Q. I heard a minister say that adultery was the only reason for a divorce. Is that true?

A. We are going to look at several verses and you will get a good idea of what the Lord requires. In Deut 24.1-4 it gives the biblical requirements for a divorce. There are four things that have to be established. First, there has to an indecency found in the individual. The word translated indecency in Hebrew is "ervah" and it does not mean adultery or any of the uncleanliness issues in Leviticus 18 because they were punishable by death. Ervah basically means"improper" and something that makes their life together impossible because it would lead to cruelty and abuse. There is no cause for divorce in the Torah for sexual sin, only death was prescribed. After "ervah" was established, the individual must write a certificate of divorce, put it in the hand of the other and then send them out. They can remarry only if neither one marries someone else. If they do then there can be no remarriage. The bottom line is you did not get a divorce for adultery, that was a death penalty. But let's look at some of the verses in the New Testament that deals with this subject. In Matt 5.32 it says that "every one who divorces his wife, except for uncleanliness (Gk="porneia") causes her to commit adultery (Gk="moichao") and whoever marries a woman who is separated but not divorced commits adultery." Now, the Greek "porneia" is the equivalent to the Hebrew "ervah" and what the Lord is doing is freeing Deut 24.1 from all the false interpretations of the Pharisee's. They took the word "ervah" to extremes and said that a person could divorce for very little. Do some research on 1st Century divorces and you will see what the Lord was trying to do. Exodus 21.10 gives us a little more insight into "ervah" because it says a divorce can be granted for non-support or reduced conjugal rights. This is not an exhaustive list but where life together becomes impossible, then there is cause for divorce .Matt 19.9 says the same thing. Some Bibles translate "porneia" as fornication but that is a very limited view .Mark 10.11 and Luke 16.18 has another concept to understand. It says "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery." Now we know from Deut 24.1-4 and Matt 5.32 that divorce is allowed so what does it mean. Divorce also carries the idea of "separation" and in these passages it means that if you only separate you are not free to remarry yet. You go back to Deut 24 and Matt 5 and it says that unless you have a proper divorce/separation with a certificate and it's put in the others hand and you send them out, then there is no divorce or proper separation and you are not free to marry someone else. What has happened today is people have little or no understanding about the Torah and the New Testament has been translated to fit in with the biases of the translator and confusion is the result, much like what happened in the 1st Century. One can be too loose about divorce, but one can also have a very narrow view and both are extremes. So, the bottom line is adultery is not the only reason one can get a divorce and the Bible does not teach that either. Next week we will look at this law of divorce and tie it in with eschatology and why the Lord wrote the law the way he did. This will give you a proper understanding about this law of divorce and will give you insight into the coming of the Lord and his dealings with Israel.