"The debates concerning divorce and remarriage, in my opinion, often miss certain very important elements. Certain questions are not asked, and thus not addressed, leading in my opinion to various unwarranted or at least unproven conclusions.
I don't have the final word on the subject. I am learning along with the rest of us. But every side of the question seems to me to be missing things, making me think I have not yet seen a THOROUGHLY BIBLICAL examination of the subject yet."
Some examples:
1. Any discussion must navigate the differences between "put away" and "divorced". The Greek uses two different terms, the Law specifies a distinction between them. So the distinction must be taken into account when examining this topic.
2. Jesus could not have directly and unilaterally altered the Law of God, otherwise we have serious implications concerning His own holiness and His authority as Teacher.
3. The penalty for adultery was death, not divorce, YET not all adultery could be PROVEN in court, nor was the death penalty for adultery always enforced (as today, nobody gets the electric chair for adultery). Therefore, divorce has historically been granted for cause of adultery, because the cheating spouse "would have" died if God's law was enforced, the adulterer was considered "dead" by the law as far as marriage was concerned, and the innocent spouse was considered loosed from the bond.
4. Because of 3 above, spousal abandonment has also been considered grounds for divorce, because it is as if the spouse has died. This affects our understanding of
1 Cor 7:15.
5.
1 Cor 7:15 is also impacted by the subject of mixed marriages to unbelievers, which are technically forbidden. Yet there seems to be certain allowances and recognitions of the validity of religiously mixed marriages. This subject is usually not addressed very well in these types of discussions.
6. "Because of the hardness of your hearts" is almost
always misinterpreted as "God allowed divorce because men were mean towards their wives and the wives needed a fallback plan". That is definitely not the case. The hardness of heart has nothing to do with attitudes towards spouses, but everything to do with obedience to God's law. Divorce then was allowed because God knew people would be disobedient to His laws concerning purity. Divorce then is a corrective measure that mitigates the damage caused by sin. Most divorce discussions fail to recognize this point.