Anchor My Faith

Certificate of Divorce

Scripture: Matthew 5:31-32

In our last lesson we saw the seriousness of our sin and the importance of gaining victory over it. In this lesson we will finish up this section of study, which began with “You shall not commit adultery.” Jesus then pointed out the seriousness of our sin and now in this lesson we learn that divorce can cause another person to commit adultery: ^{Mt 5:31} “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

How does one approach a topic like this that affects so many today? I know that I have readers that have gone through a divorce and have remarried, so I am faced with deciding what to say on a sensitive topic. As I ponder over this, I think we should begin by staying in context and determine what a certificate of divorce was, why it was given, and for what purpose.

“It was also said” by Moses, that ¹ “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, ² and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ 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, ⁴ 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” (Deuteronomy 24:1 – 4 ESV).

A certificate of divorce, at the time of Moses, was given by a man to his wife stating that she was no longer his wife and was free to marry another man. This practice reflected the fact that, like today, divorce and remarriage was widely accepted and practiced. As indicated above in verse 1, the only reason for the divorce was that he found something about her that he didn’t like and decided to move on to someone else, as is being done today.

I added verses 2 – 4 to illustrate a condition about remarriage. If a wife is sent away and remarries and then is sent away again, she is not allowed to return to her original husband to remarry him as she has been defiled by her second marriage, making her remarriage to her original husband an abomination before the Lord. This is uncommon, but I do know someone who had done this today.

On another occasion, Jesus gives the reason why their certificates of divorce were being given and allowed under Jewish law. In Mark 10:1 – 12, Jesus explains that this practice was because of the hardness of their hearts, but in the beginning it was not so, as God made a single pair and ordained marriage for life.

With this as background, we will begin our next lesson with, “But I say to you . . .” of verse 32.

Prayer

Father, as in the past, it seems that feeling overrides obedience to you. If not careful, our right to seek pleasure overrides the need of obedience and we accept the pleasures of sin, not taking into account the penalty of sin. We may find pleasure in the new relationship, but at what cost to the lives of others and our relationship with God. Father, we must not forget that trials build Christ-like character, but that there are situations when it is necessary to retreat and leave the relationship for reasons of safety.