3.  What evidence is there that those who are free-loaders would not continue to be free-loaders if they have someone or some agency that will continue to sponsor their free-loading?  4.  What evidence is there that contributing to free-loaders will not attract more free-loaders?   5.  When a society produces more free-loaders than it has contributors, how is it to be maintained?  6.  Is there sufficient historical evidence that when free-loading is promoted in a society at large that the only free-loaders that live well are those in charge of the free-loading program?  7.   Other than personal and localized charitable programs, has there ever been a nationally or internationally operated charitable program that has not been exploited by free-loaders that are over seeing the program?  8.  Other than that of a local church-operated charitable program, does anyone know of a charitable organization that provides a detailed and comprehensive financial statement to its contributors?   Why is it that the most successful free-loaders are those that head up the charitable agencies?  9.  How many potential retail customers are the abortionists and “homos” reproducing to buy that which is being produced to sell?  10.  How can employers provide jobs, good wages and benefits for large numbers of employees without large incomes?  11.   Could it be that charity should be the responsibility of ones neighbors and the local church, as exemplified in the Word of God?  (Luke 10:30-37, I Corinthians 16:1-3)  12.  Could it be that the words of  II Thessalonians 3:10 might be wise council for dealing with free- loaders? “… this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” [note: It does not say could not.]  See also I Timothy 5:8 and Exodus 20:9.

The recognition of what a friend Christians have in the person of their wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ever serves as a great comfort to the soul and has been the theme of some of our great hymns.  In John 15:14 the Lord Jesus Christ defines how a friendship to Him is demonstrated.  “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”   In this passage the Lord is addressing His disciples after Judas had departed and informs them of the condition for being His friends.   The word “if” helps us recognize that there is a condition.  The condition is clearly related to the commands that He had given them.  The term “whatsoever” spells out the importance of each and every command.  The Lord doesn’t leave room for His disciples to pick or choose which commands they wish to obey.  Commands given by the Lord are not up for human evaluation, calculation, investigation or argumentation.   It is to be recognized that Christian liberty does not provide one with a selfish excuse to do as he wants to do, but rather it provides one with a spiritual enabling to do as he ought to do.  The condition for being a friend of Christ is not a mere intention to do or even a profession of having done, but the actual doing whatsoever the Lord commands.  Becoming one of the informed (John 15:15), the fruitful (John 15:16a), and the furnished (John 15:16b) is revealed to be the blessed consequence of being a friend of Christ. 

Though many would deny this statement, none have successfully been able to discredit the following words recorded from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ – For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18)  Throughout history there has been a satanic effort to discredit the integrity of God, though hardly one more subtle than the denial of the preservation of the verbally inspired Scripture.  To adhere to a verbal inspiration of Scripture, as faithful Christians have historically done, and not to acknowledge its preservation, is an attack upon God’s integrity.  He has declared that He is not a respecter of persons – For there is no respect of persons with God. (Romans 2:11)  Allowing some in History to have had the verbally inspired Word of God and others to not have the same would fly in face of Romans 2:11 and other passages that declare this truth.  For all people to not have the inspired, preserved Scriptures undermines not only the integrity of God, but also His justice.  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John 12:48)  For God to justly judge every person who ever lived requires an authoritative, inspired and preserved Word of God.  My friend, don’t be victimized by satanically inspired voices undermining the Word of God.  Be assured we all need this graciously provided, faith gendering, authoritative, verbally inspired, and preserved standard to live by, because it is by that standard we all are going to be justly judged. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27) 

            Bible-oriented people recognize the home as the first God-ordained institution and the basis upon which the rest of a society is built.  Divorce is the human means of breaking a marriage relationship and breaking up a home, thus bringing a death blow to the very root of society.

            Divorce is no doubt one of the greatest problems in society today.  In this nation, more than one out of every three marriages end in divorce, and by some statistics one out of every two marriages ends in divorce.

            Divorce in a family situation severs one parent from God-ordained parental responsibility and increases the responsibility of the other parent beyond natural capabilities.  Divorce sets an example of irresponsibility and disrespect for:  God’s standards, a covenant relationship and acquired responsibility.  Divorce exalts selfishness and makes a seed bed for hatred, bitterness, grudges, jealousy, dishonesty, greediness, despondency, depression, frustration, anxiety, and many other things that contribute to social ills.  Someone has well answered the question of “What’s wrong with divorce?” by saying, “Everything!”

            Remarriage does not solve problems resulting from a divorce situation, but is plagued with multiple problems, such as the following:

            1.         A spirit of self justification and selfishness.

            2.         A spirit of distrust that has been gendered.

            3.         Multiplied grounds for suspicion, misunderstanding, mistrust, etc.

            4.         Relational adjustments regarding children.

a.   Refusing to divorce their parent and accept a different one.

b.   Real or supposed grounds for child to suspect favoritism, jealousy, neglect, etc.

c.   General feeling of insecurity, doubts, fear and having been cheated.

            This consideration is not being taken without the realization that a wide divergence of opinions relating to divorce exists within Bible-oriented pastors and peoples.  However, this realization and recognition of a definite need among Biblicists to correct our varied opinions and come to a united conviction regarding this important subject has prompted this study.  Many, it is feared, have derived their opinion and belief regarding this subject more from man and extra-biblical sources rather than from the Scriptures.  For various reasons, some will no doubt seek to find ways of discrediting the conclusions that are herein attained but it is hoped that only exegetical grounds will be accepted as legitimate.

            A number of Scripture passages deal with the subject of divorce, but it is not the intention here to comprehensively  consider these. Rather, the objective here is a consideration primarily centered around the Lord Jesus Christ’s words as He dealt with the matter of divorce recorded in Matthew 19:3-12.  This account is the most extensive of any of those recorded harmoniously in the Gospels.  What is contained in Matthew 19, therefore; it is believed, will not violate any other Scriptural teaching, but rather will help to clarify it.  This account records the problem of grounds for divorce being given to the Lord.  In that day as in this, it seems that the big problem in the area of divorce centers around what is grounds for divorce.

I.          CHRIST’S DEALING WITH GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE

            In verse three the Pharisees came to Christ with the question—“Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”  Under the Jewish economy of that day it was only the man who could instigate legal action for a divorce; a woman could only make life so miserable for him that he would initiate the divorce.  These Pharisees came to Him with this question, according to the record, “ tempting Him.”  It could be said that they were trying to get Him “on the horns of a dilemma,” or “over a barrel.”

            In answering them, the Lord turns the tables on them and asks them this question—“Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh?”  He referred them back to the original divine standard given in Genesis 2:24 and expounded further on that standard by saying, “Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh.  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”  Christ here recognized the original standard of God as never being changed or annulled.  God’s law concerning marriage, as all of His moral laws, are eternal.  It is evident that Christ answered these interrogators by telling them that Scripturally there are no grounds for divorce.  Christ told them it was not man’s prerogative under Divine sanction to divorce his wife—“Let not man put asunder.”

            Clearly, the Pharisees understood Christ meant that there were no Scriptural grounds for divorce. That understanding was not corrected by the Lord, but was further maintained, as will be seen in this study.  These Pharisees thought they now really had the Lord in a corner and asked Him—“Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away?”  Like Satan, who had used Scripture with Christ in the wilderness, they attempted to put their perverted interpretation upon the Scriptures.  But Christ, not being ignorant of the Scriptures, corrected their theology by telling them that Moses did not command, but only “suffered you to put away your wives.”

            The Old Testament divinely appointed economy did not sanction divorce, it only allowed it.  Moses gave no grounds for divorce either, but maintained God’s appointed standard for marriage.  Christ defended Moses before these Pharisees and fortified Moses’ Biblical account as being in agreement with God’s original standard.

            Not only did Christ correct their misinterpretation of Scripture and maintain Mosaic agreement with the original, never revoked, law of God, but He also gave the reason for allowing divorce.  God does not change, and the moral laws of God emanate from His person and therefore cannot change.  Godly men do not seek to violate nor sidestep the laws of God, but evil men do so continually.  Christ told them that the reason for allowing divorce was the “hardness of your hearts.”  He thus told them man may be allowed, under the Mosaic economy, to violate the divine law.  This was nothing new, as violation of divine injunction was allowed way back in the Garden of Eden.  Note, no legitimate grounds for divorce are given by Moses or by Christ.  Men, with hearts hardened against God’s law hardly need grounds for rebellion, but will use any reason they wish to attain their selfish desire.  Christ maintained that there are no grounds for divorce.

II.         CHRIST’S DEALING WITH GROUNDS FOR REMARRIAGE

            Christ answered the Pharisee’s question concerning divorce, but did not end His teaching regarding the matter.  Allowing divorce raised another question—“What are legitimate grounds for remarriage?”  The Lord continued by answering this question also.  Verse nine gives us this added teaching regarding remarriage. 

In verse nine the Lord uses two different terms relating to sexual perversion.  The first term is fornication, which is the translation of the original Greek word πορνεύω. Greek lexigraphers agree that this is a general term covering every type of unlawful sexual relationship.  The second term Christ used is adultery, a translation of the Greek word μοιχεύω, designating a specific type of unlawful sexual relationship included within the term fornication.  W.E. Vine, in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, says an adulterer “denotes one who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another.”

            In Leviticus 20:10-21 the different types of fornication are dealt with and each one carries the death penalty with it.  According to God’s law, fornication demanded the death penalty.  That divine law has never been revoked.  However, men with hearts hardened against God and His law, have refused to carry out that law of executing fornicators, which included adulterers. The death penalty was given as part of civil responsibility in Genesis nine.  Within the Theocratic nation, religious leaders had civil responsibilities to see that such divine laws were carried out.  That responsibility is honored by Christ who told these religious leaders, “Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives.” Man has temporarily been allowed, throughout time since Adam’s transgression, to violate divine law, but God has never given man permission or command to do so.

            The original basis for remarriage was death of one’s mate—I Corinthians 7:39.  If men’s hearts were not hardened and were willing to abide by the law of God, all fornicators would be put to death.  That death would free the living mate to marry again within God’s regulations.  But the fact remains that men’s hearts are hardened, and are being allowed to violate God’s laws.  In light of this reality in this worldly economy, Christ included divorce on account of fornication (any unlawful sexual relationship) as the basis for remarriage. 

            We may conclude then that there are no Scriptural grounds for divorce.  Scripturally, fornication is not grounds for divorce, but rather grounds for execution.  Scripturally, if God’s law was being honored, death would be the only grounds for remarriage.  However, because hardened hearts are allowed to violate divine law, Christ, in keeping with the law of God, recognized fornication as grounds for a divorced person to remarry also.  Christ said that a divorced person can honorably remarry only where divorce had been substituted for the death of the fornicator.

            Christ upheld the eternal standard of God by maintaining that there are no grounds for divorce, and that only death or the substitute for death suffered because of men’s hardened hearts, may be grounds for remarriage.  Godly people with tender hearts will seek to obediently maintain God’s standards and will not follow after the ways of those with hardened hearts.  In God’s eyes, fornication is an abomination, and all but those who have allowed their hearts to be hardened will avoid it.

III.       REGARDING DIVORCE PRIOR TO SALVATION (An additional consideration)

                        Those who have placed themselves under the standards of the Lord Jesus Christ by accepting Him as Saviour and have become part of one of His local churches, also place themselves under jurisdiction of an assembly of believers.  Christian fornicators are to be judged by the assembly.  However, this writer has not discovered Scripture that gives the local church jurisdiction over or the right to bring judgment against those of the world.  Neither are there any Biblical grounds for a local church to judge regarding a person’s life prior to salvation, with the exception of those who would occupy the office of a pastor, as per the instruction of I Timothy 3:1-7.  

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;  Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;  One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.  Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.   Faithful servants of God must refuse to be put on the defensive.  Let him who maintains that any Christian is to be penalized by the local church for a life lived prior to salvation, give chapter and verse where a church is given such authority. Neither fornication nor divorce are unpardonable sins that relegate saved and sanctified saints to be disqualified from humbly and honorably serving the Lord in a New Testament local church.  The Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17)