Live Stream Answer: Adultery and Marriage

Hey everyone! This is Troy Black. I am certainly not perfect, and it’s easy for on-the-spot answers to come up short. If you heard my recent live stream answer to the question concerning adultery, I hope you will read these additional remarks.

I talked about a passage where Jesus defines adultery when it comes to divorce. This is found in Matthew 19:3-9. It says:

“Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?’ And He answered and said, ‘Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.’ They *said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?’ He *said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.'”

Jesus also says in Matthew 5:27-28,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

In verses 31-32, He says,

“It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

To the answer I gave in the live stream video, I would like to add that Jesus makes an exception for divorce that occurs because of immorality (unfaithfulness in the marriage relationship). I definitely should have mentioned this in the video because I believe it is a critical part of Jesus’ definition of adultery in marriage.

Do I believe that Christians cannot get re-married if they have gone through a divorce—even a divorce that involved unfaithfulness of the spouse? No. I believe that there is a place for re-marriage, especially in the case of unfaithfulness. My advice would be: pray about it first.

Like I said in the video, if you have gone through a divorce or if you are thinking about re-marriage, please read the Word and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. I believe that God has grace for your situation. If adultery has already happened, the grace of God is available to you right now when you simply believe (in repentance) that Jesus has paid the price for your sins on the cross. That means that you don’t have to feel condemned. You get to live in freedom and righteousness by believing in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

I would also seek wise Christian counsel before taking any steps leading away from or into marriage.