Divorce - Matthew 5:32

[PeteZaHut]

I have a St. Ignatius version of the Bible. Matthew 5:32 reads:

“But i say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

The version of the Bible on usccb.org reads:

“But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Can someone explain the difference. The first one makes it seem like divorce is acceptable if a spouse has been unfaithful.

 

[Verbum]

Hi Pete,

Translators have not been able to agree on how this is to be translated. The Catholic position on divorce comes from St. Paul, who clearly rejects divorce in 1 Cor 7 :

10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

Verbum

 

[Scoobyshme]

I have a St. Ignatius version of the Bible. Matthew 5:32 reads:

“But i say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

The version of the Bible on usccb.org reads:

“But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Can someone explain the difference. The first one makes it seem like divorce is acceptable if a spouse has been unfaithful.

The Greek, from what I understand, was really trying to convey the notion of an invalid marriage with respect to incest. For example, if you married your sibling. That would be unlawful/unchaste.

 

[Third_Day]

In the Greek the English word for fornication or un-chastity that is found in Matthews 19 is “porneia” and refers to unlawful marriages which were classified as incest by the Jews.

The Sadducees believed that one could divorce and remarry for any reason.
The Pharisees believe one could divorce and remarry only for limited reasons like adultery.

The Pharisees asked Jesus this question:

Matt 19:3-9: “And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?’

He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one’? So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder’.

Jesus is saying that He is re-instating marriage as it was from the beginning

They said to him, ‘Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’ He said to them, “For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.”

In the time of Jesus, Jews and pagans had illegal “marriages” which were forbidden in Leviticus 18:6-23 and Leviticus 20: 10-21 which lists all sorts of unlawful practices. The unlawful marriages were considered to be incest and were referred to by the Greek word ‘porneia’ which is translated in English as fornication or unchastity.

The New Testaments was written in Greek. What we have is an English translation.

In Acts 15: 29 the pagans that converted to Christianity we are told this:
“abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchasitity. (porneia)

Sacrificing to idols and eating animals with blood still in them was forbidden in Leviticus 17and fornication ( porneia) was forbidden in Leviticus 18 and 20.

In Greek this is what Jesus said:
Matt 19: 9 “And I say to you whoever divorces his wife, except for porneia, and marries another commits adultery.”
This is what Jesus is referring to in the Gospel of Matthew. He was referring to unlawful marriages. The Gospel of Matthew was written for a Jewish audience and that is why it is the only gospel to have the so-called exception clause.

The latest additions of the New American Bible has the correct translation “I say to you, whoever divorces his wife unless the marriage is unlawful (porneia) and marries another commits adultery."

Matthew 14:1-4 tells us about Herod who was living in porneia. John the Baptist was beheaded because he told Herod “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Herod was “married” to his brother’s wife which was porneia ( such a marriage was considered incest) and therefore an unlawful marriage.

Paul uses the word porneia here for an illegal “marriage”.

1 Cor. 5:1 “It is actually reported that there is immorality ( Greek porneia) among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife”

This man was living with his step mother which was under Jewish law incest( porneia). This is why Paul says “of a kind that is not found even among pagans” and later Paul says in verse 5 “ you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

Another reason we know there is not an exception clause is because it is not mentioned anywhere else.

Jesus gives no exception clause in Mark 10:11–12: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Luke 16:18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”

Paul tells us this:
1 Cor. 7:10, “To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord that the wife should not separate from her husband, but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled from her husband, and that the husband should not divorce his wife.”

Romans 7: 2-3, “A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If her husband dies she is discharged from the law. Accordingly, she shall be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.”

Going back to Matt 19: 9 “And I say to you whoever divorces his wife, except for porneia, commits adultery”
In todays language this could be translated like this. “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery. Those who are living together or in an incestous relationship are committing the sin of fornication but are not in a true marriage and if they marry it will not be adultery since they were never married in the first place.”

It’s clear that the apostles did not take Jesus words to mean there was an exception clause because immediately following His words they said “If such is the case of a man with his wife it is better not to marry.”

King Henry VIII tried to have his marriage annulled on the basis of “porneia”. He was married to his dead brothers wife. His annulment was denied.

 

[Shin]

Or for a different take…

“And I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery.”

Matthew 19:9

Is how it is put in the Douay-Rheims. What this means is that you may -separate- from your wife because of fornication, that is live separately, but you are still married, as the latter clause puts forth even though she is put away, both are not allowed to remarry – it’s adultery.

 

[cradlecatholic5]

Unless you’ve been there, you don’t understand how hard this is …

 

[Dave_Noonan]

I have a St. Ignatius version of the Bible. Matthew 5:32 reads:

“But i say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

The version of the Bible on usccb.org reads:

“But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Can someone explain the difference. The first one makes it seem like divorce is acceptable if a spouse has been unfaithful.

Yes, I think the NAB (usccb.org) has it right here–for reasons already cited. In Ancient Near Eastern society, an “unattached” woman (i.e., one not part of her father’s household or her husband’s) has no rights and almost no options–other than perhaps prostitution. Therefore divorce of any kind, other than for violations of degrees-of-kinship, (an “unlawful” marriage; the only exception that could trump the no-divorce rule) creates an intolerable situation for women. In being forced to find a man to support her, divorcing a woman, almost by definition, leads to her adultery. Marrying someone who is divorced further promotes the havoc this creates.

 

[PLeeD]

Then why do the eastern orthodox churches allow divorce and remarriage in the case of adultery? It seems like they are more in tune with Jesus’ words on the subject.

 

[cradlecatholic5]

This is very hard to accept, when your spouse is the one who is not taking their vows seriously and from what I’ve been told (by a priest) being unfaithful in one’s marriage does not an annullment make … what’s a person (who is upholding their vows) to do?