Christian views on divorce find their basis both in biblical sources and in texts authored by the Church Fathers of the early Christian Church, who were unanimous in condemning the practice.
Early Christianity
Biblical scholars generally agree that the historical Jesus prohibited divorce and remarriage, though the tradition-history of the command remains debated. According to the synoptic Gospels, Jesus emphasized the permanence of marriage (see Mark 10 at verses 1 to 12, Matthew 19; Luke 16:18) but also its integrity. In the King James Version of the Gospel of Mark, verses 11 and 12, Jesus says "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she commits adultery."e.g., , , , , see also Expounding of the Law#Divorce The Gospel of Luke adds that those who marry divorced persons also commit adultery, as recorded in Luke 16:18. 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 states that adulterers "shall not inherit the kingdom of God". Matthew 19:9 does discuss adultery as possible grounds for divorce. Matthew's exemption for adultery need not be interpreted as contradictory to Mark 10 and Luke 16; Jesus's ban on divorce could have taken for granted that sexual immorality ended marriage.
The Shepherd of Hermas, an early Christian work on the subject, teaches that while fornication is the only reason that divorce can ever be permitted, remarriage with another person is forbidden to allow repentance and reconciliation of the husband and wife (those who refuse to forgive and receive their spouse are guilty of a grave sin). This Christian teaching is echoed in 1 Corinthians 7:10–11, which forbids divorce and states that those spouses who have deserted their husband/wife should return their partner; if that is absolutely impossible, the husband and wife should remain chaste.
Both in the Gospel of Matthew and of Mark, Jesus remembers and quotes Genesis 1:27 ("male and female created He them"), and Genesis 2:24 ("shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twaine shall be one flesh."). Paul the Apostle concurred but added an exception, interpreted according to Catholicism as the Pauline privilege; this interpretation of Paul's words teaches that in the case of a non-Christian couple (neither party has ever received the sacrament of baptism) where one of the parties converts to Christianity and receives the sacrament of baptism, that party is allowed to enter into a Christian marriage if and only if the non-Christian spouse departs.
The Catholic Church does not prohibit civil divorce; however, a Catholic may not remarry after a civil divorce unless they have received an annulment (a finding that the marriage was not canonically valid) under a narrow set of circumstances. The Eastern Orthodox Churches permit 'ecclesiastical divorce' and remarriage in church in certain circumstances,See Timothy (now Archbishop Kalistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church though its rules are generally more restrictive than the civil divorce rules of most countries. Most Protestant churches discourage divorce though the way divorce is addressed varies by denomination; for example, the United Church of Christ permits divorce and allows for the possibility of remarriage, while denominations such as the Mennonite Christian Fellowship and Evangelical Methodist Church Conference forbid divorce except in the case of fornication and do not allow for the remarriage of divorced persons.
Summary by denomination + Divorce and remarriage policy by Christian denomination Policy Denominations No official policy, but membership is allowed regardless of divorced status African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Alliance of Baptists, Vineyard USA, Quakers, African Methodist Episcopal, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA), United Church of Christ, National Baptist Convention, USA, Episcopal Church in America, Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA), Reformed Church in America (RCA), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church (UMC) Divorce permitted in case of adultery and desertion by unbeliever Providence Baptist Church, Christian & Missionary Alliance, United Church of God, Anglican Church of North America, Seventh-day Adventist, Calvary Chapel, Evangelical Free Church Divorce permitted in case of adultery and desertion Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Covenant Church Divorce permitted in case of adultery, domestic violence and desertion Assemblies of God, Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS), Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) Divorce permitted in case of adultery Protestant Reformed Churches in America, Southern Baptist Convention, Jehovah's Witnesses, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection Divorce permitted with permission of the Church leadership The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Divorce permitted with permission of local bishop Church of England (since 2002), Anglican Church of Canada Divorce permitted up to three times for adultery, desertion, addiction and mental illness Eastern Orthodox Churches Divorce prohibited in all cases Roman Catholic Church, Apostolic Faith Church, Southeastern Mennonite Conference, Mennonite Christian Fellowship, Biblical Mennonite Alliance
Catholic Church Although marriage was not yet a dogmatically defined sacrament, by the ninth or tenth century the divorce rate had been greatly reduced under the influence of the Catholic Church,Kent's Commentaries on American Law, p. 96 (14th ed. 1896)) which considered marriage to be instituted by God and Christ indissoluble by mere human action.Cf. Mark 10:9; Canons of the Council of Trent, Twenty-fourth Session. Marriage was later dogmatically defined as a sacrament, beginning in 1208, when Pope Innocent III required members of another religious movement to recognize that marriage was a sacrament as a condition for being received back into the Catholic Church.Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, John P. Galvin (editors), Systematic Theology (Fortress Press 1991 ), vol. 2, p. 320 In 1254, Catholics accused Waldensians of condemning the sacrament of marriage, "saying that married persons sin mortally if they come together without the hope of offspring".Michael Thomsett, Heresy in the Roman Catholic Church: A history, McFarland 2011 ), p. 105 In 1439 the Council of Florence defined marriage as a sacrament, solidifying the development of doctrine from the previous twelve centuries and described marriage as 'insoluble' "since it signifies the indivisible union of Christ and the church." The passage follows, "Although the separation of bed is lawful on account of fornication, it is not lawful to contract another marriage since the bond of a legitimately contracted marriage is perpetual."
Although divorce, as known today, was generally allowed in Western Europe after the 10th century, separation of husband and wife and the annulment of marriage were also well-known. What is today referred to as "separate maintenance" (or "legal separation") was termed "divorce a mensa et thoro" ("divorce from bed-and-board"). The husband and wife were physically separated and were forbidden to live or cohabit together, but their marital relationship did not fully terminate.Kent's Commentaries on American Law, p. 125, n. 1 (14th ed. 1896). Civil courts had no power over marriage or divorce.
The Catholic Church historically opposed the legalization of civil divorce in Catholic countries. For example, when Republican Spain legalized divorce in Spain for the first time, Pope Pius XI wrote: 'the new Spanish legislation, with the deleterious introduction of divorce, dares to profane the sanctuary of the family, thus implanting, with the attempted dissolution of domestic society, the germs of saddest ruin for civil well-being.'Pius XI, Dilectissima Nobis, 1933
Canon law makes no provision for divorce, but a declaration of nullity may be granted when the proof is produced that essential conditions for contracting a valid marriage were absent—i.e., that the sacrament did not take place due to some impediment. The grounds for annulment are determined by Church authority and applied in ecclesiastical courts. Annulment was known as "divorce a vinculo matrimonii", or "divorce from all the bonds of marriage", for canonical causes of impediment existing at the time of the marriage. "For in cases of total divorce, the marriage is declared null, as having been unlawful ab initio."W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 428 (Legal Classics Library spec. ed. 1984).Kent's Commentaries on American Law, p. 1225, n. 1.E.Coke, Institutes of the Laws of England, 235 (Legal Classics Library spec. ed. 1985).
The Church holds that the sacrament of marriage produces one person from two, inseparable from each other: "Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: 'It is not good that the man should be alone.' The woman, 'flesh of his flesh,' his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a 'helpmate'; she thus represents God from whom comes our help. 'Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.' The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been 'in the beginning': 'So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 7:1606 Since husband and wife became one person upon marriage, that oneness can only be seen as null if the parties improperly entered into the marriage initially, in which case the marriage does not validly exist.
In 2016, Pope Francis published Amoris laetitia, which pertains to the reception of Holy Communion by the divorced and remarried who live together "more uxorial". However, there have been no updates to Catholic canon law as a result of this apostolic exhortation.
Eastern Orthodox Churches The Eastern Orthodox Churches do recognize that there are occasions when couples should separate, and permit remarriage in Church, though its 'ecclesiastical divorce' rules are stricter than civil divorce in most countries. For the Eastern Orthodox, the marriage is "indissoluble" as in it should not be broken, the violation of such a union, perceived as holy, being an offence resulting from either adultery or the prolonged absence of one of the partners. Thus, permitting remarriage is an act of compassion of the Church towards sinful man. Ecclesiastical Divorce may be granted by the Eastern Orthodox Churches on the following grounds:
A very low rate of divorce among Orthodox Christians in Greece may suggest that the same may be said for Orthodox Christians in the U.S. However, U.S. rates are inconclusive. The actual divorce rate is probably somewhat higher due to civil divorces obtained without an accompanying ecclesiastical divorce. Divorced individuals are usually allowed to remarry though there is usually imposed on them a penance by their bishop and the services for the second marriage, in this case, are more penitential than joyful. The Orthodox Church traditionally states that "it blesses the first marriage, performs the second, tolerates the third, and forbids the fourth". Widowed spouses are permitted to remarry without repercussion and their second marriage is considered just as blessed as the first. One exception to this rule is the clergy and their wives. Should a married priest die, it is expected that his widow will not remarry. Widowed priests are not allowed to remarry either and frequently end up in monasteries.
Oriental Orthodox Churches