There is no institution that is under more heavy attacks in recent times than God’s institution of marriage. This is true no matter where or who you are. We are all, in some way, being affected by modern society’s mission to destroy God’s oldest created union. Maybe you see it on television, maybe you see it in the lives of your coworkers, in your own family, or maybe you even hear it from the pulpit on Sunday morning. Satan is using any means he can to destroy famlies with divorce and the contracting of invalid marriages. This is not the only way he is working against God’s plan for the home.

 Most people wearing the name “Christian” will agree that God hates divorce and he wants a man and a woman to be bound in it until death (Mal 2:16). One of the recent attacks on marriage includes the lie that one can divorce his wife (or one can divorce her husband) and remarry another. False teachers among churches of Christ, and even more rampantly among denominations, insist that God allows any divorced person to remarry. This is, of course, a damnable heresy that must be confronted before more souls are led astray.

 One false teacher (who works among churches of Christ) teaches this:

 Is divorce the “unforgiveable sin”? Certainly not in Scripture. Is a person, once divorced, still married? Obviously not. May unmarried people (whether never-married or formerly married) marry and attempt to live according to God’s original and continuing ideal? Of course, and who would dare say otherwise? The Apostle Paul thus advises: “Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you should marry, you have not sinned” (1 Cor. 7:27-28).

 This Bible text, being taken from 1 Corinthians 7:28, does not teach that anyone previously married may remarry another. The only way one can properly be “released” from a wife is taught by Jesus is Matthew 19:9. It is so stated by Christ,

 “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.”

  Where is all the confusion coming in? Jesus plainly teaches that a divorced person commits adultery in his or her next marriage. If a man marries a divorced woman, he is also committing adultery. The only exception to this case is if one has been “released” (1 Cor. 7:28) by the guilty partners’ “fornication” (Matt. 19:9) and then has the right to remarry. That should clarify all of the misconceptions about divorce and remarriage in my mind. But Satan is not done deceiving souls with more lies.

 This same false teacher says in another article on divorce entitled ” For Marriage, Against Divorce”:

 When people are divorced — for whatever reason — they are no longer married. It is good, as a general rule, for people to be married rather than to be alone (Gen. 2:18). God empowers some people for celibate singleness, but that is a special gift (1 Cor. 7:7-9). For Christian people, a subsequent marriage is a new beginning — committed afresh, this time, to conform more nearly to God’s ideal. Hopefully, no more divorce.

Hopefully, no more divorce? It sounds more like he is discussing a case of the flu or a cold than the legal and moral action of divorce! A subsequent marriage is a new beginning- a beginning to a life outside of God’s ideal and His saving grace.

Wolves are truly among us. Guard yourselves from this kind of doctrine (2 Tim 4:3). God’s Word is clear: The Lord does not accept a man’s remarriage when he has not been released by his previous wife’s act of fornication during his first marriage. Let’s look at Hebrews 13:4 to see the seriousness of this:

 ”Marriage [is] honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

 Have we not observed in Jesus condemnation of divorce and remarriage for any reason (Matt 19:3-9), that a remarriage will result in continual adultery? And what does God say about adulterers? They will be judged! This means they will not be in a saved state while engaging in this kind of lifestyle. Is this a serious issue to discuss? Absolutely it is and false teachers are leading Christians astray into the pit of darkness with their advice.

 So, what do we do? Many deceivers are in the world encouraging sinful marriages. Preaching the truth about marriage is what must be done to combat the misunderstandings and keeping the saved still saved.