Does the Bible allow for divorce in the case of adultery?
I don’t think so. I don’t think the Bible allows divorce and remarriage ever while the spouse is living. That’s my radical, crazy, conservative, narrow, hard-nosed, very needed view in our divorce-happy culture. Does the Bible allow divorce in the case of adultery, even if the adulterer is repentant? Now I suppose that behind this question is Matthew 5:32 and 19:9. Those are the two exception clauses in the New Testament: “If a man divorces a woman, except for _____ [the Greek word here is porneia] and marries another, he makes her commit adultery.” Porneia is sometimes translated as “unchastity,” or “immorality.” It means most naturally “fornication,” which is why I have this bizarre interpretation that very few people follow. I believe that here in Matthew it relates to fornication, that is, sex prior to marriage. In other words, Jesus is not saying, when he forbids divorce and remarriage, that a sexual sin before marriage should keep you from marrying. And he did that because Joseph
