{"id":381,"date":"2014-09-10T16:41:43","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T16:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=381"},"modified":"2014-08-27T20:45:16","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T20:45:16","slug":"matthew-531-32-divorce-bible-difficulties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-531-32-divorce-bible-difficulties.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 5:31-32; Divorce (Bible Difficulties)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to overlook the uncomfortable\u00a0truth\u00a0that, according to Jesus, a divorced woman is considered an adulterer in God\u2019s eyes\u2014merely by the fact that her husband divorced her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever divorces his wife,\u201d Christ said, \u201cfor any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery\u201d (Matthew 5:32 NKJV).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also difficult to overlook the fact that Jesus didn\u2019t accuse the divorcing husband of committing adultery. After all, in that day and age, the husband was the one who would instigate a divorce; shouldn’t\u00a0he be equally guilty of adultery in that situation?<\/p>\n

Theologian, Craig S. Keener, suggests that the omission of the husband here was cultural in its application, not eternal in its view. \u201cUnder Jewish law,\u201d he says, \u201c\u2019adultery\u2019 referred only to the wife\u2019s misbehavior, not the husband\u2019s. Matthew does not agree with this view (5:28), but because his readers must obey the law of their communities, he deals only with the issues of the wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, although he doesn’t\u00a0state it plainly, it can be inferred that Jesus considered a divorced man to be guilty of perhaps a worse offense: Causing another person\u2014his wife\u2014to commit sin (see Mark 9:42, Luke 17:1, 1 Corinthians 8:12-13).<\/p>\n

In that patriarchal society, it was very difficult for a woman to survive without a husband or father as a caretaker. That meant, in order to eat and gain shelter, a divorced woman would almost certainly have to remarry. The sexual requirements of that remarriage would, in an eternal sense, be acts of adultery that violated her original marriage vows. Thus by divorcing his wife without true justification, the divorced man became the catalyst that \u201ccause[d] her to commit adultery.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Jesus would later say, \u201cThings that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come\u201d (Luke 17:1 NIV).<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[BBC, 59; IBC 1125]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n

About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to overlook the uncomfortable\u00a0truth\u00a0that, according to Jesus, a divorced woman is considered an adulterer in God\u2019s eyes\u2014merely by the fact that her husband divorced her. \u201cWhoever divorces his wife,\u201d Christ said, \u201cfor any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery\u201d (Matthew 5:32 NKJV). 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