John 4:15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
This passage clearly proves that the traditional teaching-that divorce does not end a marriage, or that it only ends it for the innocent party who initiates it due to fornication-is false teaching. Of course, those who understand and believe what Jesus knew and taught recognize this (Deut. 24:1,2; Jer. 3:8; Mark 10:3). The woman had been married five times. She said she had no husband, and Jesus confirmed this. She was with a man she hadn't married, and neither she nor Jesus considered him her husband. This clear lesson contrasts with some current church teachings, where some believe a woman remains married to her prior husband even after divorce. If that were true, we must wonder why Jesus said what He did instead of something that would suggest she was "living in adultery" because she was not lawfully divorced from all five of her previous husbands.
Some insist that the woman's husbands had all died, which is why Jesus called them husbands, indicating she was lawfully married. But considering that divorce was rampant in those days, it is highly unlikely that she had not been divorced by at least one of her previous husbands. That she was living with a man who was not her husband is an indication that she was not a morally upright woman, which would increase the likelihood that she had been divorced. Nevertheless, those who value tradition over truth will continue to assert that Jesus taught that a divorced woman would commit adultery if she married. But what he said was that a "put away" (apoluo, which is not divorce as God defined it) woman would commit adultery if she married. This was because she was merely sent away - thus the sin would result not because she was divorced but because she was not divorced. Those guilty of getting this wrong and teaching it are guilty of charging Jesus with contradicting the law that clearly allowed the divorced woman to "go and be another man's wife." Deut. 24:1,2; Jer. 3:8. They seem not to care about the consequences of their teaching.
Each person can decide if they are obligated to tell divorced people, not just women, that they will be considered adulterers if they marry. But Paul puts such teaching in the category of "doctrines of devils" (1 Tim. 4:1-3). Also read where he commands, regarding the "unmarried" (which includes the divorced) to "let them marry." See 1 Cor. 7:1,2; 8,9, and especially verse 27, 28 where he makes it clear the "loosed" (divorced) "do not sin if they marry." This is clear teaching in the Word of God. Tradition has many serious problems. They are enumerated in my book Put Away But Not Divorced and on my website: www.TotalHealth.bz
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