1Or don’t you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives? 2For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband. 3So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man. 4Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God. 5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to death. 6But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. 9I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10The commandment which was for life, this I found to be for death; 11for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. 12Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous, and good.
13Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful. 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin. 15For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do. 16But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good. 17So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 18For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good. 19For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. 20But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 21I find then the law that, while I desire to do good, evil is present. 22For I delight in God’s law after the inward person, 23but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, sin’s law.
Most Christians throughout history have believed that marriage was intended for one man and one woman for as long as they both live. They have further believed that, with one exception, adultery is committed by a person who divorces his or her spouse and marries another. The question is, what is meant by πορνείᾳ (porneia—“except for immorality”); three possibilities have generally been given.
If the word immorality was used in its more restrictive sense, possibly referring to an illegal marriage under Jewish Law (see Lev 18:6-18; Matt 14:1-3), or the unfaithfulness of a Jewish bride during her betrothal (see Deut 22:13ff; Matt 1:18-19), then there are no biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage for those in a fully consummated, biblically legal marriage. This has been the historical view of the Church Fathers and the Roman Catholic Church.
If, on the other hand, the word that is translated immorality was used in the sense of sexual sin, including marital infidelity, then there are biblical grounds for divorce. In such cases, the innocent partner is free to remarry without committing adultery because the original marriage was nullified by the guilty partner's sexual misconduct (see Deut 24:1-4; Matt 19:1-10). This has been the majority view held by the Reformers and evangelicals.
Others have argued that Jesus did not discuss other biblical grounds for divorce, such as neglect (Exod 21:10-11), but He did not disapprove of divorce on these grounds. This position sees Jesus answering a very specific question, relating to a debate that had begun between the Hillel and Shammaite rabbinic schools over divorce. In the early years of the first century A.D., the Hillel school began to issue divorce certificates for “any matter,” while the Shammaites argued that divorces were only allowed for “matters of indecency” (which included sexual sin, as well as neglect). Jesus seems to have sided with the Shammaites, since He used almost the exact same phrase. This argument would also negate the seeming contradiction between Jesus and Paul on the subject (1 Cor 7:15).
For more information on the first two views, see H. Wayne House, Divorce and Remarriage: Four Christian Views, and for the latter perspective, see David Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context.
Other Scriptures that bear on this important subject, include: Gen 2:24; Mal 2:14; Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18; Rom 7:1-3; 1 Cor 7:10-11; 15, 39.