Marriage is very sacred to God. It was the first institution He created in the Garden of Eden and He meant for the marriage union to last as long as the man and woman lived. Alas! It is man who changed the ordinances of God.
In the Old Testament when a woman was found in fornication she was to be stoned to death. God tells us in the book of Jeremiah that He married and divorced National Israel. God could not kill National Israel for fornication and worship of other gods because the Lord Jesus still had to come out from her so God separated Himself from Israel by implementing the temporary law of Deut. 24:1-4. This law was abrogated when Jesus hung on the cross and the veil of the temple was rent in two to signal the separation..
Imagine what would happen to all believers who are married to Christ if the above were true? None will make it to heaven because our bodies still lusts after sin after salvation. But there is hope! God will not divorce nor forsake those who are in Christ Jesus. What a loving and merciful God we serve.
Not many Christians understand the deeper meanings of Deut. 24:1-4 and Matt. 19:3-12.
None in this thread had really posted the correct and biblical answer to the divorce and remarriage question. The answer can be found in Matt. 19:3-12.
Note how the Pharisees formed their question to tempt Jesus: “ Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”
verses 4 & 5 are self explanatory, and verse 6 Jesus says: “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder”. Here, Jesus is saying man cannot separate those whom had God joined together by marriage, not by any magistrate or men of the cloth.
In verse 8 Jesus is teaching that Moses allowed to put away your wives because of the hardness of your hearts: but from the beginning it was not so.. The beginning could be before He created the earth or at the Garden of Eden. In other words, He is now rescinding verse 8 and Deut. 24:1-4.
In verse 9 Jesus at this point is going to answer the question first put to Him by the Pharisees in verse three and should be understood this way, “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication (we've already discussed this matter of “for every cause”), and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
I'm sorry to say people, THERE IS NO CAUSE OR REASONS FOR DIVORCE! If this was so then God can divorce us easily because we commit fornication (sin) against Him everyday.
The disciples understood very well what Jesus taught in verse 9 as they remonstrated, if the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
Verse 11, But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
The next Scripture passage, which I believe speaks to the whole matter of divorce and remarriage, will surprise many of you in this forum as I have not seen anyone quote this verse. Perhaps an oversight?
I Corinthians 7:39 reads:
The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
We see how that the husband and wife is bound and shackled together, as it were, that nothing can tear them apart unless one of the spouse dies and if the surviving spouse wants to marry again then they must marry another believer. This is crucial in the life of a Christian.
Born_Again
If I were you I would do everything to persuade your wife to stay. Divorce is something that is not contemplated in a day, a week, a month, or even a year. It takes a long time to build up. After you've done all you possibly can to make her stay and she still wants to go then in your bond servant relationship to Christ you are to let her go. It will be her sin and not yours but you must remain single and not remarry.
I have another suggestion. Why not sit with her and together read I Corinthians Chapter 7 and specially verse 39. God works in mysterious ways He might even give her a little nudge to wake up her senses.
May God give you wisdom.
In Christ