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.
Ask a Follow-up Question
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.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 9:E-36
I want you to watch this carefully now and see something really sweet and beautiful. I said this is His end-time revelation of Himself. When the day of grace closes, then the millennium comes very shortly thereafter, doesn't it? Well, read with me Isaiah 65:16-19. "That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from Mine eyes. For behold, I create...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §62
That's why God forbids her to teach His Word. That's right. I Timothy 2:9-15: "I suffer not a woman to teach, or to have any authority..." See? And also I Corinthians 14:34: "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for it's not permitted to them to speak, for they are commanded to be in silent, also saith the law." But today, what does the church do? They make her pastors, evangelists, when the Bible completely forbids it! And the Bible said: "...as also saith the law," making it run in continuity, the whole th...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §52
You may now ask me: "Why did He permit her to be designed thus?" (I don't want to take too much time, because I've got a lot more to say here.) Why? The question might arise then, why did God make this woman like this? Why did He permit her to be like that? It was for His own good pleasure. Sure. Now, if you want to turn in your Bible just a minute, let's turn to Romans 9 just a minute and show you something, how God does these things, if you want to read it. And we can see here what God does for His own good pleas...
Hebrews, Chapter 6, part 2
57-0908E §34
I could run out and be gone all the time, just gadding about over the country, and let her half starve or anything, let the children go without something to eat, we're still married! If she even divorces me, I'm still married as long as there's life in my body; I took that vow: "Till death we separate." That's right, we're still married. But, yet, I make a poor excuse of a husband. She'd make a poor excuse as a wife. So if we love one another, we stick together and pull the load together. That's the way God and His...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §31
Jesus, in our text, invites us to go back to the beginning for the true scriptural answer. Now, when He was confronted with this, there was two things in view. The priest said to Him, "Can a man put away his wife, marry another for any cause?" And Jesus said, "It wasn't so from the beginning." Then they said, "Moses suffered us a writing of divorcement," and to put her away for anything they wanted to. He said that Moses did that because ... (let that straight a while) ... because of the hardness of your hearts, bu...