Matthew 5:32 and divorce

No, that is not the meaning of that verse. Many Bible translations fail to capture the intended meaning of that particular point of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. In “A Study of Marriage, Divorce, Malicious Desertion, and Remarriage in the Light of God’s Word,” a document recently updated by our Conference of Presidents, there is a suggested translation of Matthew 5:32 that more accurately reflects the Greek verbs. “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce,’ but I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, causes her to be stigmatized as an adulteress, and whoever marries a divorced woman is stigmatized as an adulterer.”

The point of the verse is that if a man sinfully divorces his wife for unscriptural reasons, his wife, who was not responsible for that sinful divorce, can appear to others to be guilty of wrongdoing simply because her marriage came to an end. That “guilt by association” perception could then unfortunately also extend to the husband of her remarriage.

If a husband divorced his wife for unscriptural reasons, that would not preclude the woman from entering into another marriage.