A Fresh Look at Divorce and Remarriage, Part 3

Second, Jesus said that all remarriage after divorce is adultery whether it is the husband or the wife who does the divorcing.

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

Now keep in mind, we still have other passages to consider. What I am doing is just taking a look at the passages that discuss divorce and remarriage and commenting on them as I go along. It is important that we get a comprehensive view of divorce and remarriage from all the passages that discuss the topic.   This way we can make an informative conclusion.

The disciples wanted clarification of Jesus' view, so they asked Him for it in private. Mark recorded Jesus’ straightforward reply. Neither husband nor wife should divorce their partner and remarry someone else. To do so constitutes adultery.

Jesus answer in verse 12 is unique in Mark. Under Roman law a wife could divorce her husband, but under Jewish law she (not speaking of the husband) could not. There were exceptions, however, as in the case of Herodias who had divorced Philip to marry Antipas (6:17-18). Herod the Great's sister also divorced her husband.  Jesus viewed all divorce followed by remarriage as constituting adultery no matter who initiated it. Divorce is wrong, but divorce followed by remarriage is worse.

Again, there is no exception here in Mark as they are in Matthew’s gospel.  Mark's omission of the exception clause that Matthew included was also due to his audience (cf. Matt. 5:32; Matt. 19:9).

Remember, Matthew’s wrote his gospel with the Jews in mind. Mark wrote his gospel with the Romans in mind. He did not want to draw attention to the exceptional case because to do so would weaken the main point, namely that people should not divorce. Divorce was very common in the Greco-Roman world.

A phrase from the lips of Jesus that we’ll find often is this: “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate” (Mark 10:9).  The word “separate” can also be rendered “divorce.” What God has joined together in marriage, let no man divorce. To do so, would be a violation of God’s original design for marriage.

This really hit home to the Lord’s disciples, so they go to Jesus in private seeking further explanation (v. 10).  While we are mindful of the fact that Mark wrote his gospel with the Romans in mind, Jesus’ response was to His Jewish disciples – v. 11:  “And He said to them.”

The disciples had the teachings of the Rabbis in their minds and Jesus could have easily added an exception for their sake. But He didn’t. Jesus stuck with God’s original design for marriage. If there are exceptions, we need to find out how the exceptions came to be and why.

End of Part 3