Luke 16:18, commentary and pictures

Whoever divorces a spouse and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a person divorced from a spouse commits adultery. The wrong is not in the dismissal alone but in taking another partner while the first spouse still lives, whether the unions follow one after another or overlap, and the same guilt rests on man and woman alike. The saying does not make a new rule but declares the original and unchangeable meaning of the seventh commandment, proving immediately after the word about the law and the prophets until John that the law still stands without the failure of even its smallest stroke. Though stated in general and unqualified terms, it is to be read with Matthew's fuller statement, whose exception for fornication it assumes rather than cancels, since unfaithfulness by its nature breaks the tie. Fornication is therefore the only just cause for divorce, so that the innocent husband or wife put away for that cause may obtain divorce and marry again without guilt while the guilty party may not, and no separation, desertion, trivial fault, or divorce at will ends the bond or opens the way to another marriage.

Words, Setting, and Law

Whoever puts away a spouse and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a person put away from a spouse commits adultery. The marriage bond lasts while the spouse lives, and death releases the surviving spouse to marry again. The claim to guard God's law did not prevent carelessness in observing it in just this matter of divorcing and remarrying.

The adultery consists not in merely putting away the first wife or husband but in marrying another. Marrying another while the first spouse is still living is adultery even when the marriages follow one after another rather than at the same time. What constitutes adultery in a woman constitutes the same crime in a man, with no distinction between a man's responsibility and a woman's.

The saying does not institute a new law but explains the original and unchangeable meaning of the seventh commandment against adultery. It invokes that commandment and identifies the law under discussion as the Ten Commandments, a definite code already known to the hearers. By so doing it exposes carelessness in observing the law by those claiming to guard it.

Spoken immediately after the saying that the law and the prophets were until John, it gives the law on divorce and remarriage as proof that the law remains binding and not even its smallest stroke fails. Christ upheld the law as still binding after John, not abolished at his coming. The kingdom is preached in addition to the law and the prophets, not in place of them.

The rule is stated in general, unqualified terms to be understood alongside Matthew's fuller, more particular statements. Its silence about an exception does not cancel Matthew's more specific statement allowing divorce and remarriage for fornication as just cause, and its different wording does not change its meaning. Its general form takes for granted that fornication by its very nature is a real dissolution of the marriage tie, while Matthew states the teaching particularly, and also reflects that the law already provided for the punishment of adultery by death. In that circumstance of just cause one party may remarry and the other may not.

As part of Luke 16, the verse belongs to a chapter showing that even if the dead were conscious they are not permitted to return to earth to commune with the living. Since the dead know nothing, their spirits are not sent into the world to instruct men. Therefore present communications with spirits of the departed dead cannot be the spirits of good men, who would not come to those breaking God's command against necromancy, and cannot be the spirits of bad men either, but are the devil's deceptive work by which the world is deceived.

Lawful Divorce and Remarriage

Adultery or fornication is the only proper and just cause for divorce, while divorce at will and divorce for trivial causes, faults, disagreements and ordinary irritations does not end the marriage or make a later marriage valid. The sweeping condemnation of putting away a spouse and marrying another, and of marrying one who has been put away, concerns divorce without just cause and does not cancel the exception for fornication stated more particularly in Matthew. When divorce is for fornication, the innocent husband or wife may obtain legal divorce and marry again without committing adultery, but the guilty party may not, so that in that circumstance one party may remarry and the other may not. Fornication by its very nature is a real dissolution of the marriage tie, and the general form of the rule takes this for granted while the law already provided death as the punishment for adultery.

Mere separation does not itself end the marriage bond or give the deserted party permission to remarry, and Christ permits divorce only for fornication. Informal separation does not remove the moral problem, and people who separate from a spouse and then live with someone else enter unions not in harmony with God's law. The marriage bond lasts while the spouse lives, and death releases the surviving spouse to marry again. Marrying a person whose former husband or wife is still alive is adultery, as in the case of a bride who had been divorced twice while both former husbands were living.

One who marries a person divorced without just cause commits adultery because that person remains joined to the former spouse in God's sight. The warning about marrying a divorced woman applies to an innocent wife put away without cause, whose dismissal wrongly brands her as guilty of adultery. If a divorced couple reconciles before either has married someone else, they may marry each other again, rather than divorcing over disagreements and ordinary irritations instead of respecting one another, yielding where conscience allows, seeking God, and working toward reconciliation. By declaring that marrying another after putting away a spouse is adultery, the rule strictly and repeatedly forbids polygamy and concubinage, since the adultery lies not in merely putting away but in marrying another, which would be adultery even if the first had not been put away, and what constitutes adultery in a woman constitutes the same crime in a man.

Church Standard and Practice

Luke 16:18 is a gospel requirement bearing directly on the receiving of church members. Marriage is not a temporary contract to be broken at whim, passion or will of either party. Christ's standard on divorce and remarriage is strict, severe and narrow: putting away a wife or husband and marrying another is adultery, and marrying a divorced person is adultery, except on Scriptural grounds. Remarriage after a divorce secured on unscriptural grounds is an iniquitous, unscriptural and antibiblical practice.

A minister who solemnizes a union forbidden by this rule declares to be true marriage what the Lord calls adultery. Christian ministers must come into line with this Biblical principle and New Testament standard, refuse to become a party to such divorces, and decline to officiate at such remarriage ceremonies. A divorced person should not be married by a minister unless the divorce was on Scriptural grounds, and then only the innocent party may remarry. Those who hold this standard will be called narrow, fanatical and old-fashioned, but faithfulness requires holding it.

Divorce over disagreements and ordinary irritations is not a proper Christian response. Spouses facing disagreement should respect one another, yield where conscience allows, seek God, and work toward reconciliation. If a divorced couple reconciles before either has married someone else, they may marry each other again. The verse is the New Testament standard on divorce, set against human ideas and church standards. Catholic teaching and practice respecting divorce are closer to that standard than those of Protestant churches.