Deut. 24:1-4, Divorce Permitted by our God of Mercy

The end of the previous post requires that we take a moment to note what we have in Christ to deal with the difficulties of marriage.  In Gen. 1-2 there were no commands to Adam to love his wife and Eve to submit to her husband.  That’s because, being created in the image of God, these were natural to them.  But for us, sin is an issue, so we have these commands in the NT (Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18-19; 1 Pt. 3:1-7).  But we also have what Christ has provided for us because we are “in Christ” so that His life is being worked out in our bodies.  Remember: Jesus is the living description of love and submission.  Believing husbands and wives are being transformed into His likeness, and this includes being like Him in the home. 

Let us return to Mark 10.  Jesus taught that marriage was a lifelong relationship between one man and one woman.  He acknowledged that marriage was difficult.

THIRD, JESUS EXPLAINED THAT DIVORCE WAS PERMITTED BY GOD BECAUSE OF SIN.

Divorce was permitted by God because of sin, but in a deeper sense, because of His mercy.  If you read Deut. 24:1-4 you see this.  In the OT culture of Israel, marriage was God’s means of providing for a woman.  The man provided for his wife through his work, and she helped her husband in whatever ways were appropriate.  Since marriage was difficult, and both men and women were treacherous, because of sin, there needed to be a way so that the divorced woman could be cared for.  She might go back to her father’s house, if he was still living, or to the older brother’s house.  Or she could marry another man.  In any of these cases she needed evidence that she no longer belonged to her husband. 

Furthermore, the Israelite society needed some safeguards to maintain the high position of marriage.  God, through Moses, also made a law forbidding a couple from divorcing, then marrying another, and then divorcing and returning to the first partner.  This practice would have cheapened the institution, so God was being wise in dealing with people who were sinners from birth.

Let us be careful to keep together all that Jesus said.  He did acknowledge the difficulty of the marriage relationship because of the effect of sin.  He gave the true reason God permitted divorce under the law: because of the hardness of men’s hearts.  But He also was clear, that the aim of those who follow Him, who have entered the Kingdom of God, is for a permanent union.  And of course, we also understand that under the New Covenant, those who follow Christ have available all that is needed for life and godliness.  Christ intends that we deny ourselves and bear our cross at home.  Submission to Christ is fundamental to fulfilling God’s purpose in marriage and family.