Before we even begin to answer this question, let us reiterate, "God hates divorce" (Malachi 2:16). The pain, confusion, and frustration most people experience after a divorce are surely part of the reason that God hates divorce. Even more difficult, biblically, than the question of divorce, is the question of remarriage. The vast majority of people who divorce either remarry or consider getting remarried. What does the Bible say about this?
Matthew 19:9 says, "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." See also Matthew 5:32. These Scriptures clearly state that remarriage after a divorce is adultery, except in the instance of "marital unfaithfulness." In regards to this "exception clause" and its implications, please read the following articles:
What does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage?
I am divorced. Can I remarry?
It is our view that, in certain instances, a person is allowed to divorce and remarry without being guilty of adultery: a person whose spouse commits adultery, for example, and a believer whose unbelieving spouse abandons the marriage. We are not saying that a person under such circumstances should remarry. The Bible’s instruction to divorced people is to remain single or be reconciled (1 Corinthians 7:11). At the same time, it is our view that God offers His mercy and grace to the innocent party in a divorce and allows that person to remarry.
A person who gets a divorce for a reason other than the reasons listed above, and then gets remarried has committed adultery (Luke 16:18). The question then becomes, is this remarriage an "act" of adultery, or a "state" of adultery. The present tense of the Greek in Matthew 5:32; 19:9; and Luke 16:18 can indicate a continuous state of adultery. At the same time, the present tense in Greek does not always indicate continuous action. Sometimes it simply means that something occurred (Aoristic, Punctiliar, or Gnomic present). For example, the word "divorces" in Matthew 5:32 is present tense, but divorcing is not a continual action. It is our view that remarriage, no matter the circumstances, is not a continual state of adultery. Only the act of getting remarried itself is adultery.
In the Old Testament Law, the punishment for adultery was death (Leviticus 20:10). At the same time, Deuteronomy 24:1-4 mentions remarriage after a divorce, does not call it adultery, and does not demand the death penalty for the remarried spouse. The Bible explicitly says that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), but nowhere explicitly states that God hates remarriage. The Bible nowhere commands a remarried couple to divorce. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 does not describe the remarriage as invalid. Ending a remarriage through divorce would be just as sinful as ending a first marriage through divorce. Both would include the breaking of vows before God, between the couple, and in front of witnesses.
No matter the circumstances, once a couple is remarried, they should strive to live out their married lives in fidelity, in a God-honoring way, with Christ at the center of their marriage. A marriage is a marriage. God does not view the new marriage as invalid or adulterous. A remarried couple should devote themselves to God and to each other—and honor God by making their new marriage a lasting and Christ-centered one (Ephesians 5:22-33).
"Let he who is without sin be first to cast the stone."
"No one is righteous. Not even one."
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
It is not all the same between women and men.
In the Bible, a male can have more than one female. Such, The People of God, ONE man had 12 sons through 4 women. Thus, the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 disciples, the 12 apostles, the 12 gates of heaven, the 12 thrones with Christ, and the 12 foundations of heaven all because ONE man had 12 sons through 4 women.
It is not adultery for a man to have more than one woman. (2 Samuel 12:8-9)
It is adultery for a man to have another man's wife.
In a man divorcing his wife (except for marital unfaithfulness of the wife wherein she already committed adultery), he CAUSES her to commit adultery in divorcing her in her than marrying another man or in her then having sexual relations with another man following divorce. The Bible allows for a man and a woman to get back together again as long as she has not married another man. A man commits adultery to marry a divorced woman unless of course her X's have all died.
It is not the same between men and women.
Woman was created for man. Not man for woman. (1 Corinthians 11:9)
Things get twisted and reinterpreted, but God's word is the same. People pick and choose Bible verses, but they ignore a great many.
Anyway, go ahead and remarry. But it does not change the scriptures. Adultery is still adultery. We are living in a time of grace. Divorce was a way of giving grace rather than stoning to death everyone one accused of adultery. But divorce is not what God intended at the beginning. Joseph thought to quietly divorce Mary. He did not want to disgrace her. He did not want her stoned to death.
