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Research by George Barna indicates that approximately 1 in every 3 married couples gets divorced. This statistic is the same for both Christians and non-Christians. Barna’s statistics further reveal that among married “born-again” Christians, 24% have gotten divorced 2 or more times.

In How Long Does Marriage Last?, the first post in this series on marriage, we laid the foundation for the Biblical teaching that marriage is a life-long covenant between a man and a woman that is instituted by God. This truth will be reinforced as we understand what God’s Word teaches about adultery.

In the Gospels of both Mark and Luke (we’ll discuss the Matthew passages in the next post), Jesus unequivocally states that anyone who puts away (divorces) his wife and marries another commits adultery. The same is true for a woman.

“And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.”

Mark 10:11-12

Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

Luke 16:18

Adultery takes place when a married man or woman engages in a sexual relationship with someone who is not their spouse. Thus, for Jesus to say in these passages that marriage to another constituted committing adultery, He was making it clear that the first marriage was still binding. Anyone who does divorce his or her spouse, according to Scripture, is still married to that spouse and is not free to marry anyone else. To do so is to commit adultery.

Paul presents this same truth and teaches that only death releases one from the law and grants them freedom to be married to another person.

“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”

Romans 7:2-3

In I Corinthians 7, Paul pens this commandment from the Lord:

“And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.”

I Corinthians 7:10-11

It is important to note that Paul is not saying that the woman who has departed from her husband reverts back to the status of an unmarried woman. Rather, he is commanding that she remain unmarried to another person. We can ascertain this from his very next words which give her the alternative of being “reconciled to her husband.” If she was no longer married, then this man would no longer be called her husband.

Later, in this same discourse on marriage, Paul again emphasizes that marriage ends only at the death of one of the spouses:

“The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.”

I Corinthians 7:39

We see in Scripture that one is classified as either “married” or “unmarried” and a divorced person falls into the “married” category. Therefore, they are not at liberty to marry another person, and to do so is to commit adultery.

Sadly, God’s people have equally contributed to our nation of adulterers. Let us heed the counsel God gave Solomon:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

II Chronicles 7:14

There is hope for our nation! But it must begin with us – God’s people. We must turn from our adulterous ways and walk before the Lord according to all that He has commanded us.

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