Page 40 - The Marriage Covenant

discussed. Christ is not addressing the practice of polygamy. If He had been, He would have
said, “Every man who takes to himself more than one wife commits adultery.”
Let us consider Christ’s words in light of a very similar statement that He made. It
includes much of the same phrasing and context as the three verses cited, while adding
additional insight.

Matthew 5:31-32
"And it was said, 'Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of
divorce'; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause
of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman
commits adultery.”

Here is the heart of the matter. The man who divorces his wife for any cause other
than unchastity, or fornication (Greek ‘porneia’), is a transgressor in the eyes of God. The
man’s transgression is two-fold. He makes his wife commit adultery, and he allows other
men to commit adultery with her.

Mark 10:11-12
And He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another (woman)
commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and
marries another man, she is committing adultery."

What is intended by the words, “commits adultery against her”? This is not the same
as the common definition of a man committing adultery, for as we have seen, this is always
defined as a man taking another man’s wife to himself. Does not the man who divorces his
wife “commit adultery against her” by placing her in a situation where she must commit
adultery to survive? Indeed, he does, and this was clearly what Christ was expressing in
Matthew 5:31-32.
We see therefore, that Christ is not presenting a new definition of adultery for the
man, nor is He now condemning the man who has more than one wife. What He is speaking
of is the transgression of the man who divorces his wife for a reason other than ‘porneia.’
Matthew chapter 19, and Mark chapter 10, are describing the same encounter
between Christ and the Pharisees, who had come to try to entrap Yahshua in His words.

Matthew 19:3
And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, "Is it lawful for a man to
divorce his wife for any cause at all?"

Mark 10:2
The Pharisees came and asked Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
testing Him.

In each instance the question Christ is answering is whether a man may divorce his
wife for any cause. The question was not whether a man may have more than one wife.
Christ answers the Pharisees by saying that a man is only allowed to divorce his wife for the
cause of fornication. If a man puts a wife away for any other reason, he commits adultery
against her by causing her to enter into union with another man. This results in the woman,