"For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as she liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man" (Rom. 7:2-3). The phrase shall be called is translated from the Greek verb kreematizo. Thayer defines this Greek word as meaning, "to give a divine command or admonition, to teach from heaven, to be divinely commanded" (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament). Therefore, Rom. 7:3 states that the woman who has a living husband, and yet marries another, shall be divinely called an adulteress.
According to man, a woman can divorce her husband for any cause and marry another, and call it marriage. It is such by human, legal and civil standards, and God refers to such, as "marriage" when telling us that it is really "adultery" by His standard. "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matt. 19:6). Be not deceived, God only joins man and woman together when they are eligible to be joined together. What one might think about it does not change what God said!
Jesus said, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her" (Mark 10:11). The only exception given is found in Matt. 19:9; 5:32. We find in these passages that the only scriptural ground for divorce and remarriage is that one put away his spouse because of that spouse's fornication. "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" (Matt. 19:9).
There are not many who will admit that they are guilty of adultery when they have divorced (for reasons other than fornication) and remarried, but in God's eyes it is adultery, and failing to admit such does not change, "she shall be called an adulteress."
Don Tarbet states: "The reason it is adultery is because they are adding a mate to a divinely sanctioned union. The English word "adultery" comes from the Latin adalterer, with the ad meaning "to" and the alter meaning "another" (meaning ad-alter, or alter by adding)."
Webster defines the word: "To corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding." Therefore, the reason it is adultery is, one has "added" another to his marital status when he is not free to do so. In God's eyes he is still joined to his first companion.
Thus, a woman who divorces her husband, (except it be for fornication) is not really divorced from him, (in God's eyes) because she is "bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth" (Rom. 7:2-3). This is the marriage bond. If she is not bound, how is it possible that she be called an adulteress, or "adding another?"
We read in I Cor. 6:9-10 that among other things no "adulterers...shall inherit the kingdom of God."
"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God" (I Pet. 4:11).
Don H. Noblin
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