Paper written by Rev. Hayes K. Minnick

Marriage is a human institution, Divinely ordained. It is strictly an earthly relationship; it has no place in Heaven (Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12: 18-27; Luke 20:27-38). On earth men are mortal, and marriage is necessary to perpetuate the race; no such necessity obtains in the resurrection life where men are immortal. In that estate they are like the angels, among whom there is no marriage. The physical relationship involved in wedlock is related to the sphere of time alone, not to eternity. Marriage, according to our Lord’s own teaching, is but a temporary and transient arrangement to which death brings an end. That death dissolves the marriage relationship is clear from Romans 7:1-3; 1 Corinthians 7:39. It is also clear from these passages of Scripture that the surviving partner is eligible for remarriage.

The same thing is true of fornication and adultery (Matthew 5:31-32; 19:9). So sacred and holy is the marriage relationship in the sight of God that it takes only one act of infidelity to sever it (Leviticus 20: 1 0; Deuteronomy 22:22-24). Since capital punishment was the penalty pronounced upon the crime of fornication and adultery under the Old Testament economy, it is utterly obvious that the dissolution of the conjugal union was totally achieved, leaving the innocent party free to remarry. In other words, adultery is a in so serious sin the eyes of a holy God that it involves death to the marriage relationship. The one is as final as the other in severing the matrimonial bond.

It is for this very reason that the incarnate Son of God, very explicitly and on two occasions, emphatically declares fornication to be sufficient ground for divorce, Matthew 5:31-32; 19:9. As stated so clearly by Dr. Walter Maier in his book, For Better Not For Worse (p. 436), “No argumentation, no juggling of the text, no recourse to the manuscripts, can change this plain statement: marital unfaithfulness breaks the marriage relation and may be cited by the innocent party as a reason for a divorce which God and the Church recognize.” In all passages pertaining thereto, it is perfectly clear in Scripture that marriage as instituted by God is intended to be monogamous and permanent. This is the Divine design. It is an indissoluble compact between one man and one woman according to the heavenly ideal so beautifully symbolized in the union of Christ with the Church, His blood-bought bride (Ephesians 5:2232). In the original plan and purpose of God there was no place for divorce (Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18), because there was no necessity for it. In the event of adultery, however, the very act in itself is destructive of the monogamic union. Where marital infidelity is involved, the “divorce” has already occurred even though it be not formally declared. Not to allow a decree of divorce in such case is to force an innocent party in marriage to live in a state of polygamy.

Divorce on any ground other than scriptural ground is utter wickedness. God hates it (Malachi 2:1416)! Yet there is one thing that He hates even more, to a far greater extent, and that is the violation of one’s marital vows. A vow under any circumstance is sacred in the sight of God (Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Ecclesiastes 5:1-7), and there is none more sacred than that which involves the marriage union, The desecration thereof is a vicious sin which justifies a formal decree of divorce and, indeed, renders it necessary. There are times when divorce becomes a duty. The God of the Old Testament, who Himself hates divorce with an utter hatred, nevertheless found it necessary to divorce His own wife – the nation of Israel (Isaiah 5O:l; Jeremiah 3:8,20; Hosea l:1-3;2:2-5). Had He not done so, He would have compromised His own holy character. To insist that the marriage union is indissoluble under the circumstance of adultery is to exalt fornication and glorify sexual promiscuity under the halo of sanctified sin. The God of all holiness never intended a relationship so sacred as that of marriage to be an endorsement or legalization of that which is unholy.