Divorce Defilement:

Context:

• Matt.18:1-5 The greatest are those that humble themselves like a child.
• Matt.18:7-9 Temptations come and resisting temptation is serious business.
• Matt.18:10-14 Those who go astray are searched for, and their return is cause for rejoicing.
• Matt.18:15-20 There are specific steps for seeking reconciliation, and God is in the midst of the process.
• Matt.18:21-35 Unforgiving servants are delivered to the jailers.
• After these teachings, Jesus left Galilee and entered Judea beyond the Jordan.
• Crowds followed and He healed them.
• The Pharisees again tested him, asking if it was lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause.

Matthew 19:4-6 “...He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate...”

• Genesis 2:24 “...Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh...”
• Ephesians 5:31 “...Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh...”
• 1 Corinthians 6:16 “...Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh...”

What is Jesus saying about marriage?

• It’s a male/female union created by God.
• It’s a joining process where the two become one flesh.
• It’s not to be separated.

How did the Pharisees respond to what Jesus stated?

• They challenged Him with a teaching of Moses.

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 “...When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance...”

Does this sound like God authorizing divorce?

• Isn’t the flavor of the passage more one of God’s disapproval of the whole process?

Matthew 19:8-9 “...He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery...”

Mark 10:5-9 “...And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate...”

Mark 10:11-12 “...And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery...”

How did Jesus explain the situation?

• Divorce was not God’s intention from the beginning.
• Divorce comes from hardness of heart.
• Divorce leads to additional sin.

Matthew 19:10 “...The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry...”

What were the disciples saying?

• God has high expectations.
• Man has low performance.
• Marriage may be impossible to handle correctly.

Matthew 19:11-12 “...But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it...”

What is Jesus saying?

• He isn’t saying that marriage should be avoided.
• He isn’t saying that divorce is the will of God.
• He isn’t saying that those who divorce have no future with God.
• He is saying that some have been given the ability to receive a eunuchs life. They will not face the issue of divorce, but they certainly face a lot of other issues.

What is the basic underlying truth of this passage?

• God has created things to be a certain way.
• We shouldn’t live contrary to God’s intentions.

The Deuteronomy passage reveals that our abominable behavior defiles and therefore negatively affects the land in which we live.

Has divorce defiled our land?

If God didn’t love us in spite of our sin, would He have sent His son into the world?

• Our God seeks reconciliation.
• He provides the way back.

We choose defilement or redemptive transformation.