Is it lawful to divorce?

“Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” (Mark 10:2).

            It is not easy to marry, of course, but it is more difficult to keep the marriage.  One of the reasons is that Satan wants to break the vow we made in front of God and the wedding guests during the wedding service.  Of course, there are many ways Satan is trying to break that covenant such as personality differences and money issues.  But I think even more lethal is the affair of the spouse.  How many married men and women are having affair these days?  I was very surprised when a single sister in Christ told me that she expected her future husband to have an affair when she would get married.  As a result, we cannot deny the fact that divorce is increasing.  How should we think about divorce?  Is it right to divorce?  No matter how we legally divorce according to the law of this world, does the Bible say that the legal divorce is lawful?

            In Mark 10:2, some Pharisees came and tested Jesus by asking Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"  At that time, there was a debate about the problem of divorce between the two schools, the Hillel school and the Shamai school.  The Hillel school had a tough view on the issue of divorce, which denied divorcing beyond adultery.  But the Shamai school had a view that allows divorce for almost all reasons.  The Pharisees who knew this asked Jesus “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” so that Jesus had to take either side (Park Yun-sun).  So the result that the Pharisees wanted was that when Jesus chose one side, then the people on the other side would stop supporting Jesus (MacArthur).  At that time Jesus asked the Pharisees, "What did Moses command you?" (v. 3)  They replied, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away” (v. 4).  But the Pharisees misunderstood the Scripture Deuteronomy 24:1.  What Moses said in Deuteronomy 24:1 was that a man could write his wife a certificate of divorce when he had found “some indecency” in her and not without reason (Park).  To these Pharisees who misunderstood the Moses’ Law, Jesus said, “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law” (v. 5).  In other words, the reason why the Moses’ Law allowed the man to divorce his wife when she was found with “some indecency”, that is, the shameful act of fornication, was because their hearts were insensitive to the Word of God and lacking altruistic spirit (Park).

But "it was not this way from the beginning" (Mt.19:8).  Jesus told the Pharisees that when God created Adam and Eve (Mk. 10:6, Gen. 1:27, 5:2) and had joined them together (Mk. 10:9) and the two would become one flesh (v. 8; cf. Gen. 2:24) “let man not separate” (v. 9).  God has set a marriage between a man and a woman but a divorce.  In fact, in Malachi 2:16, God says, “I hate divorce  …  and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment.”  If God hates divorce in this way, we, the children of God, must also hate divorce.  And we must hate marital unfaithfulness, or fornication.  When we think about what Jesus said in Matthew 19:9 “anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery" with what God said to Hosea “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness” (Hos. 1:2), I think God’s originally plan was to forgive and reconcile (rather than divorce) even though a woman or a man has committed adultery (MacArthur) and keep their marriage pledge faithfully.  Think about it.  The New Testament describes the relationship between Christ and the Church as a marriage between a man and a woman (Eph. 5:32).  Does Jesus, the Groom, give up His Church (Christians) who are committing spiritual adultery as in the Old Testament times?  If we could divorce because of adultery, wouldn’t Jesus have divorced us, the Church and His bride, without number?  Like God who taught His heart toward the Israelites to Prophet Hosea by commanding him to marry the adulterous woman Gomer, Jesus who loves us with the heart of Heavenly Father toward us, the church.  How can He forsake us because we the church committed spiritual adultery against Him?  Therefore, divorce is not right.  Our Holy Father God hates our divorce.  Our faithful Jesus of covenant not only is not divorced with us, His church, but also He cannot.  The Holy Spirit made us one through the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). Therefore, we must endeavor to keep the unity of husband and wife.