In an age when marriage, once considered the bedrock of society, has tumbled from its position of moral prominence, and the divorce rate (among Christians as well) has skyrocketed, it seems that the Church has, for the most part, stood impotently looking on, unwilling or unable to tackle the thorny issues surrounding divorce. Many who are involved in divorce themselves, or seek to help others who are, query what the Bible has to say on the subject of separation and divorce.

Biblical Teachings on Separation and Divorce

Divorce is discussed directly in a number of New Testament texts, but perhaps the most important ones are Matthew 5:31,32 (along with 19:1-12) and 1 Corinthians 7:10-15. In the Matthew texts, the Greek word apoluo is used. The term apoluo, however, carries a broader range of meaning than the English word "divorce," and most of its occurrences in the New Testament are along the lines of "release, set free, send away, and acquit." Matthew uses the term about seventeen times and in most of those instances it means either "to send away," as in sending away crowds, or "to release" as in releasing a prisoner (see Matthew 14:15, 22, 23; 15:23, 32, 39; 18:27; 27:15, 17, 21, 26).

Other uses in Matthew, however, refer specifically to divorce because of the phrasing of apoluo gynaika, to divorce a wife. This is the case not only in 5:31,32, but also in 19:3, 8, 9. (See also Mark 10:2, 11; Luke 16:18). In addition, the context of Matthew 19:3-9 makes it fairly certain that legal divorce, not separation, is the subject throughout the entire exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees. As they do elsewhere, the Pharisees seek to "test" Jesus and his understanding of the Law (19:3).

Marriage, Ordained by God

Matthew's Jesus, in the discussion of marriage and divorce at 19:1-12 appeals to Genesis 2, 3 as the divine intention for marriage. So, it is understandable that in his debate with the Pharisees, Jesus interprets Deuteronomy 24:1-4, where it says a man may divorce his wife if he finds "something objectionable" about her, by stating that the Deuteronomic allowance for divorce was introduced only as a pragmatic concession. Perhaps like another early Jewish teacher, Rabbi Shammai, Matthew's Jesus limits what a man may find "objectionable" to what in the Greek is called porneia. Many translations render this word as "unchastity" in this passage and "sexual immorality" in other contexts, although its precise meaning is a constant point of debate.

A Legal Loophole?

Thus, in his dialogue with the Pharisees, the more accurate interpretation is that Jesus limits justifiable divorce only to cases of sexual infidelity of some kind. Some scholars have suggested that Matthew himself has added the clause "except for porneia" to Jesus" original teaching as a kind of concession as well, since other New Testament texts on divorce, like Mark 10:2-12, do not have Jesus naming this exception.

Within the Bible alone, the term porneia can range in use from "incest" (1 Corinthians 5:1), "adultery" (Jeremiah 3:9), "prostitution" (Matthew 21:31,32; Luke 15:30; 1 Corinthians 6:13-18), and even "idolatry" in a metaphorical sense (Revelation 17:1-5, 15,16). Since there is a more specific Greek term for adultery, moicheia, which Matthew uses elsewhere separately from porniea (see 15:19), its meaning at 5:31,32 may invoke a more general sense of sexual immorality.

Therefore, if Jesus held such a strict view of divorce, and even if those who attempted to qualify his stance allowed divorce only for instances of sexual infidelity, it is certain that Jesus, his Jewish dialogue partners, and his Christian interpreters would all agree that having sex with, much less actually marrying, another woman while married "separated or not" would amount to adultery.

Pauline Thinking on Divorce

In chapter seven of his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul uses two different terms for divorce. In 7:10,11, 15 one finds xorizo and in 7:11-13, aphiami is used. Some have suggested that while aphiami here means legal divorce, xorizo simply means separation. Since the command attributed to Jesus at vv.10,11 uses both verbs, and since that command is likely based on a tradition like the one found in Matthew 5:31,32 and 19:3-9, it is difficult to make a sharp distinction between legal divorce and informal separation.

Paul may very well be alluding to such a strict (and possibly original) saying of Jesus forbidding divorce at 1 Corinthians 7:10,11. Here, too, although Paul may be parenthetically qualifying this teaching at v.11, by allowing for divorce without remarriage, he explicitly qualifies Jesus' teaching in vv.12-15 in light of a situation that Jesus did not address. If a believer and an unbeliever are married, they should remain so, says Paul, unless the unbeliever wishes for a divorce. In that case, the believer is under no obligation and is free to remarry. Therefore, with these two central New Testament texts on marriage and divorce, one encounters two different grounds for divorce.

Modern Thought

Early church theologians, by and large, leaned toward the teaching of Matthew's Jesus, even going beyond it to the extent that they forbade remarriage even in the case of a legitimate divorce. Such stricture is not implied in the New Testament texts, which assume that a lawful divorce allows lawful remarriage to another. Modern churches, of course, differ in their interpretations of the New Testament and their criteria for permissible divorce. Likewise, different churches may have different criteria for what counts as "proof" of infidelity.

by Eric Thurman
PhD Candidate, Drew University Madison, NJ