Marriage and Divorce

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: Marriage and Divorce ------------------- Date: 7/15/2003
Keywords: “divorce” “marriage”
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Passage: Mark 10:1-12*

1. Then He arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan. And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again.

2. The Pharisees came and asked Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" testing Him.

3. And He answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?"

4. They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her."

5. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

6. "But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.'

7. 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

8. 'and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.

9. "Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."

10. In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter.

11. So He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.

12. "And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

Questions

1. To understand this encounter you have to look at the two arguments side by side. Put in your own words why it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife according to the Pharisees.

 

2. Jesus also quotes Moses who wrote the entire Book of Genesis, but He gives a little earlier account to show why God does not support divorce. Please state His argument in your own words.

 

Practical help

Define right from wrong. Separate good from bad. What will the world say? You're narrow-minded.

What will God say? I think He will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

In the above confrontation the Pharisees wanted to do whatever they wanted to do and justify their actions as acceptable to God. They could point to the Law of Moses and say, "See, he said we could."

Note what Jesus actually asked them. "What did Moses command you?" Let me say it another way. What did Moses tell you that you must do? There is no command in Scripture to divorce. There are plenty of places where we are commanded to love.

Now apply this to porn. Go ahead and be clever. Look for loop holes and other addicts might be impressed. Just remember that God is love and He cares for hearts. He cares for your heart and the hearts of the millions of men and women who suffer as a result of this global scourge called pornography.

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*"Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. "