As we pursue an understanding of God’s plan for marriage, would you agree with the basic message of Matthew 19:9, if we eliminate the “exception clause”? Without that clause, the verse reads very simply. “Whosoever shall put away his wife and shall marry another committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away doth commit adultery.” Do you believe those words? It has never been an easy truth to accept and while it has never changed, society has changed and has less regard for marriage than ever before. But, who could deny the meaning of the verse? The real issue of debate then becomes the exception clause. The exception clause is also rather simple. It says, “…except it be for fornication”. The statement means, the only exception to divorce and remarriage being adulterous is fornication. To get the full meaning of that clause, we must establish the meaning of “fornication”, because it stands alone as the only justifiable reason for divorce and remarriage.

Let’s talk about it. The first thing I note in Scripture is that fornication is different from adultery. The terms are clearly distinguished from each other in Matthew 15:19 and Mark 7:21. Fornicators and adulterers are clearly distinguished from each other in I Corinthians 6:9. These facts are important, because many commentators define the term fornication in

Matthew 19:9 as adultery. To do that ignores the obvious truth that they are not the same. However, to try to pin fornication to a single definition is not easy, because as you look at Scripture, the term is used in different ways. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible acknowledges this in its article on Fornication. In Section 3 of the article we read, “In some passages fornication is used in a general sense referring to all forms of un-chastity”. I agree with the article, but does that mean that the term fornication refers to all forms of un-chastity when it is used in Matthew 19:9? Let me put it another way. Are we to believe that our Lord Jesus was teaching that all forms of un-chastity and therefore, any form of un-chastity, would make divorce and remarriage justifiable in the sight of the Lord?  I do not know of anyone who would hold that view. If that be the case, Our Lord was close to asserting the Pharisees to be right when they asked Him if it was lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause. I think all agree, the Savior was strongly restricting marriage and divorce. He clearly wants a marriage to last for a life time. What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. So we ask, what does the term fornication mean in Matthew 19? More next time.