The Narrow Path Ministries

A friend has asked me the following hypothetical question about whether a divorce would be permitted. Suppose a spouse 1 commits marital infidelity during a marriage with spouse 2. Does this infidelity permit spouse 2 to divorce even if the divorce is for other reasons, separate from the infidelity? I answered that in order to give an intelligent answer, I would need to go back to the Greek to see whether the original text translated "except for marital unfaithfulness" (NIV) implied causation, but that my suspicion is that the divorce must be predicated on the infidelity to be justifiable. If anyone happens to have any thoughts on this, or to know something about the Greek, I'd very much appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Best regards,

CThomas

Here is as literal a translation as I think possible to give:

Now I tell you that whoever dismisses [this word can also mean "leaves"] his wife [or "woman"] not for prostitution, and marries [this word can also mean "copulates with"] another, commits adultery.

Thanks very much, Padion. So it sounds like "for" means something like "due to" or "because of" rather than "in the wake of" or "following."

CThomas

By the way, please excuse me. I meant Matthew 5:32, the divorce passage. Stupid mistake.

Regards,

CThomas

Okay, here's my attempt at a literal translation of Matthew 5:32:

But I tell you, everyone who dismisses [ or "abandons"] his wife [woman] outside the expression of prostitution makes her to be adulterated, and whoever marries [or "copulates with"] her who has been dimissed [or "abandoned"] commits adultery.

CThomas wrote:Does this infidelity permit spouse 2 to divorce even if the divorce is for other reasons, separate from the infidelity?

I'm afraid that I'm a little confused with this ... if spouse 1 was unfaithful, but spouse 2 is divorcing "for other reasons" ... then why does spouse 2 even want to know if the infidelity permits the divorce?

The question that I would have is why is spouse 2 divorcing - if not for unfaithfulness? Forgive me for being presumptuous, but it makes me wonder if spouse 2 is seeking for a way to justify a decision to divorce - as if Jesus was establishing some legal loopholes.

peace,

dane

I have a friend who was miserable in her marriage and was hoping that her husband would cheat on her so that she would be able to divorce him. I think this is the type of situation that CThomas is referring to.

Rae wrote:I have a friend who was miserable in her marriage and was hoping that her husband would cheat on her so that she would be able to divorce him. I think this is the type of situation that CThomas is referring to.

I've seen that once too, Rae.

Living by a set of rules is safe and easy.
Being led by the Spirit is another matter.

I think our carnal side
would pick the set of rules any day of the week.

dane

Thanks, Rae. That's exactly the sort of situation I had in mind. Does the infidelity sort of give the other spouse a "get out of jail free" card? That sounds kind of legalistic to me, which is why I would guess it's not right, but what do I know.

CThomas

Sometimes a topic here stays on my mind for some reason and no matter how much I resolve not to post but just to lurk around, I have to ask a question.

It seems that what you are saying is that the attitude of the spouse who did not commit adultery is just as important as the actions of the spouse who did. Once when I was a new widow, I met another young widow who didn't have the same trouble getting past her grief that I did. It turns out that she was contemplating divorce at the time of her husband's death. Did she get a "get out of jail free" card as well? Was she unjustified in remarriage? Or, was it ok since he was no longer with us?