Separation/Divorce

The Hebrews called the written Law of Moses the Torah. They believed an Oral Torah existed in addition to the written Torah. It contained God’s verbal instructions to Moses. This Oral Torah was handed down verbally from generation to generation until the 2nd century AD when it was written down and called Mishnah. Over the following centuries, Jerusalem and Babylonian Hebrew rabbis added additional commentaries or elaborations on the Mishnah called Gemara. The Gemara and Mishnah were together known as the Talmud, completed by the 5th century AD.

The Mishnah has sixty-three tractates addressing all areas of life, such as agricultural laws, celebration of Sabbath and festivals, tort and financial laws, sacrifices and the temple, and ritual purity and impurity. One entire section is dedicated to marriage, divorce, and contracts, and this section is called Nashim (Women).

The Talmud gave men extreme freedom to divorce their wives. One may divorce his wife for spoiling his dinner, insulting his mother or father, and simply being less attractive than another woman. They interpreted the Torah (esp. Deuteronomy 24:1–4) to say that if a man wanted to divorce his wife, all he needed to do was write a divorce bill, hand it to his wife, and send her home. Knowing this convenience, the rabbi made writing the divorce bill a complicated process, hoping for reconciliation. Nevertheless, divorce was prevalent during Jesus’s time.

(The English word divorce comes from the Latin divortium, meaning “a separation.” The New Testament uses two words—apoluo and chorizo—in the context of divorce [e.g., apoluo in Luke 16:18 and chorizo in 1 Cor 7:11]. The first, apoluo, combines the preposition apo, “from,” and the verb luo, “to release, lose.” The second is the verb form of choris, “apart from.” Whether the New Testament authors made a difference between temporary separation and permanent divorce, based on these words alone, is difficult to tell.)

Within the context of men belittling marriages by easily separating or divorcing their wives, the Lord Jesus took a strong stance:

“Everyone who separates from (apoluo) his wife and marries another commits adultery. And everyone who is made to separate from her husband to marry another commits adultery.” (Luke 16:18)

He considered everyone—male or female—who wanted to separate from their spouse with the intent of marrying another as committing adultery. Their intent, i.e., to marry another, triggered the divorce. That the Lord saw as committing adultery; their hearts were already adulterous, and now they were following through with the action (cp. Matt 5:27–30). Elsewhere, the Scriptures allow separation or divorce, for example, if a Christian was married to a non-Christian and the non-Christian spouse wanted to leave (1 Cor 7:12–16). But the Lord was addressing separation or divorce triggered by unfaithfulness in one’s heart—already committed to adultery with another.

You might have noticed the first use of the verb is in active voice (“who separates from”), while the second is in passive voice (“who is made to separate”). This was because the parents controlled their daughter’s marriage and divorce. Sometimes, parents initiated divorce because they wanted their daughter to marry someone more wealthy, intelligent, handsome, etc. than the first husband. The Lord said to such parents what they were doing was forcing their daughters to commit adultery.

Although separation and divorce may be necessary and permittable in some cases, we must always evaluate the motive of one’s separation or divorce. Counseling and reconciliation are always the best options (1 Cor 7:11).