DIVORCE! - WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT IT

 

Lately I was asked about what my beliefs were regarding divorce. Pretty interesting. I did not know what to say because I do not have any beliefs concerning divorce. So I only spoke the mind of God as I opened my Bible to share from it.

The only foundation from which divorce evolves is marriage. Without first marrying, the word and action - divorce would not exist. Therefore divorce begins with marriage.

Marriage, nonetheless is a vow not a promise. A vow, however is a declaration or assertion of which one is obliged at every cost to obey the terms thereof. Failure to comply with vows result in consequences. Whereas ones failure to obey the terms of a vow attracts consequences, a promise may be fulfilled or not and attracts no implications whatsoever. Marriage is a vow before God, not the church or the court or the families of the spouses.

The reason is because God instituted marriage not any human being. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." (Gen. 2:24) Therefore He is the judge of this vow.

Here, read the content of the marriage vow:

MALE

I, ______, take you ______, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, or the Lord comes for His own, and hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.

(The Minister will quietly suggest they loose hands; then The Woman with her right hand will take the right hand of the Man and repeat).

FEMALE

I, _____, take you ______, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love land to cherish, till death do us part, or the Lord comes for His own, and hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.

Humbling. Very humbling indeed. With such a vow nothing, and I mean nothing should cause a couple to divorce but somehow they do. According to the vow Death is the only one God recognize legitimate to divorce two people. Without Death everyone is very unlawful to divorce. God being the Judge doesn't recognize the lawyer or the court or the family head or the bishop, He only knows Death to be the terminator of marriage.

Now, let's read from God's Word about His mind concerning vows from Ecclesiastes;

"5:4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.  5:5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.  5:6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?  5:7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God."

According to the Word of God it's "fools" who do not pay/obey their vows. It is better you do not vow than vow and not obey. It is better to remain single than to say these vows and later turn aside. Let's consider the 5:6 again "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?" This is amazing. You are forbidden to go before the angel/temple official to say that you made a mistake. So, God forbids the idea of divorce.

To conclude I would want us to consider this Scripture in Mal. 2:16 "For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away (DIVORCE)..."

God Himself says He hates divorce. Dear friend, please don't be in a haste to marry, calm down and choose the who you would not divorce no matter how the storms of life may be against you.

I know you have a question on your mind. But what about adultery? Aha, My guess is right!

It all boils down to the issue of vow. A vow, not different from an oath is a covenant. Thus the consummation of sex is the seal of the vow, without which no marriage has taken place. Sex is the covenant binding the marriage. It is the actual marriage.

In the process of sex blood is exchanged; the blood like every other covenant binds the parties involved to the obligation of keeping the marriage vow/oath. So when one of the couple commits adultery he/she has broken the first covenant to establish a new one with someone else. For instance a woman who commits adultery breaks her covenant with her husband, though she is lawfully wedded. So before the Judge - God, their marriage is cancelled and nonexistent.

The blood covenant initiated through sex is the real marriage not that which is done in the presence of family, Church or the court. It is not the ring either. Therefore adultery is the only thing which can separate couples. I know it is hard to say this, but, the church should not disallow the partners from remarrying. That is if adultery becomes the offense. Because adultery is the divorce of every marriage not some legal documentation.

What God says about divorce is very elaborate "For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away (DIVORCE).." God says He hates divorce. In a more particular sense He hates adultery.

Image source, go here

Any reproductions from this site must include a proper acknowledgement as follows: 

By S. E. Entsua-Mensah. ©2014 Christ for Humanity Outreach
You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in its entirety or in unaltered excerpts, as long as you do not charge a fee. For internet posting, please use only unaltered excerpts (not the content in its entirety) and provide a hyperlink to this page. Any exceptions to the above should be approved by Christ for Humanity Outreach.