Avoiding Divorce

Preliminary Considerations

• Divorce is not the unforgivable sin.
• Just because a sin can be forgiven does not mean that it should be casually committed.
• Shaming a person for a divorce is not honoring to God or helping anyone else.

Biblical Expectations (5:31-32)

The Original Law (5:31)

• God’s original provision for divorce was not to encourage it to happen but to ensure the process remained civil if it did happen (Deut. 24:1-4).
• Sinful married men would often abandon, abuse, or append their wives.
• One purpose of the certificate of divorce was God’s unique desire to protect women.

The Needed Mindset (5:32)

• Since marriage is something that God ordained, it should not be cast aside as some temporary or conditional agreement.
• Divorcing for the trivial and remarrying for the convenience actually reveals that the involved parties have committed adultery.
• The effects of sexual immorality are so severe that God allows divorce in such a case.
• While divorce is permitted in the Bible, it is never promoted in the Bible.

Specific Applications

• If you are considering divorce, realize that it will never completely free you from an undesirable spouse.
• If you initiated an unnecessary divorce, consider how you could seek forgiveness.
• If you experienced an unwanted divorce, you will never remove the effects completely, but you can recover from it significantly.
• If you have witnessed the devastation of another’s divorce, evaluate what happened so you will be less likely to repeat it.

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