Objections Against Eternal Salvation (Part XI)

Divorce and Remarriage – Introduction
Divorce has long been a complex and controversial topic in the church. In our culture today, many people are affected by it in one way or another. We all know someone, whether a family member or close friend, who has experienced the pain of a broken marriage. Or maybe you have gone through or are going through a divorce right now. If so, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how painful and devastating it can be for both the adults and children involved in the situation. Moreover, as a child of God, I am sure you may have asked yourself more than once: “Will God still forgive me if I get a divorce or remarry? Will I remain saved, or will I lose my salvation forever?” Those are all good and pertinent questions, especially for believers who have already been through it or are planning to. First, we need to find out from the Bible which cases of divorce or remarriage are sins. Second, for those situations where separation from the marriage partner is a sin, we must determine, again with the help of Scripture, whether that kind of sin is unforgivable and may cause believers to forfeit their eternal salvation.

 

Sexual Immorality & the Unbelieving Spouse

There are two definite instances in which divorce is allowed by God and not considered a sin in Scripture. The first admissible reason, depicted by Jesus in Matthew 5:31 –32 and Matthew 19:9, is unfaithfulness through sexual immorality, which applies to both spouses:

Matthew 5:31 –32 (NKJV)31 “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.Matthew 19:9 (NKJV)9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Some spiritual leaders in the body of Christ today contend that, based on these two passages, only sexual immorality is a valid reason for dissolving a marriage. If that’s the case, then the apostle Paul contradicted Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 7:15 , he adds a second situation in which divorce is not a sin, that of an unbelieving spouse wanting to separate:

1 Corinthians 7:12 –15 (NKJV)12 But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her.13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him.14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.

Later, we will see that when Jesus says in Matthew 5:31 –32, Matthew 19:9, and Mark 10:2–12 that a man should not separate from his wife for any other reason except sexual immorality, he is addressing a specific hot debate of His day on this topic that was based on Deuteronomy 24:1–2.

 

Physical & Emotional Abuse

You may ask: “What about physical abuse, emotional abuse, or the neglect of a spouse? Are any of these acceptable reasons for divorce? What does the Bible say about this?” There is no easy answer because the Bible doesn’t have a clear-cut, black-and-white answer to this dilemma. Here is where things get complicated and into the gray area; that’s why we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us revelation and understanding of His heart. If we look carefully at Scripture with an open and sincere heart, we will discover that it has a solution to this challenging issue.

First, through a few examples, I invite you to observe that, as a general principle, God’s love and mercy are always greater than His justice.

Without diminishing His righteousness and punishment for sin in any way, He is always in the business of encouraging, building up, and restoring people’s lives despite their mistakes and failures. He always rejoices to see His children happy and well. Even in Old Testament times, during the Law of Moses, when God seemed very cruel and harsh in His punishments for people’s acts of disobedience, He still did everything out of care for them and because there was no other way to accomplish what He needed to accomplish for humanity. When we become parents, we can understand and experience a glimpse of God’s heart for His children. No matter how bad children can be and what evil things they might do normal fathers and mothers will never give up on them, and they will always do everything in their power to see them well and happy. When Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God could have left them to die forever according to His justice and never redeem them. However, because of His great love, He found a way, though painful, tedious, and costly, to save humanity from eternal destruction without lessening His righteousness. In Matthew 12:1–8, Jesus’s disciples plucked off heads of grain and ate them on the Sabbath because they were hungry, and the Pharisees accused them of doing something unlawful on the day of rest. Let’s see what Jesus’s response was:

Matthew 12:1–8 (NKJV)1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus first reminds them from the Old Testament of the occasion when King ...