What Jesus Says About Divorce, Pt.2

ONE, Divorce was not a command but a permission (v. 8).
TWO, Divorce was permitted on account of man's hardness of heart.
Divorce is rooted in man's sinfulness. It spawned from the soil of hardened hearts.
THREE, Divorce was never part of God's original purpose (v. 8).
FOUR, Divorce is permitted only for sexual immorality (v. 9).
Let me make some observations…
ONE, The innocent party is totally within his or her rights to divorce if adultery occurs. He or she does not sin in divorcing or remarrying.
TWO, The guilty party may seek forgiveness and should be forgiven but the innocent party may still divorce the adulterer or adulteress.
THREE, The innocent party may forgive upon true repentance and he or she may choose to maintain the marriage.
FOUR, If divorced on other grounds than what this passage teaches or what 1Cor. 7 teaches, then you have sinned. You can be forgiven if you truly confess and repent. Whatever remains of this new marriage should be consecrated to God. You cannot ever go back to your first wife.
FIVE, Because of what our Lord teaches, if you are a believer, do not entertain any other grounds for divorce: man is "apt to study arguments" for divorce.
SIX, Please remember our Lord has declared what Genesis taught— "the two shall become one flesh". Your relationship to your spouse is closer and more foundational than any other relationship — more than w/ your parents or w/ your children. With parents, we leave them and cling to our spouse. Regarding children Matthew Henry aptly said, "A man's children are pieces of himself, but his wife is himself." Remember, Paul said in Eph. 5 that no man ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it.