Under What Condition Does God Permit Divorce in the New Testament?
1) Direct answer
Only one condition: fornication. The Lord permits putting away “except it be for fornication.” Outside of that, from the beginning it was not so.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Jesus said, “Moses suffered you to put away… but from the beginning it was not so… whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery” (Matthew 19:8–9; see also Matthew 5:32).
- The Bible shows what that exception looks like: Joseph, being espoused to Mary and not yet come together, “was minded to put her away privily,” thinking she had been unchaste before they joined (Matthew 1:18–20). That’s the very setting—betrothal/at the start, before consummation.
- Once joined, the Word says a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives (Romans 7:2–3). If she departs, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled; and the husband is not to put away his wife (1 Corinthians 7:10–11). If an unbeliever departs, the brother or sister is “not under bondage” to force the cohabitation, but this does not cancel the life‑bond (1 Corinthians 7:15 compared with 7:39).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- From the beginning God made them one flesh. You don’t break what God joined by later sin; you deal with it by repentance and forgiveness. That’s why Jesus did not say “except for adultery,” but “except for fornication”—uncleanness discovered at the start, which shows the union was not cleanly entered.
- So the only God‑given ground to put away is fornication discovered at the beginning. Otherwise, no divorce, and no remarriage while the spouse lives.
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice, the Bible says it plainly. One exception—fornication at the start. Beyond that, remain as you are or be reconciled.
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §21
I know your question now: Eve said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." That's exactly right. You could take the orneriest woman in the town, the worst man; if they had a baby, it would have to come from the Lord, because God has laws set together. And of these laws, like the sun to raise. You put a cocklebur in a good field, it'll grow, and it has to grow, because it's God's law. When seed is planted it must grow. And nothing can grow life but God, because it operates under His laws. Therefore, when the evil seed...
Questions and Answers (God being misunderstood)
61-0723E §43
QUESTION: "Deuteronomy, the twenty third chapter, the second verse, doesn't it teach that a person whom out of wedlock cannot be saved? It says that God will visit the iniquity of the parents upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Explain what this means." All right. Adultery was such a horrible thing in the time of the Bible until even if a man had a child by a woman that wasn't his wife, that child, its children's children's children, for four genera-tions, four hundred and something years, could...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §11
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Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §73
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The unconditional covenant that God made
54-0306 §31
Now, notice. When God calls a man... Now, look. Not because he was better than somebody else, but because God called him. Now, this is for Christians. Notice. Then after God called him, He said, "The first thing I want you to do is separate yourself." That's what God does today: separation. Most all the churches, when they're calling their new pastor... Over in the Baptist church, we used to see that. The people say, "Oh, that old preacher, he's old fogy. He tries to tell us this... We want a young fellow who can ....