Pioneer and Bell Church of Christ

Jesus in Matthew 19:3-6 states, "The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." In this passage Jesus confirms that in the beginning God creates the institution of marriage, establishes that it is between a man and a woman and they become one flesh leaving their parents, and what God joins together man is not to break apart. We learn in verse 9 that an individual can put away their spouse for fornication and remarry, but if they are put away for any other reason, then whosoever marries either party would commit adultery. Jesus later tells us: "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matthew 22:30). In other words, as Paul states in Romans 7:2-3, "For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while the husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man."

The sacredness of marriage is emphasized by Jesus in his sermon on the mount when he states, "It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 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" (Matthew 5:31-32).

Today many people feel that things have changed and God is no longer big on the sanctity of marriage, that we can change spouses like we do our clothes, and that marriage is no longer between a man and a woman. God does not change, so please remember "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8) and that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).