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.
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §64
...ou can see today why people, they say I'm a woman hater. That's far from the truth. I do not. They call me a woman hater. Remember, they called Paul a woman hater. A woman minister, not long ago, said, "Oh, you're like old Paul; all he had to do is pick on us women!" A saint of God that was permitted to write the Bible, the New Testament, and dispute his words? He said, "If a angel from heaven teaches any other thing than this that I've said, let him be accursed"---let alone some woman preacher. They said Elijah wa...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §81
Now, in the sex act... See, the school's got those two things mixed up. Therefore you can't do it. You've got to bring it back to the truth of it, in the beginning. And at the end there will be one Lord Jesus and His bride many---singular. You get it? There was one David on one throne, one king after God's own heart, with five hundred wives! Jesus, sitting on His throne (Hallelujah!) in the Millennium, with a wife like it was at the beginning, created out of the earth by the hand of Almighty God in the resurrection...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §76
Note, let's read this here. I want to get this to you. Matthew 5, Jesus spoke here of something that's really of a vital importance. We want to see it. Matthew 5. I wrote on my ... I marked out some of the things I was going to say just to the men, so had quite a little time saying it just before our sisters. But I want to go out here now before... Now, sister, I want to put you into the place where God's Word promised you. And you see then, you stay in that place too. Matthew 5:32. I want you to notice here, to su...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §80
Now, look. In the final analysis, look, there is one Jesus Christ. Is that right? One man, God Immanuel. Do you believe that? But the members of His wife are many, thousands times thousands of thousands. Is that right? His wife, the bride, the church. You understand now? That's why He said to Adam before sex was ever induced ... or, introduced, "Multiply to replenish the earth"---when he was yet in the beginning, when he was yet both male and female in himself! There it shows then that the bride's got to come from...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §77
See, she's got a living husband, so no man can marry her. Care what she does and who she is, she's got a living husband. There's no grounds for her at all. But it's not for him; because it's her, not him. Get it? You have to make the Word run in continuity. See? Nothing saying he couldn't, but she can't. See? Causes her, not him. That's just exactly what the Bible says. "Causes her..." It is not stated against him to remarry, but her! Why? Christ in the type. Notice, it is stated that he cannot remarry, only a virg...