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What does the Bible say about divorce?

Here's some Scripture passages about divorce:

Malachi 2:16, New International Version (NIV) "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel.

JESUS: "Whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery" (Matt. 5:32) NAB

JESUS: "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery" (Mark 10:11-12) King James Version

1 Corinthians 7:10-16 NIV 10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. 12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

From these Scripture quotes and others like them, it is clear that God does not want divorce and that in most cases it would be a grave sin against the Lord. However, there may be occasions for exceptions, such as the one outlined by Paul in the above verses. The basis for the exception is that when one becomes a Christian, one becomes a new creation in Christ. One is married only until "death do they part". When one becomes a Christian, the person dies and is reborn in Christ through the waters of baptism. (Romans 6:3-4). Therefore, they are no longer necessarily bound to the unbeliever they married before becoming a Christian.

When Christians marry each other, the only grounds for divorce is if there were certain conditions present at the time of the wedding vows which invalidated the marriage - which means that no true marriage took place to begin with. What all these possible conditions are is more than I care to get into right now, but I will list a few: one or both of them are not open to having children, one or both were pressured into the marriage, one or both did not intend to keep their marriage vows (in other words, they lied at the time of making their marriage vows), and there are several others.



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