@pearlspring, always remember, our emotions are not our authority. The law of Moses is not our law, and Jesus is the King of kings. Any teaching that seeks justification from the Jewish law on one’s soul is Judaizing, and any teaching that brings in emotions to try to get around the clear words of the Lord is a false teaching.
Our feelings can’t override God’s Word (Jeremiah 10:23; Proverbs 28:26). Using grace to excuse sin is abusing grace (Rom. 6:1; Jude 1:3). Jesus explicitly goes back to God’s original intention in Genesis (Matthew 19:4–9). Just as Jesus condemned the Pharisees for letting traditions nullify God’s Word (Mark 7:3-13), any teaching that appeals to human tradition for authority is condemned.
Christ’s followers are under the New Covenant, the law of Christ (Heb. 9:16-17; cf. Gal. 6:2), where the only biblical exception He gave for divorce is sexual immorality (Mt. 19:9).
Using any verse to cancel out Matthew 19:9, etc. ultimately pits God against God, and a house divided against itself shall not stand (Mathew 12:24f).
Using any verse (whether from the Old or New Testament) that tries to say Jesus gave another exception, or that He didn’t mean what He meant is false doctrine.
The majority of people who does not believe what Jesus says concerning marriage, divorce and remarriage is because they are wanting “easy Christianity”, but Jesus Himself says the way is narrow (Mt. 7:14).
Romans 7:1–4 uses marriage to illustrate the believer’s relationship to the Law of Moses. Paul says a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives, and if she marries another man while her husband is alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry another.
Paul’s point is that you cannot belong to two covenants at once—the old (Moses) and the new (Christ). To be joined to Christ, one must die to the Law. Remaining under both is not just confused—it’s called spiritual adultery.
Now apply that spiritual truth to physical marriage, just as Paul did. No one argues that spiritual adultery (leaving Christ for the Law) is just a one-time act. It’s not a momentary lapse; it’s an ongoing relationship that must be repented of and ended. So why would we treat physical adultery in remarriage any differently?
According to Romans 7:2–3, marriage is a binding covenant for life. So if someone enters into a remarriage that Jesus defines as adultery (Matthew 19:9), and that relationship continues as a lifelong covenant, then the adultery must likewise be continuous. You cannot have a lifelong adulterous union and claim the sin was just a one-time event. However long the unscriptural marriage lasts, that’s how long the adultery continues.
If someone read Matthew 19:9, they wouldn’t come to any other conclusion other than what the Lord says. You have to be taught it doesn’t mean what it means, because the meaning of it is clear. Interpretations must not contradict with the words of Jesus. Passages like 1 Corinthians 6:9–11; Romans 1:26–27; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–7 confirm God’s standard for sexual purity and faithfulness.
There are the widows and widowers — men and women who have lost their spouses and, despite every emotional and physical longing, have remained single. I can think of three women right now who’ve been widows for decades. Each of them has children. And yet, to this day, they’ve never remarried. As far as I know, they’ve remained free from sexual relationships and romantic entanglements all these years. Their lives serve as living testimony that Jesus’ command can be obeyed. It is not impossible to live without remarriage. It is not impossible to live without sex. It is not impossible to choose holiness over human longing. This matters, especially in the context of Jesus’ words in Matthew 19:9. Some say that remaining unmarried is too harsh, too unrealistic. But the lives of these women (and countless others) prove otherwise.
God never gives a command that is impossible to obey. His commands are not grievous (1 John 5:3). He never binds a burden that cannot be carried. The problem is not the command; the problem is whether our hearts are willing to surrender. Those who love Jesus more than life itself are willing. And those who are willing will find that God is faithful to sustain them.
The same emotional appeals people use to bend Matthew 19:9 can be (and have been) used to water down John 3:3 and 3:5, especially regarding baptism:
John 3:5 – “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
It’s clear. Jesus laid down a condition. But then the emotional objections begin…
“What if someone was on their deathbed?”
“What if they had no access to water?”
“What about people in remote villages who never heard the gospel?”
“What if they were in a car wreck and believed in their heart but couldn’t be baptized?”
All of these are emotionally loaded scenarios. And they don’t change what Jesus said, because Jesus is God and God cannot lie (Jn. 1:1-5, 14; 1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 2:9; Titus 1:2; cf. Heb. 6:18) .
The same logic holds for Matthew 19:9:
People cry, “What if the spouse is abusive?”
“What if there are kids?”
“What if they remarried years ago and now have a stable life?”
“Surely Jesus wouldn’t call that adultery!”
But just like in John 3, Matthew 19 is not cruel. It is clear. Truth only feels cruel when it confronts our will. It only feels harsh when we love something Jesus says we must stop (Gal. 5:19-21).
Both passages.. John 3 and Matthew 19 give divine conditions:
Unless you’re born of water and Spirit you have no entrance into the kingdom. Unless the divorce was for fornication then remarriage is adultery.
Stay clear of people who go against the words of the King.
as for the judge others.. we fail to talk about why its best we don't. So many times its about something we fully don't know, we don't know the heart and its not done with love to help to lift up to bring back.. so yes its best not to judge. Now some of us can because my name.. Daniel.. hello? Haha playing.
I should stop here
