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THE GUILTY PARTY
A question arises from time to time about Jesus' teaching about marriage, divorce
and remarriage in reference to the guilty party who has been put away for his/her unfaithfulness. Particularly,
the question relates to whether or not the original husband may remarry his guilty wife after she has been put
away for fornication. Attention is addressed to that specific situation here, without considering many other "what-if's".
The question relates to two contexts. The first one is Mt. 5:31-32 -- "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." The second one is a part of a context in which Jesus answered a first question
posed by the Pharisees, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" (Mt. 19:3). Then,
when they asked the second question, "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to
put her away?", he answered, "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for
fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and whoso marrieth her which is put away committeth
adultery," (Mt. 19:9, KJV). Obviously, the truths here taught would be equally applicable to a husband or
a wife.
In putting what is necessarily implied by Jesus' statements in a form that is as condensed and precise as possible,
I summarize it in two ways: (1) Whosoever puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery and whoever marries
his put away wife commits adultery; and (2) Whosoever puts away his wife for fornication and marries another does
not commit adultery and he who marries her which is put away for fornication commits adultery.
The question being addressed here focuses on the indefinite "whosoever" ("hos ean",
Gr. in Mt. 5:32) which would mean anyone and everyone who might marry "a dismissed woman." The second
part of the question focuses on "a dismissed woman," which would be inclusive of any dismissed woman
-- the woman put away for fornication would certainly fall into the classification of "a dismissed woman."
Does the husband who put away his wife for fornication fall within the classification of the indefinite "whosoever,"
thereby being forbidden the right to remarry his wife put away for fornication?
Let us consider, first, the fact that "fornication" gives the husband the right to divorce but does not
require it. Forgiveness can take place and the marriage be made right again.
It is obvious that in the instance where the husband put away his wife and it was not for fornication that the
only person he or she would have the right to marry would be each other (cf. 1 Cor. 7:11). Therefore, the husband
under consideration who had put away his wife and it was not for fornication would not fall into the classification
of the "whosoever" that marries a divorced woman. He would have, not only, the right but the necessity
if he remarried, to remarry his put away wife. If we can understand how this husband would not fit into the classification
of the "whosoever" who marries a divorced woman, in the same way, we can conclude that the husband who
put away his wife for fornication would not be classified in the indefinite "whosoever." It appears to
me that by using the "whosoever," Jesus is directing his statements toward anyone other than the husband
of a put away woman. I would conclude that even after the formal, legal dismissal, the husband, though he would
be free to remarry another woman, could forgive the wife and put the marriage relationship back together.
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