Jesus had much to say about adultery

As I said last week, today’s article deals with the second point of Jesus’ message against adultery as found in his famous Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:31-32. In many ways, everything said last week will pale in comparison to what is said this week because of the subject matter itself, that of marriage after divorce.

But before we begin, let us remind ourselves that this is what Jesus said. It is Jesus who said, “But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”

These are not the words of some preacher who desires to rob humanity of marital happiness, but these are the words of our Creator who not only created us, but also gave us the institution of marriage. And if it is his institution, then it is he who determines right and wrong by it, not the society in which we live.

In terms of practicality, then, Jesus has two things modern Christianity needs to understand when it comes to marriage, the first being that it is permanent. Notice that I said “is permanent” and not “should be permanent.” This is a tremendous distinction and is why Jesus says that marriage after divorce is adultery.

Have you every wondered why traditional wedding vows end by saying, “to death do you part”? It is because they honor the Biblical teaching that once a man and a woman enter into the covenant of marriage, there is only one way out: death. Marriage is to be a lifelong commitment; one man for one woman for one lifetime.

This is also why Jesus said in Matthew 19:6, “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” What he means is that man has no authority to countermand the work of God. As such, he will judge every divorce lawyer and presiding judge who transgress his commands, as well as those legislators who wrote the laws that make this possible.

We need to understand that divorce is man’s institution, a way of getting around the authority of what God has said. But divorce decrees are only superficial, and count for nothing with God, therefore even when a divorce has been obtained, any sexual relation following, including remarriage, is counted by God to be adultery.

Secondly, Jesus wants us to understand, that as far as “exceptions” to the above are concerned, you and I live in the wrong culture. Despite popular opinion (and I stress opinion), when Jesus said “except for the cause of fornication,” he does not mean marital infidelity. If you own a Bible that does not say “fornication,” you are reading a bad translation, one that fails to take into consideration that our marriage customs are far different than those of the Jewish culture in Jesus’ day.

Back in Jesus’ day, the Jewish people practiced what is known as a “betrothal” in which the young couple became legally married after the payment of a dowry to the father of the bride. But the marriage was not physically consummated until about a year later, no doubt to verify the virginity of the bride. If during this time of separation the bride was found to be with child, she was guilty of fornication and could be stoned.

The closest thing in our culture that we have to this is the “engagement period.” And as we all know, engaged couples are not legally married and engagements can be easily canceled. But the betrothal was different in that it was legally binding, even before consummation.

Remember, adultery is a violation of the marriage bed. Did you know that a woman, by definition, is a fornicatress before the marriage bed, but an adulteress afterwards? The betrothal period is the only reason a man’s wife could be guilty of fornication, and the Jews quite well-understood that Jesus was throwing out every other reason they had for divorce after physical consummation.

And this is exactly why the Jews accused Jesus of being born of fornication — they knew Joseph was not his real father. When the Jews used the word “fornication” in John 8:41 and called him a Samaritan in verse 48, they used the same word that Jesus uses here in Matthew 5:32 and again in 19:9.

The first implication of this is that it is high time for Christianity to stop trying to conform God’s word to American culture.

With a divorce rate of nearly 1 in 2, America is filled with adultery and it is time for them to understand their sin.

But secondly, it is high time for Christians to stop conforming themselves to American culture. Maybe, just maybe, if Christianity would just say “No” to adultery after divorce, God might be willing to take care of the same-sex plague we’ve been so concerned about.

Ron Hamman is pastor for Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229.