“Maketh Her an Adulteress”

Matt 5:31-32

Matthew 5:32: But I say unto you, that every one that putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, maketh her an adulteress: and whosoever shall marry her when she is put away committeth adultery.

In this chapter, we are concerned mainly with the last part of the text above. First, if Jesus is saying everyone that divorces his wife…makes her an adulteress, he is definitely contradicting Moses. This is something most Bible students understand is not an acceptable conclusion. We must try to understand this passage in a way that harmonizes with the idea that Moses allowed divorced persons to marry. This concept is in harmony with proper hermeneutics.

It is my understanding that “putteth away” describes part of the divorce process, but does not imply the word “divorce” where the whole legal process is understood. The “putting away,” without giving the “bill or divorce” (which we explained in previous chapters), is what Jesus had in mind here. He said that every man that does it, saving for the cause of fornication, makes his spouse an adulteress.

The exception to causing a wife to be an adulteress, if “put away,” is if the divorce occurs because of fornication (not unfaithfulness, not adultery specifically, as often affirmed, but because fornication is being committed in the relationship due to its not being legal/scriptural). Examples would include: 1) A “brother’s wife”; 2) Herod (Matt 14:3, 4); A father’s wife (1 Cor 5:1); and A forbidden foreign woman (Gen 28:6).

The "exception clause" explains that if a man “puts away” his wife in a case where the marriage is not legal/scriptural, which is to end the relationship by permanent separation; it does not cause the woman to be an adulteress. Naturally, she could marry and the one she married would not be guilty of adultery, as would be the case if a legal wife were merely "put away" and not given the "bill of divorcement."

What is meant by “Maketh Her an Adulteress”?

(Matthew 5:32b)

Below are four possible explanations as to how the woman Jesus speaks of is made an adulteress just by being put away:

1) She is in fact an adulteress because Jesus said it. She does not have to do anything–she will be caused to be an adulteress if she is divorced.

2) She is viewed as an adulteress, but is not in fact an adulteress.

3) She will likely go and be with another man and in fact be an adulteress.

4) If a man merely puts his wife out of the house, he makes it impossible for her to carry out her duties as a wife. She commits adultery–adultery meaning “failing to live up to the covenant” or “breaking covenant.”

In view of what we have already learned, the latter is clearly the most logical explanation. The man commits adultery against the woman (Mark 10:11) by his putting her away but not fully releasing her “so she may go be another man’s wife” (Deut 24:1-2), and she commits adultery because her ability to carry out her responsibilities is taken away.

Obviously, if the woman who is “put away” marries another man she commits adultery because she is still married to the man who sent her away. This explains why the man who marries her also commits adultery—he would be marrying a woman that legally belonged to another man.