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 §106
So is it today, Lord God, at the end of the world. As we are here under the mercy of God, knowing that soon we're to answer in His presence, and that You have did so much, Lord, I'm sure in the sight of these people they'll hang onto this like it come from You. And to bear record here today of many people sitting here that even saw that sign up in the mountain where the angels of the Lord came in the whirlwind, where it came in the seven angels, where the revealing of the seven mysteries was unfolded, and that same...
The Queen of Sheba
60-0401E §1
[Pastor introduces Brother Lamsa.] ... he speaks the language and can read the language and read the original documents in which the New Testament was written. So with him, it is so wonderful that he can read directly from the original script the very words that Jesus and the disciples spoke and wrote. He felt that these translations that we have are not always correct and true. And that's where the criticism comes in, because he criticizes the King James version, and some people think that St. Paul preached from t...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §87
And so is it with the church that refuses to become pregnated in the age that we now live in to bring forth children of this age! We're not Lutherans, we're not Wesley's, neither are we Pentecostals! We've got to be the children of this age through the pregnancy of the Word of God to bring forth a child of this age, the seed child. Amen. I hope you understand. Couldn't be pregnated, no. So what did He do? Put her away in divorcement. That's right. But she dares put Him away. He put her away. He went right on reveal...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §65
...an and not man for her. Did you know that, that woman was made for man, and not man for woman? How many knows that? The Bible teaches that. All right. She was given a place in man before the fall, equal over all creation, but after the fall---now, here we bring the subject up---but after the fall, he was her ruler. She must keep silent in all matters. Now, after the original beginning is over... Jesus said, "It wasn't so from the beginning" (that's when time began, when God made it first in His original creation)....
A Hidden Life
55-1006A §14
Now, God has made it so wonderful that in the Old Testament, where usually I go to for refuge for a text once in a while... He's made the Old Testament in parables and in symbolic forms to express Himself and His doings, that the simple-minded might be able to have a conception of His will and what He's done. Many times in the Old Testament, how I have went back to find the Old typing the New. Always, God did and what He's doing now in the New Testament, He foreshadowed it in the Old Testament. And all of those who...