Matthew 19:9
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. 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.
Adultery, meaning unfaithfulness that breaks the marriage bed, is the only wrong that frees a husband or wife from the marriage promise and allows separation. A divorce granted by human law does not by itself end the marriage before God, so those who are parted for any other reason remain husband and wife in His sight. Only the one who is set free by the other's adultery may marry again without guilt, while one who puts away a faithful partner and marries another commits adultery, as does one who marries the one wrongfully put away. The blame falls on the one who breaks up the home, so a faithful husband who loved, helped, and pleaded to keep his wife but was left and put away when she married another has not broken God's command and is free to marry again in the Lord, and that later union must not be broken up. No one whose own course caused the separation gains a right to marry another while the first partner lives, even with a legal divorce in hand.
Adultery Alone Ends Marriage
Fornication in the verse means adultery, the violation of the marriage bed, and it is the only sin that can free a husband or wife from the marriage vow in the sight of God. It is the only cause God gave by which a husband may lawfully separate from his wife or a wife from her husband and be freed from that vow. Nothing but violation of the marriage bed can break or annul the marriage vow.
A divorce granted by the laws of the land does not by itself divorce husband and wife in the sight of God and according to the higher law. In Bible light they remain husband and wife unless adultery has broken the vow. A civil divorce therefore does not end the marriage before God, and without the ground of adultery the parties are not free to marry again.
The restriction condemns putting away a wife for trivial reasons and then marrying another. It guards marriage against being treated lightly and against being set aside to satisfy lustful desires that seek escape from its commitment. Lack of love, marital discord, and alleged deception do not by themselves provide grounds for divorce, for the stated exception is fornication.
Marriage is a divine ordinance constituted by God from creation in Eden. It stands as firm as the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which was also instituted in Eden when the foundations of the world were laid. Its vow therefore remains binding and its claims cannot be set aside except because of adultery, and must not be lightly set aside. That sole ground of adultery is to be prayerfully considered.
Freedom and Guilt in Remarriage
Only the one who is legally divorced on the ground of the other's adultery is free before God to be married to whom he or she chooses. A divorce granted by the laws of the land does not by itself dissolve the marriage in Bible light under the higher law, so the spouses remain husband and wife in the sight of God unless adultery has broken the vow. A woman legally divorced for other reasons is therefore still married before God and has no right to marry another man.
The guilt of wrongful divorce and adulterous remarriage rests on the one who puts away a faithful spouse. A husband who did not put away his wife but loved her, did all he could to help her and keep her, and pleaded to prevent divorce, while she willfully and stubbornly left him, put him away, and married another man, has not broken the command. He is free to marry again in the Lord to a woman who knowingly chooses him, as in the case of Walter Harper, whose first wife left him and married another man. When the wife herself obtained the divorce and then married another man, and only afterward the deserted husband married again, his new union is lawful and should not be disturbed. There is no Scriptural ground in the verse for ending that new marriage or for parting the man and his wife, and vows once made in the new marriage cannot now be undone.
A man whose wife is still living has no moral or Scriptural right to marry another woman merely because she has obtained a divorce. This holds especially when he left her, provoked the separation, or by his own provoking conduct caused her to divorce him, for abandonment and expressed love for another woman while still legally bound give no right to remarry. A legal divorce and a legal right to marry give no right in Scripture when the divorce was largely brought about by his own course of action, since the marriage covenant was made before God to last while both lived. Whoever puts away his spouse and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who was put away also commits adultery. A woman therefore has no Scriptural permission to marry a man who caused his own divorce.