Rethinking the Exception Clause on Divorce in Matthew 5:31-32: An Exposé

Abstract

The Nigerian society today is greatly bedevilled with growing cases of divorce, leading to single parenting, men and women living in and celebrating adultery because they are not properly married in the context of the Bible. The paper thus examined the exception clause on divorce in Matthew 5:31-32 with the aim of articulating the original intentions of God in creating one man and one wife in a marital union. The work adopted the exegetical and expository approaches in interrogating the text while the phenomenological method was used in the sociological interpretation of the phenomenon in the context of the society. It discovered that the permission given to Moses by God was based on the nature of the peoples’ heart which was hardened and should not be seen and considered as a license for a life of divorce. It recommended a cherished love-life, filled with mutual accommodation between married couple, giving room for forgiveness even though, a party may have failed. This is the model espoused by Jesus in His preaching and ensuring a lasting marital union that is capable of recreating a healthy society.

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