Till Death Do Us Part

A Biblical Look at Divorce and Remarriage
by Bill Shannon, Pastor of Counseling and Children’s Ministry  

A.         Problems Today

What is divorce?

We have seen that marriage is a Covenant of Companionship. A divorce, then, is the repudiation and breaking of that covenant (agreement) in which both parties promised to provide companionship (in all its ramifications) for one another. A divorce is, in effect, required and permitted.

 

The word for divorce in the OT that occurs in the phrase ‘bill of divorce’ (Deut. 24; Isa. 50:1; Jer. 3:8) means ‘to cut off’. The most prominent NT word, apoluo, means ‘to loose from, to put from, put away, send, release, or dismiss’. The idea with the use of this word is that there is a broken relationship. “We must keep in mind, though, that the context of a passage is always the key to the meaning of a word.” (Jay Adams, Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the Bible, p. 32).

 

When God instituted marriage divorce was not provided for as an option. God hates divorce. He hates it because it always involves unfaithfulness to the solemn covenant of marriage that two partners have entered into before Him.

 

In the former Soviet Union it was reported that divorce was very high, yet in the evangelical church it is very low. Why? Pastors hear about problems, come over and don’t leave until they are resolved.

 

B.         Perspectives of Various Interpreters

 

1.      No divorce, no remarriage. (Ryrie, Gothard, Robert Thomas, Carl Laney)

• Believes that they are not possible
• Marriage is indissoluble
• Covenant relationship forever or until one partner dies.

 

2.   Divorce in some cases, but no remarriage (John Stott) Heth & Wenham (“one flesh” = kinship view), bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, John Piper is another proponent – he wrote a paper dated July 21, 1986 and gave “Eleven Reasons believe all remarriage after divorce is prohibited while both spouses are alive”

• Can lump with first view
• Least popular

 

3.   Divorce and remarriage in a wide variety of circumstances (held by a wide variety of people – many liberals)

• Larry Richards (always sin yet God forgives – this is an option, no one but couple has authority to decide)
• James Dobson – in cases of abuse (emotional, physical, verbal)
• Pragmatic churches: Don’t want to tell people something that they don’t want to hear!

 

4.   Divorce and remarriage in very limited circumstances (Grace Church)

• (John MacArthur, Jay Adams, John Murray, William Luck, Guy Duty, Lorraine Boettner, Westminster Confession – Reformed Theologians)
• Unrepentant sexual sins (Matt. 19:9)
• Unbeliever leaves (1 Cor. 7:15)
• One party forsakes his/her covenant obligations & the other is unable to keep them.  In those cases divorce & remarriage would be permitted.
• “Divorce in the Scripture is permitted as an accommodation to man’s sin for the protection of the faithful partner by releasing him or her from the oppressive bondage of covenant duties that he or she cannot fulfill.” (Elders’ perspective)
• Divorce in the Scriptures is permitted only because of man’s sin. Since divorce is only a concession to man’s sin and is not part of God’s original plan for marriage.

 

C.   Passages Specifically Addressing Divorce and Remarriage

1.  Old Testament

 

a)  Deut 24:1-4

Deu 24:1-4 NASB  “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 indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house,  (2)  and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife,  (3)  and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife,  (4)  then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.

 

 

• Divorce itself is not condemned but it is regulated. In this passage it is viewed as a fait accompli over which Moses exercises regulation rather than the forbidding of divorce. At the same time this does not imply that God just blinks at divorce.
• There is no command to divorce
• Moses just mentions the process one is to take “he writes her a bill of divorce”
• Marriage is not indissoluble (“former” husband ≠ her husband now)
• “Indecency in her” or “nakedness of a thing” (erwath dabar). Two Hebrew words literally mean “a matter of nakedness”
• “Something indecent” or “something shameful” or “some indecency”
• It seems to mean something indecent, disgusting or repulsive.
• Habitual indulgence in sexual sin, just short of adultery. John Murray says, “…there is no evidence to show that erwath dabar refers to adultery or an act of sexual uncleanness… We may conclude that erwath dabar means some indecency or impropriety.

 

Read Study Bible notes and Deut. 23:14.

Deu 23:14 NASB  “Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.

 

Here erwath dabar has no reference to sexual sin. The idea of repulsiveness or repugnancy seems uppermost.

• Please note the woman is defiled by unbiblical divorce & remarriage. Her divorce from the first man could not have been biblically acceptable even though it may have been formally valid. If it had been proper, and not sinful, that divorce would have freed her to marry the second man without sin.
• However the second divorce defiled her

b)      Ezra 9-10 Here we find the Israelites returning after the first deportation to the land of Israel. Ezra reads the law and it says that they cannot marry foreign wives.

• Need of wholesale national repentance!
• Part of it was to get rid of foreign wives
• This is a unique and special moment in history
• Ezra 10:2-3

Ezr 10:2-3 NASB  Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.  (3)  “So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

 “According to the law” = sanctioned and blessed by God!

• Had to be done through a legal divorce, then marry Jewish women = the concept that a legal divorce dissolves the marriage bond!
• 2 alternatives

1)      Allow nation to remain defiled through mixed marriages. This would have been the greater evil since the intermarriage would have polluted the chosen people.

2)      Purify the nation by commanding divorce to dissolve those forbidden unions (Deut. 7:1-5) and preserve the generation from idolatry. This would display a renewed heart of the people to follow God’s law and to obey and seek the mercy of their sovereign God. 

Deu 7:1-5 NASB  “When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you,  (2)  and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.  (3)  “Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.  (4)  “For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.  (5)  “But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

 

c)      Jeremiah 3:6-10

Jer 3:6-10 NASB  Then the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there.  (7)  “I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.  (8)  “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.  (9)  “Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.  (10)  “Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the LORD.

 

Metaphorical – used later for Jewish teaching

• Divorce for “sexual sin” (harlot)
• “Adulteries of faithless Israel” v. 8. Israel was divorced for her adulteries.
• Context for Matt. 5, 19
• Not always a sin to be involved in a divorce – where we get the idea of “innocent party” – God was involved
• Not always a sin to initiate a divorce
• Involvement in and initiating a divorce are sometimes encouraged with unrepentant sexual sin. (“She did not return.”)  Therefore it is Preferred.
• God was unable to keep His side of the covenant because Israel forsook her side (Implication – God didn’t want a divorce!)

 

d)      Malachi 2:13-16

Mal 2:13-16 NASB  “This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.  (14)  “Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.  (15)  “But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.  (16)  “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says the LORD of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

 

• God hates divorce
• Covenant breaking is condemned!
• Implies repentance = a return to the covenant
• Because God hates divorce doesn’t mean both parties are sinning

 

2.  New Testament

a)      Matthew 5:31-32

Mat 5:31-32 NASB  “It was said, ‘WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE’;  (32)  but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

 

• Jesus’ point: The law of God was much more demanding than the Jewish tradition had made it out to be
• The exception clause applies to both divorce and remarriage. If divorced for unchastity, then remarriage is not adultery. Everyone agrees Jesus was saying that except in one type of situation, divorce and remarriage are sinful!
• Unchastity = unrepentant sexual sin as understood by the Jews (not referring to betrothal context; adultery is a term used in reference to marriage)
• Some say the word “adultery” is used by Jesus for those who are not married anymore so it does mean marriage is indissoluble.
• Mat 5:27-30 NASB  “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’;  (28)  but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  (29)  “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  (30)  “If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

Cf. vs. 28 “Right eye offends…” – exaggeration hyperbole, the term relates to marriage. “Lusting” doesn’t equal marriage. Christ makes His point that this is very serious!

• Sexual sin does not break the marriage bond. Divorce and sexual sin are 2 different things. The sexual sin is the thing that occasions the divorce. They are not synonymous. The divorce breaks the marriage bond.
• Betrothal view = Gothard, Ryrie, Piper

-          Not engagement

-          “Adultery” is not used prior to marriage (fornication)

 

b)      Matthew 19:3-12

Mat 19:3-12 NASB  Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”  (4)  And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,  (5)  and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’?  (6)  “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”  (7)  They *said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?”  (8)  He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.  (9)  “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”  (10)  The disciples *said to Him, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.”  (11)  But He said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given.  (12)  “For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”

 

• “Is it lawful to divorce for any cause at all?”  NO!!!
• This is a twisted version of what Moses said in Deut. 24. Moses never commanded divorce.
• (Response, vv. 4-6)
• Not a command, but a regulation. Clearly divorce is an accommodation to man’s sin that violates God’s original purpose for the intimate unity and permanence of the marriage bond. Legal divorce was a concession for the faithful partner due to the sexual sin of the sinning partner so that the faithful partner was no longer bound to the marriage.
• Although Jesus did say that divorce is permitted in some situations, we must remember that His primary point in this discourse is to correct the Jews’ idea that they could divorce one another “for any cause at all” and to show them the gravity of pursuing a sinful divorce.
• Because of sexual sin (porneia) the New Testament allows for divorce. Porneia is a general term that encompasses sexual sin such as adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, and incest. When one partner violates the unity and intimacy of a marriage by sexual sin—and forsakes his or her covenant obligation—the faithful partner is placed in an extremely difficult situation. After all means are exhausted to bring the sinning partner to repentance, the Bible permits release for the faithful partner through divorce (Matt. 5:32; 1 Cor. 7:15).
• In answer to the disciples question, Jesus explained that God allowed Moses to permit divorce only because of His peoples’ “hardness of heart” and that it was permissible only in the case of adultery.
• Vs. 8: Different views on “hardness of heart”

-          Could be “unrepentant sexual sin,” cf. Deut. 24:1-4

-          Moses tolerated divorce

Deut. 24 discusses the illegitimate basis

O.T. – permission – not overtly stated lest people hurry to that passage to justify themselves. Somewhere along the line God in His tolerance spared life and allowed divorce (David, Solomon). God allowed for divorce in the case of hardhearted adultery – Jer. 3:8.

 

c)      Mark 10:2-12 and Luke 16:18

Mar 10:2-12 NASB  Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.  (3)  And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?”  (4)  They said, “Moses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY.”  (5)  But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.  (6)  “But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE.  (7)  “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER,  (8)  AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.  (9)  “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”  (10)  In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again.  (11)  And He *said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her;  (12)  and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”

 

Luk 16:18 NASB  “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

 

• Why do they not mention exception clause?
• Neither passage contains the question that was discussed in Matt. 19:3ff. (deals with abuse of Deut. 24) Christ’s purpose was the same as above to make a polemic point that you should not divorce, contrary to what you are thinking! Since the question wasn’t asked there was no qualifier necessary to say what is the one exception.
• The exception clause is in Matthew:

“In Matthew 5 and 19, it was necessary to include the clause not as an addition to God’s law, but to reaffirm the original and correct the Pharisees’ misrepresentation of God’s law regarding adultery. Frequently in the New Testament general statements are made that could in their immediate context be mistaken as absolute, but when seen in the broader context of full revelation they are recognized as an element within a larger sphere of truth. The exception clause providing divorce on the grounds of adultery fits into the body of truth.” (John MacArthur, The Family.) God only needs to say something once.

 

d)      1 Corinthians 7 – Most extensive passage on divorce and remarriage Paul could have said no divorce – no remarriage. He didn’t answer simply that way: (At this time the average number of marriages for the men was six times). This is the second reason permitting a divorce where an unbelieving mate does not desire to live with his or her believing spouse (12-15).

1Co 7:10-16 NASB  But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband  (11)  (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.  (12)  But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.  (13)  And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away.  (14)  For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.  (15)  Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.  (16)  For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

1Co 7:27-28 NASB  Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.  (28)  But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

1Co 7:39 NASB  A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

 

• Vs. 8: “unmarried” – impossible not to include divorced people. Used with virgins and widows.  See vs. 11 – includes divorced people: the word ___________ (cf. widows, vss. 39, 40. Virgins, vss. 25, 28)
• Vs. 10-11 both partners of the marriage in view here are Christians since Paul is giving instructions to them both and from the fact that in verses 12-16 Paul gives instruction in marriages where only one partner is a believer.
• In this case of the believer seeking or having already received an unbiblical divorce they are instructed to remain unmarried “or else be reconciled to her husband. If a Christian does divorce another Christian, except for adultery, neither partner is free to marry another. They must stay single or rejoin their former mate.” John MacArthur from 1 Corinthians Commentary.
• Vs. 12-13: Mixed marriages
• Vs. 14: Gives the reason to stay in the marriage. Fulfills covenant obligations.
• Vs. 15: In God’s sight the covenant bond between a man and woman is disbanded by death, adultery (Matt. 19:9) and an unbeliever leaving. These are the only cases in which a Christian can legitimately be remarried.
• Vs. 15: Not bound to marital obligations. Because “God has called us to peace” divorce is allowed and may be preferable in such situations. When an unbeliever desires to leave, trying to keep him or her in the marriage may only create greater tension and conflict. The implication for remarriage comes from Rom. 7:2-3 where a widow or widower is given permission to remarry in the case of death of the partner. Therefore the “not under bondage” to the unbelieving spouse who leaves.
• Vs. 16: Do I wait for them to get saved? No. Issue is God’s providence – using wisdom from God’s Word (cf. vs. 9 & 1 Tim. 5:14, person who was left alone.)
• Vs. 17-24: Most commentators don’t think it has anything to do with divorce & remarriage.

-          Echoes the issue of contentment

-          What was your state when you got called (saved)? Vs. 20,24

-          Paul is answering the question about what they should think of their marital state at the time they were called. (Vs. illus. Of circumcision & slavery)

-          Speaks to pre-salvation marriages!

-          If you were called while “free” (or divorced) you are now to live as a free man. You are free to marry. Vss. 27-28.

-          Vs. 39 – Summary statement – Omits exceptions or paragraph before.

• “Covenantal Continuance View”
• It is always wrong for either partner to forsake the covenant they have made.
• But, sometimes one partner cannot keep his side of the covenant because the other partner has forsaken it through unrepentant sexual sin or desertion! Divorce was a concession for the faithful partner due to abandonment by the sinning partner so that the faithful partner was no longer bound to the marriage (1 Cor. 7:12-15).

 

D.  Proposals Regarding the Scriptural Teaching on Divorce & Remarriage

 

1.      Because of the sacredness of marriage and the seriousness of covenant vows, all biblical means should be exhausted to keep any marriage together (cf. 1 Cor. 7:12; 1 Pet. 3:1-2; Matt. 18:15-17). The believer should never consider divorce except in specific circumstances and even in those circumstances it should only be pursued reluctantly because there is no other recourse.

1Co 7:12 NASB  But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.

1Pe 3:1 NASB  In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,

Mat 18:15-17 NASB  “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.  (16)  “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.  (17)  “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

 

2.      If sexual immorality, other sin, or even separation occurs in a marriage, but reconciliation to a monogamous, cohabitant relationship is possible, then the faithful partner should forgive and reconcile (cf. Luke 17:3-4; Matt. 5:23-24). Reconciliation after divorce is not possible when one partner remains an unbeliever (cf. 2 Cor. 6:14ff; 1 Cor. 7:39), but it is a necessary fruit of repentance when two believers have been divorced (cf. Mal. 2:13-16; Matt. 5:32).

Luk 17:3-4 NASB  “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.  (4)  “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

Mat 5:23-24 NASB  “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,  (24)  leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

2Co 6:14 NASB  Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

1Co 7:39 NASB  A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

 

3.      If the unbeliever leaves the marital relationship permanently but is not willing to file for divorce, perhaps because of lifestyle, irresponsibility, or to avoid monetary obligations, then the believer is in an impossible situation of having legal and moral obligations that he or she cannot fulfill. Because “the brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases” (1 Cor. 7:15) and is therefore no longer obligated to remain married, the believer may file for divorce without fearing the displeasure of God.

 

4.      When one partner resists all means of reconciliation and refuses to maintain a monogamous, cohabitant relationship (through unrepentant sexual sin or desertion), then the faithful spouse cannot fulfill his or her covenant obligations and is released from the moral responsibility to do so (cf. Jer. 3:6-10; Matt. 5:32; 1 Cor. 7:15). When that marriage bond is severed through divorce, the faithful spouse is then free to marry another Christian (cf. 1 Cor. 7:8-9, 27-28).

1Co 7:8-9 NASB  But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I.  (9)  But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

1Co 7:27-28 NASB  Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.  (28)  But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

 

5.      One married and divorced prior to his identification with Christ and the church should be considered to be “abiding in that condition in which he was called,” meaning that he is free to remain single or marry another believer (1 Cor. 7:20, 24; cf. 2 Cor. 5:16-17). Such a person cannot reconcile to an unsaved former spouse, nor is he obligated to make restitution for every sin committed prior to his conversion.

1Co 7:20 NASB  Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.

2Co 5:16-17 NASB  Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.  (17)  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

 

6.      In cases where an unbiblical divorce has taken place in a single believer’s past, then the leaders of the church should help that person to repent and “unscramble the egg” according to biblical principles (cf. Heb. 13-17; Matt. 18:18). If true repentance has taken place and no reconciliation is possible with the former spouse, then the forgiven believer could pursue another relationship under the supervision of the church.

Mat 18:18 NASB  “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

 

7.      In cases where a married person has divorced and remarried unbiblically, the answer is confession and repentance and then continuing in his current marriage according to biblical principles. He is bound to the obligation of the covenant made with the new spouse.

 

8.      Remarriage is permitted for the faithful partner only when the divorce was on biblical grounds. In fact, the purpose for a biblical divorce is to make clear that the faithful partner is free to remarry, but only in the Lord (Rom. 7:1-3; 1 Cor. 7:39).

Rom 7:1-3 NASB  Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?  (2)  For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.  (3)  So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

1Co 7:39 NASB  A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.