Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

In my opinion, placing the focus in Jesus' teaching on the permissibility of divorce in the case of adultery is misreading His intent. He was seeking to greatly limit the variety of reasons (many of them incredibly trivial or insignificant) for which Jewish culture at that time allowed divorce, nearly to the point that if a wife did anything that displeased her husband to any degree, he could legally seek to divorce her.

Also, even though Jesus provided an exception for adultery, he did not command divorce even in that case, but only permitted it.

As far as His rationale for the exception, I would say that marriage was intended to be a relationship where (as indicated in Genesis 2:24) the husband and wife were meant to enter a lifelong union that was so unique that the Bible refers to them being one flesh. Adultery (that is, sexual relations between a married person and someone other than that person's spouse) breaks that union in a manner that attacks the very heart of that "one flesh" relationship, and is so unique and deep that (in the event that reconcilation is not possible) it justifies the dissolution of the original union in God's sight.

July 08 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report