Part 1: The Foundation of Marriage vs. Civil Divorce
The Lord Jesus Christ has much to offer the humble heart.
In today’s world, anyone can obtain a civil divorce. However, the only divorce that the Lord Jesus Christ allows (and requires) is when a divorce certificate voids a civil-only marriage. A civil-only marriage occurs when one or both spouses are already divorced from their covenant husband or wife. If you divorce your covenant, one-flesh spouse and marry another while they still live, you have entered into a sexually immoral marriage, which is fornication. (See Matthew 19, Mark 6, Matthew 14, and 1 Corinthians 7:2).
For those who strive to enter God’s Kingdom, a true marriage can only exist between a covenant husband and a covenant wife
A covenant marriage is the sacred bond that God Himself creates and witnesses when a man and a woman are joined according to His law (see Malachi 2:14). Under God’s law, the only requirement to enter into this covenant is that both individuals are single and unmarried, with no living, one-flesh spouse. A modern term to describe this divine union is exclusive. When God joins a qualified man and woman, He performs a spiritual miracle that makes them “one flesh.” Absolutely nothing on earth; no human judge, no civil law, and no divorce certificate; can dissolve this spiritual bond or erase God’s recognition of it (see Matthew 1:6). Only the physical death of a spouse renders the marriage covenant no longer applicable.
In sharp contrast, a civil-only marriage is merely a legal contract created by human government. It carries no spiritual validity in the eyes of God if one or both parties are already bound to a living covenant spouse. While man’s law can easily create and dissolve a civil contract, it is completely powerless to alter or undo the unbreakable spiritual bond that God establishes.
A civil divorce only voids a government civil contract; it cannot undo what God has joined together. Therefore, a civil marriage to a spouse who is not your scripturally exclusive husband or wife constitutes sexual immorality or fornication.
Because one or both parties are already “one flesh” with a living covenant spouse, God does not join a remarriage. The individuals remain bound to their living, divorced covenant spouses. Because God will not join a sinful union, a remarriage is merely a civil contract. To honor the original marriage bond; which remains active until death; this subsequent civil contract must be divorced from.
You may hold a civil marriage certificate for a second, third, or fourth marriage. However, if your original “one flesh” divorced spouse is still living, your current marriage is not exclusive and is not joined by God. To join two people in this state is sin, resulting in the continuous act of adultery according to God’s Holy Law:
“But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”
Matthew 5:32 (KJV)
“But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Matthew 5:32 (NIV)
Application: Scriptural “fornication” or “textual immorality” in this context means being civilly married to another person while the exclusive, God-joined spouse you originally married still lives. This illegitimate civil marriage is the only type where divorce is permitted; and required; by Jesus Christ, precisely because God never joined the union in the first place.
“What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
Matthew 19:6 (KJV)
Application: God is the sole Creator of the marriage He joins. When He performs the miracle of making two people “one flesh” (assuming neither has a living covenant spouse), human divorce may separate them physically, but it cannot undo the spiritual reality. The bond is unbreakable. (See the unchangeable design of marriage in Genesis 2:18-25). Only when a spouse passes away is the bond dissolved. (See Matthew 1:6, Romans 7:1-3, and 1 Corinthians 7:39).
Adam and Eve provide the perfect blueprint for marriage. They were made one flesh and bound together by God from the very start:
“And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
Genesis 2:18-24 (KJV)
The Apostle Paul reinforces this commandment of Jesus Christ, detailing the depth of the one-flesh bond:
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.”
Ephesians 5:22-33 (KJV)
To understand the limits of a spouse’s liberty, we must look to the totality of Scripture. The book of Romans confirms that God’s marriage law remains active as long as both spouses are alive:
“Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.”
Romans 7:1-3 (NIV)
Summary: While a believer is not required to fight an unbelieving spouse’s desire to separate (meaning they are free from the bondage of ongoing marital conflict), they remain spiritually bound to that spouse by God. Physical departure does not equal spiritual un-joining. The covenant bond remains applicable until death.
The requirement to be joined only to your own exclusive spouse is reinforced throughout the New Testament Epistles. God’s word consistently uses this specific language of unique possession to distinguish a holy covenant from an adulterous civil union:
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord… Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”
“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;”
“For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:”
1 Peter 3:5 (KJV)
“The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.”
John the Baptist was martyred for telling King Herod that his civil marriage to Herodias was unlawful. Because she was still the covenant wife of Herod’s living brother, Philip, their civil marriage was invalid under God’s Law:
“For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.”
Matthew 14:3-4 (KJV)
“For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.”
Mark 6:17-18 (KJV)
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
Matthew 7:24-27 (KJV)
“Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
Luke 21:23 (KJV)
| Human Tradition (The Shifting Sand) | The Word of God (The Solid Rock) |
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The Lord promised us trials and tribulations in this life, but He said, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” This is the narrow way and the straight gate that few will find. |
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“I found my true soulmate.” Claiming a second union is “real love” to justify erasing a first marriage as a “mistake.” |
When the disciples realized the strictness of marriage, they said, “If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.” But Jesus replied that the ability to live in peace despite marital difficulty is given by God. If we are married, that strength has been promised to us. |
I know these truths to be absolute because when I asked Him many years ago how I was doing with my new wife (I had recently married to another’s man’s wife (a woman who was divorced from her covenant husband),
The Lord answered my question with one word: “Repent”. I asked Him again. He repeated the word a second time. I was too afraid to ask a third time.
Ten years later, having been married to this other man’s woman, and spending years seeking why He told me to “Repent!”, I asked Him directly how to enter His Kingdom one day. He revealed to me Matthew 5:32; “…and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. ” The Lord had mercy on me, opened my eyes, and gave me the strength to obey His Word and divorce from her.
A few years later, I met and married my covenant wife, and she would tell you our marriage is a sham. This website is to honor her, my covenant wife, as I have failed her many times. My marriage remains joined by God because neither of us had a covenant spouse when agreed to be married and we both signed the marriage certificate. For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, our marriage is for life, as are all covenant marriages. Even though she is divorcing me. I remain steadfast for her because of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said to love one another as He has loved us. This is my cross to bear, and yet my burden is light my yoke is easy:
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
John 8:32 (KJV)
AMEN.
Please review the column on the right for other common deceptions and the biblical facts exposing them.