God Hates Divorce
1.0 Introduction
Marriage and the family unit is the first and most important institution that was ordained by God. God after the creation of Adam (man) found that Adam needed a companion. God in His wisdom knew that the companion Adam needed was not a dog, cat or any other animal or creation. Adam needed a fellow human being with body (flesh), soul and spirit like him but with a little difference in body and physiological outlook. This person God desired would complement (complete) Adam and vice versa (Gen 2:18).

To achieve this, God took one of the ribs of Adam (man) and used it to make a woman (Gen 2:21-22). When Adam saw the woman, he said
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen 2:23-24).
Adam in these passages corroborated God’s plan in creating a woman to be a loving companion and helper for the man. She is to share his responsibility and cooperate with him in fulfilling God’s purpose for his life and the life of their family. God’s plan for marriage consists of one male and one female in a covenant relationship that has become “one flesh” that is united physically and spiritually. This proves that adultery, fornication, polygamy, homosexuality and divorce are forbidden by God.

2.0 Divorce in the Old Testament
Deut 24:1 “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.”
The above passage provides guidelines given by God to regulate divorce in ancient Israel. A man in the Old Testament could divorce his wife because of uncleanness. The term “uncleanness” possibly refers to a disgraceful or immoral conduct that is less serious than adultery. It does not pertain to adultery, which would have required a death sentence (Deut 22:22).
The bill of divorcement was a legal document given to the woman in order to break the marriage covenant, protect her from all obligations of her former husband.

3.0 Divorce in the New Testament
3.1 The teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ
Please open your Bibles to Mt 5:31-32; Mt 19:3-9; Mk 10:3-12; Luke 16:18.
We see from these passages the following:
i. Christ made it clear that God intends that marriage between a man and a woman be a lifelong inseparable relationship. That is, it is a binding relationship and inseparable as long as both parties are alive (Mt 19:4-6; Mk 10:6-9).
ii. God permissively allowed for divorce in the Old Testament because of the hardness of heart of the children of Israel (Mt 19:.
iii. Lord Jesus made it clear that whosoever puts away (divorces) his wife and marries another commits adultery (Mt 5:32; Mt 19:9; Mk 10:11; Luke 16:18).
iv. In the same vein a woman that puts away (divorces) her husband commits adultery (Mk 10:12).

You will notice that in Mt 5:31-32 and Mt 19:9, Christ gave conditions under which a man may divorce his wife, which is when fornication is committed. While King James Version used the word “fornication”, other translations for reasons best known to them used the word “sexual immorality” rather than “fornication”. I align with “fornication” as used by the King James Version for the following reasons:
The word “sexual immorality” is too wide a term to be used as the basis for divorce. Sexual immorality includes fornication, adultery, pornography, homosexuality, masturbation etc. If sexual immorality were to be the case, are we saying that a man can divorce his wife if she is caught masturbating and vice versa? Also Jesus would not having been making reference to adultery (another form of sexual immorality) because the sin of adultery in Judaism attracts the death penalty (Deut 22:22; John 8:4-5) and not just divorce.
It is because Christ was referring specifically to fornication and not just to sexual immorality that we find this exception only in the book of Matthew and not in the other gospels. A look at the background of the synoptic gospels shows that while the book of Mark was written for the Romans, the book of Luke for Theophilus and the gentile believers, Matthew one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ wrote for the Jewish believers. It is on this that we have this exemption in Matthew.
In Judaism, when a woman is engaged to be married to a man and the man discovers the adulterous life of his wife to be, he could exonerate himself by publicly exposing his fiancée and have her put to death (Deut 22:23-24) or he may pay a fine and break the engagement (literally divorce her). Joseph, the legal father of our Lord Jesus decided to do the latter to his espoused wife Mary, before he was stopped by the angel who appeared to him in a dream (Mt 1:18-20).
It is based on this that this exemption was given by Christ as seen only in Matthew’s gospel and not in the other books. Hence there is no basis for divorce once a marriage has been consummated. This is seen in the stand taken by our Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in the gospels.

3.2 The teaching of the Apostles
In 1 Cor 7:10-15, Apostle Paul while advising married couples reiterated the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on divorce. He reminded couples contemplating divorce in verses 10-11, the command of the Lord that they remain married. However if the wife does leave her husband or vice versa (possibly due to their having great difficulty in living together), then they are to honour their marriage vows by remaining faithful to their spouse by remaining alone, otherwise they should be reconciled.

Since the marriage institution is a universal one created by God, these commands above are also applicable to couples where either of them is a believer and the other an unbeliever (1 Cor 7:12-16) or to couples where both of them are unbelievers (Rom 7:2-3).

4. Conclusion
Our Lord Jesus said in Mt 19:8 that God never permits divorce, and that divorce is only caused by a hard heart. “He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.” Our Lord taught forgiveness in Matthew 18:22, not 7 times, but 70 times 7. Divorce is rooted in self-righteousness and an unwillingness to forgive. Notice carefully that Jesus addresses whether remarriage is adultery or not. He never addresses the issue of divorce itself, because divorce is never of God, period!

To divorce one’s spouse is inconsistent with the will of God. If committing adultery is ground for divorce, then Mt 5:28 gives every wife Biblical grounds to divorce because EVERY man has lusted. Our Lord Jesus said that lust is equivalent to adultery.

Let me also say, if the Lord was willing to be despised and rejected of men, beaten to a pulp, mistreated, scorned, spat upon and ultimately crucified to death FOR US, then we should follow His example. A husband who loves his wife will not quit, neither will a wife who loves her husband. Divorce is not the Biblical solution to one’s marriage problems. What happened to the promise of “for better for worse” to God and to our spouse on the wedding day? We are living in a wicked and adulterous generation that couples are quick to throw in the towel and quit.

Our Lord Jesus was willing to die for you and me, so why are professed Christians so quick to divorce their spouse? I can’t remember any line of the marriage vows that gives a spouse the right to divorce under any circumstances. What happened to “Till death do us part?” There is no marriage so hopeless that it cannot be redeemed. I will not hesitate to say that “irreconcilable differences” is NOT found in the Bible as grounds for a divorce.

No matter what the law of any country says or the views of any denomination about divorce, one thing that is clear from the teachings of Christ and the apostles is that there are NO Biblical grounds for divorce!!!

Think on these and it shall be well with you as you obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. Till we meet again on this platform, remain blessed in JESUS’ name, Amen.

I encourage you to watch these ministers on YouTube: Leonard Ravenhill; David Wilkerson; Zac Poonen; Gbile Akanni; Keith Daniel and Samson Jebutu.

@OP Bro Gbile Akanni I love his messages

Righteousness all the way

Have you listened to "Disciples home" Disciples in indeed" Battle for the young" and this one i love soooo much "Remember Mrs Lot" ...... can listen to it over and over again

Bro Gbile also have series on choosing a life partner and courtship

God bless Bro Gbile and his wife Dr. sis. :-) shade .... is she a medial doctor or is the dr for phd?

lol...come on now.

@op.

Certain part of what you wrote there is what is called "over stepping the scriptures".

Some questions for you:

1. Was a certificate of divorce given for a broken engagement?

2. Did Jesus speech on divorce directed only to the Jews and not applicable to christians?

i. If yes, only to the Jews, why do we bother with it, or, why dont we christians give a certificate of divorce to our ex-fiancé?

ii. If not only to the Jews and it apply to christians, why dont we stone our wife to death today on ground of adultery?

iii. Again, since a certificate of divorce is not given for a broken engagement by both Jews and christians, why cant it be said that Jesus meant a woman that has committed adultery in a legal marriage = fornication?

iv. Is adultery not part of fornication by definition?

3. Are you saying that christians should not read the gospel of mathew, since you said it was written for Jews?

4. Do christians condone adultery and the church accept it, since christians will not stone the woman to death? What do christian/husband/wife do with it?

5. Is it possible that Jesus did not know the meaning of the word "fornication" that it includes adultery?

6. Did Jesus not also know the meaning of the word "certificate of divorce", since you ONLY applied it to the unmarried.

7. Why did Joseph not plan to give marry a certificate of divorce?
................................

Please answer those first.
Am waiting.
Peace.