Can Christians Divorce?
1) Direct Answer
No. God’s will is one man and one woman for life. A Christian is not to divorce. If separation must occur, the believer is to remain unmarried or be reconciled. Remarriage while a living spouse remains is adultery.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- From the beginning: “They two shall be one flesh…what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6).
- God hates putting away (Malachi 2:16).
- Jesus restored the original standard: “Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so” (Matthew 19:8).
- The “exception” Jesus named is fornication (Matthew 19:9; 5:32). Now notice, Scripture itself shows what that means: Joseph “being a just man…was minded to put her away privily” when he thought Mary had been unclean before they came together (Matthew 1:18-19). That deals with discovering unchastity at the start of the union—not granting a license to dissolve a consummated marriage.
- After marriage is joined, Jesus said plainly: “Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery” (Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18).
- Paul confirms: “Let not the wife depart… but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband” (1 Corinthians 7:10-11). A believer is “not under bondage” to force an unbelieving spouse to stay (1 Corinthians 7:15), yet this does not open the door to remarriage; he later says, “The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth” (1 Corinthians 7:39; Romans 7:2-3).
- Leadership standard: an overseer must be “the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2). That’s why men who came into the faith already with more than one wife were received as believers but not placed in church office.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- God joins; man must not tear apart what God joined.
- Moses permitted divorce because of hardness of heart; Jesus lifted it back to God’s first intent.
- If divorce were allowed for any later offense or convenience, Jesus would not have called remarriage “adultery,” nor would Paul have commanded separated believers to remain unmarried or be reconciled.
- If an unbeliever departs, the believer is called to peace; but Scripture still binds the marriage bond while the spouse lives.
4) Short Reinforcing Statement
Come as you are, repent of past wrongs, and walk clean from now on. Don’t break up more homes. If you’re already entangled, stay as you are and live faithfully to Christ; but do not seek remarriage while a living spouse remains. God honors His Word and heals where we submit to it.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Questions and Answers, Part 1
64-0823M §152
QUESTION: Dear Brother Branham: My wife and I were separated. She is suing me for a divorce. She is not a Christian, and I believe the message and want her to be saved (Isn't that nice? That's real Christian spirit, see.) and believe. What must I do? We also have two boys. (Signed their name.) Brother, look, let me tell you, she's going to sue you for a divorce; that's Satan, see. Shouldn't do that, but if you're a Christian and done nothing in the world to hinder that woman, then it's Satan doing that. He's only t...
Questions and Answers
62-0527 §15
Now, right here that would look like it would give... And that's the way you get contradictions in the Bible, but it isn't so. Now, it seems like, here, that the person is wanting to know, or the question what they do want to know: "Is a brother or sister in the Lord, can marry or remarry, be free, if they leave their companion to remarry again?" No. Now let's take ... begin at the 10th verse: ... unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord [see], Let not the wife depart from her husband: [see], But ... if...
Hebrews, Chapter 6, part 2
57-0908E §34
...gone all the time, just gadding about over the country, and let her half starve or anything, let the children go without something to eat, we're still married! If she even divorces me, I'm still married as long as there's life in my body; I took that vow: "Till death we separate." That's right, we're still married. But, yet, I make a poor excuse of a husband. She'd make a poor excuse as a wife. So if we love one another, we stick together and pull the load together. That's the way God and His church is. When you'r...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §82
But to get this marriage and divorce straightened out so that you would know which was right and which was wrong. Now, He plainly shows here in these types there is one Christ and many members of that wife. Notice, He can put us away for spiritual fornications and false doctrine anytime He wants to, but how dare you try to put Him away and make it! A man can put away his wife and marry another, but not the woman put away her husband and marry another. See all the shadows and types there perfectly balanced out? See?...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §19
...they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. They said unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and ... put her away? And He said unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. Now, God help us.