covenant with Isreal as well as to provide salvation to all.

Physical punishment of adultry was death when the priesthood and temple were in order (Lev.20:10/ Deut.22:22-24) Yet through the sacrifice all unrighteousness can be cleansed (1 Jn.1:9) including Adultry 1 Cor.6:9-11

Sadly the accuser loves to play on this subject. You have many being treated like 2nd class citizens within churches cause they have been through a divorce. Often times limited from contributing to a ministry, shuned as if they should sit in the back... and so on (social status). As if these "church" peoples were the ones to judge who was responcible and to keep accusing one of transgression reguardless. God knows our hearts, and when he forgives one he remembers the transgression no more. We on the other hand do have recall of tribulations to serve as a learning exsperiance (not to suffer the same again).

Rabbinical views (for consideration not put forth as divine scripture but more for the cause of showing and knowing the rabbinical stance on the subject of remarriage. We know that God gave Israel a bill of divorce and yet refreshed the covenant through Messiah so such a covenant is able to be restored and as believers we know that Christ can forgive all unrighteousness including divorce for whatever the reason and makes it possible to go forward in life and remary.):

"let me give you the ruling on this from the Talmud (Masechta Ketubos and Masechta Gittin).

A husband and wife can get divorced- to do so the husband gives the wife a bill of divorce (a "get" in hebrew) Until the woman is given the get she cannot be remarried or have any relations with another man- if she does it would be adultery. Intially the man could marry another woman/women since multiple wives are allowed. However, due to a cherem (rabbinical ban) published by Rabbeinu Gershom in the 10th century we no longer allow polygamy and the same rules regarding needing a get before there can be any sexual relations/marriages apply to a man and a woman.

Once the get is given, both arefree to marry others.

If they wish to remarry each other, they may do so only if they have not been married, or had sexual relations, with other people in between. If they have, they may never get remarried.

There is one case where once divorced, the couple cannot get remarried, even five seconds after the divorce. This is the case of when the man is a Kohen (priest- descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses). A Kohen is forbidden to marry a divorcee and thus once he divorces his wife, he can never remarry her.

The issue of a divorce between a Jew and a non-Jew is not an issue in Orthodox Judaism- simply because such a marriage has no halachic (Jewish law) validity. Since it is not considered a marriage, they would only have been married outside of a shul and in a civil ceremony. Thus, anything that happens outside the shul is irrelevant and has no validity in the religious context- in this case the law of the land is the one followed. (What the more liberal movements such as Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist etc do you would need to ask someone else)

Edit: A Get is only needed if there is a halachicly valid marriage- in other words, since their cannot be a halachicly valid marriage between a jew and a non-Jew there is no need for a Get since halachicly there is no marriage!

Divorce

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