Matthew 5:32, divorcing a woman makes her an adulteress?

Question

It says:

"But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery."

Why is divorcing a woman for any other reason EXCEPT adultery, make her an adulteress? And by that standard, why isn't the man considered an adulterer after the divorce also? And I do not like that fact that wife is basically “tainted” for the rest of her life, while the husband is free and clear. That doesn’t seem right. It’s the husband who wanted the divorce for a reason other than cheating or being a virgin.

Verse 31 says:

"Futhermore it had been said, "Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce."

It's of no real importance to the questions I'm asking...

Hey guys, I'm not a Christian. I'm asking Christians to explian this to me. How about some decent, well thought answeres?

OK adyghe1985 - What does ALL THAT scripture have to do with the verse I'm talking about? I READ THE WHOLE CHAPTER. MY CONCERN IS WITH THIS PARTICUAR VERSE. You have no help whatsoever. Thank you for wasting my time.

And you're going to say I'm talking things out of context? When people are constantly quoting a SINGLE verse any time there's a question on this board as if it's the answer to all their life's problems. Don't single me out here, I had a simple question that I wanted someone to elaborate on, not someone to throw more scripture at me that I already read and has no relevance to what I'm asking.

Thank you to Cindy, fix_agent_86, LL, searcher, and Walter E who actually explained to me what this verse means. I'm trying to understand the Bible more, but with some people just make it more confusing with their responses...usually because they're too busy attacking me to answer the question.

(And I slightly agree with you crazyhumans, especially after some of the questions I've asked around here.)

Answer 1

Hopefully I can help you understand this verse.

Women in that day and age could not own property or work outside the home and were not allowed to provide for themselves.

If their husband died and they were still in their child bearing years, the husband's brother was to marry her and provide for her, thus causing polygamy (which was accepted).

If a man divorced his wife, the bible does state that neither can remarry, but in the case of the wife, she could not provide for herself within that culture, so she would be forrced in order to survive to remarry, thus causing her to commit adultry.

That is what the verse is talking about. Simply trying to convince the man that he did have responsibility toward his wife and if he did throw her own, he would be the one committing the sin of making her remarry and thus be committing adultry in order to survive.

Answer 2

I agree with you about the guy being to blame and I think the Bible is saying that the only reason any marriage can be dissolved is due to adultery, so by divorcing her for causes other than adultery he is causing her to become an adulterer against her will (because in the eyes of God her marriage is still intact), thus her sins fall on his shoulders because he's really responsible for putting her in the position of being with another man. It also states that the new man is an adulterer too, so he is definitely not off the hook. The Bible does directly address the issue of whether the old husband within your example would become an adulterer if he re-married IF his new wife was not divorced (he would be if she was), but one would assume that he would be one because according to the Bible his old marriage is still valid, assuming, that is, that we are referring to more modern times and not the era of Solomon where having multiple wives was legal.

Answer 3

There is another passage that says that you are an adulterer if you divorce your wife for any reason other than adultery and marry another. I think the point is that marriage is a life long commitment on both parts and it shouldn't be gone into or gotten out of lightly. Too many people today don't consider it a life-long commitment and that's why we have so many people getting divorced. Whether people want to admit it or not, marriage is a religious institution and if you aren't religious there really is no reason to even get married.

Answer 4

The people in those days wanted an excuse to get rid of a bad marriage. In those days a woman basically had to be a virgin to find a suitable husband. That's why the old testament said that a rapist had to marry the woman he raped, so she would have someone to take care of her (and both stories in the Bible on this showed that the families took revenge on the rapist). An unmarried woman was shamed in that society.

That was spoken more to the man than the woman since the laws in those days allowed a man to have more than one wife. So if the man was requesting a divorce, he was basically saying that he wanted to get out of his responsibility to her.

Jesus expects that when we marry we understand that we are taking VOWS and making a promise to stay with that person. That means, that it's like a fight with your parents or siblings, you figure out how to work things out.

He also says that adultery was grounds for divorce, and that includes divorcing for grounds of pedophilia or incest.

Answer 5

Oh well, that is what the Bible says and all the Bible thumpers ignore it because it won't suit their liking. Watch how they will come up with excuses for this. They only pick and choose what they like.

But they have a problem with the Koran saying the same thing. Then Islam is a savage religion and Islam is bad.

Answer 6

Those words were written in the context of Roman times when women were regarded as little more than property. Jesus, who is the express image of God is full of compassion. He was not "legalistic". He healed on the Sabbath and did other things that were contrary to the strict "laws" of the Jews, whose culture He was raised in.

Women are not "tainted" after divorce. In almost 50 years of following after God and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, I have found that the Lord is far more flexible, and understanding of our human frailties than most people think. He is the very essence of Love. I don't believe for one moment that a woman should spend her life miserable and/or forced by her libido to sin, if not allowed to re-marry according to some legalistic church doctrine. I believe it is perfectly in line with God's Spirit and with the reality of being human to want to marry again, regardless of whether a first marriage ended because of adultery. Men are equally responsible for their negative actions as women are.

Many women stay in violent and abusive relationships due to this legalistic doctrine. I hope that any woman who reads this who is suffering in that environment will wake up and realize that God doesn't expect them to stay in that situation. It is not a sin to re-marry. I hope that many pastors become more like Christ in His compassion, rather than forcing a rigid doctrine on suffering people.

Answer 7

Where do you get the idea that the men are free. In your bias you did not read the verses correctly.

Marriage according to the Bibles plan was for life (Our vows still reflect that) When the man and woman join in marriage they become one unit.

P.S. Sabrina does not know what she is talking about.

Answer 8

The principle applies to men as well. But after a divorce, if a man sleeps with someone else, then the woman is completely free.

Answer 9

You have to look at this from a very wide standpoint. To cause your wife to commit adultery is a sin. The husband is expected to keep his wife pure, to protect and cherish her.
Ephesians 5
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."[c] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Basically, what this means is, a husband causes his wife to sin by divorcing her.

Matthew 18
7"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

There's really not enough room here to get really detailed with this, but suffice it to say that the Scripture you quoted does not make a man sinless for divorcing his wife.

Answer 10

Those words were written thousands of years ago and translated thousands of times before they ended up in English.Try not to take the wording so literally.