Christian Living

Till Death Do Us Part?

by paul hoffmaster
11/09/25
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Can we use the Word of God to be the ruling authority on the subject of Divorce, no matter if the marriage was instituted by God or not?  Is God responsible for setting the standards of a marriage when two unsaved individuals unite in the “unholy” state of matrimony?  If God has not joined man and woman together, are they still bound in their marriage till “death do them part”?  If a marriage was a judgmental mistake, must they live in this error forever?

The Word makes it clear that “What God has joined together let not man put asunder.” (Mark 10:9).  If God has not joined anyone together, yet a couple engage in an outward commitment, they, not God, are responsible for their conduct and outcome.  It is a gross injustice to the Christian Faith to be held in judgment by the world because of its commitment to Biblical standards of marriage, when two unsaved individuals feel that they are morally bound to an unholy wedlock.  The Word governs the Believer, not the unsaved.  The Bible says, “till death do us part”, the world says, “until problems do us part”.  When two people are joined together by common concurrence rather than by God, they are in effect “free agents”.

But what happens when these two come to know Christ as Lord?  I believe God can take an imperfect union and make a united unit.  He can take two opposites and interweave them into one.  What about one person coming to Christ while the other entrenches himself in the ways of the world?  One is then influenced by I Corinthians. 7:12-16. What if both people are saved, but one becomes rebellious to the Word?  I Peter 3:1-4 becomes the guideline.  Are there grounds for divorce among the Believers?  The weekend theologians quickly quote Mt. 5:32 as a way out of a marriage.  It would be advantageous for the verbal proponents of divorce to also read Mk. 10:2-9.  Divorce was never in God’s plans, but because of the “hardness of man’s heart,” God gave a permissible way for man to annul his marriage.  But let us rise to our feet with a unified testimony that the permissible will of God is always His second best.

It is important to understand what God’s relationship is to potential secular unions, and the possible exchanging of rings is.  For what “man joins together let not God be held responsible.”  If we would only listen to God’s voice, many marriages would simply not take place.

Finally, let me address the question of whether two Christians can ever terminate their marriage on grounds other than fornication.  Whenever a mate allows Satan to enter their marriage and by their action and attitude “crucify to themselves Christ” (Heb. 6:6), they become as an infidel, and the believer is no longer under bondage in such cases.  I am not saying that God cannot keep a marriage in order which has been racked by incest, physical and mental abuse, etc., but if God has been thrown out of the marriage, the innocent party may “dust their feet”.  For the church to piously and judgmentally breathe out “till death do you part” and expect the battered wife or the abused child to hold ground till Jesus comes is doing Satan’s work of keeping the believer shackled.  I am writing this blog not to help justify one’s decision to divorce or not; rather, it is written to share the whole truth with a truth-seeking body.

I know many will disagree with me.  But I hope this subject will generate an interest in reexamining their previous understanding.