The infamous exception clause. Things would be much easier without it.
Jesus says in Matthew 19:9, “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery” (ESV).
Jesus does not rule out divorce for any reason. Nobody argues with that. The question is not whether divorce is ever valid, but when and under what conditions it is valid. The debate largely centers on the exception in the above verse—“except for sexual immorality.”
Whether this is for true marriages or betrothals, here is an important observation: Jesus does NOT demand divorce; it is merely permitted. Contemporary Judaism required divorce in the case of sexual immorality; Jesus merely permits it. Thus, Jesus’ view of divorce was higher than even the conservative branch of Judaism in his day.
2 comments:
So for some reason I thought that John Piper reviewed this verse and said that divorce was never permitted by God... however, I read it very fast and probably only part of it.
Alex,
I'll put some more info on what Piper believes by Thursday, Lord willing. His understanding is, as you have heard, that divorce is never biblically justifiable between a man and a woman. But, he says, that betrothals in the Bible times were often considered to be like marriages (e.g. Joseph and Mary), and thus sexual immorality in that context would be grounds for a justifiable divorce, since the covenant at that time is not consummated.
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