Does Jesus permit divorce?

Matthew 5:31-32 ESV

[31]  “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ [32] But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Like I said, divorce allowed only when somebody cheated. 

For context, this was during His Sermon on the Mount, when He taught a few things.

I hope the opposing side is not getting outside help because I'm going to make the opposing side work harder as well as the accomplice(s). They altogether will be made to go to work. Just based on this instant change up from tapping out to pulling back in possibly behind the scenes tag-teaming.

If you read through this carefully, you don't find the words from Jesus saying it is justified to divorce.  You see where it says "But I say to you".  That's Jesus speaking. He never stated divorce was justified. But what did he say? He said what commits adultery.

Why is it adultery? It's because when you try to divorce and marry again and your first and true spouse is still living, you're still married to that spouse. So it is unlawful to have more than one.

In Romans 7

"2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

3 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."

This lines up with Matthew 5:32 and further expounds why adultery occurs.

The spouse has to be dead to be loosed from, not divorced. In the book of Corinthians it asks aren't you bound? Seek not to be loosed.

1 Corinthians 7

That is incorrect. He did not. You are reading this into text. I can show you this where you are not realizing it.

I'll leave it there as you didn't really counter what I said but rather reiterated your personal view.

I already explained about the old testament where it says God hates divorce. You didn't respond to that. You didn't respond to any of the points following that.

You didn't have a counterpoint to explain why Jesus would approve divorce when his father hates it.

You can't even find where Jesus approved it. Matthew 19 didn't say it. Matthew at best explains what constitutes adultery. Read over that passage carefully.

Too bad we couldn't have a more thorough in depth interaction.

Well fine, what i meant to say was that i was elaborating on the one point, which we both agree on, that Jesus would prefer the marriage be saved.

I was trying to elaborate that it is technically allowed in the case of cheating, but divorce still isnt ideal

Since you dont think I agree, I'll take the position then, that Jesus does approve of divorce (because of the one exception)

Here is the verse, with the link too:

Matthew 5:31-32 ESV

[31] “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ [32] But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, EXCEPT on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

(note: I did capitalize the word on purpose)

He's saying that if a man divorces a woman, and IF she didnt cheat on him, then he basically committed adultery. 

As for Matthew 19, it's not really about adultery. 

Actually, it is in matthew 19 that the pharisees pointed out that God DID allow divorce in the Law of Moses, they're pointing out a seemingly contradicting word of Jesus against the Word of God. They were confused because their law said divorce was allowed, and that was from God. Then this guy comes along and claims that God doesnt allow divorce, contradicting their own law. See below.

Matthew 19: 

Matthew 19:1, 3-12 ESV

[1] Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

[3] And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” [4] He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, [5] and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? [6] So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” [7] They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” [8] He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. [9] And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, EXCEPT for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” [10] The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” [11] But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. [12] For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

I added the extra two verses at the end so it can be proven that I didnt take it out of context. And again, I capitalized the word on purpose.

That whole section was mainly about divorce. You can argue that divorce is adultery, that is true (except if someone cheated already), but divorce isnt the only way to commit adultery, so Matthew 19, or at least part of it, was about divorce. 

Saying that its about adultery is a misleading way of saying it. 

Jesus mentions the same exception twice, so its clear what He's saying. 

HOWEVER, this doesnt mean divorce is allowed in EVERY case. 

Just because its allowed in one doesnt mean its allowed in others. Its an exception, not a rule. 

God doesnt want divorce, thats true. But if divorce is adultery, and someone commits adultery, isnt the marriage already ruined? 

A marriage is a contract, hopefully you know about Christ and the church being like a bride and groom, and both of them being in a covenant. See the epistles as well as revelation, where you'll read that the church is referred to as a bride. See also Jesus's parable about the ten wives and their lamps, which is meant to be about the church and its saints during the end times, and Jesus, the groom, is who the wives needed to be ready for. 

The bride and groom promise to be faithful to each other. 

If someone cheated, the promise is broken. The covenant is broken. 

So technically divorce is allowed because once someone cheated, it's no longer adultery because the covenant is broken. You cant continue keeping a broken promise. Once its broken, its broken. Its like not keeping your part of the deal. If someone offers to pay you in return for your service, and yet they stop paying, whats the point of continuing service? Why continue upholding your side of the deal when the other didnt? 

Im not saying that someone should head out the second someone cheats and actively look for the opportunity, but in the case that it happens, the bible didnt say no. 

The most important thing to remember is that when you're in a relationship with God, you dont try to see push the boundaries as much as possible, you try to do what is IDEAL, not do the bare minimum so that it doesnt count as "sin." Thats also why I said Jesus may not want divorce even if that were to happen, and may command someone to save the marriage, even if theyre allowed to end it. You can never go wrong obeying Jesus, even if the book says differently.

Im not trying to encourage divorce, Im simply saying that Jesus does allow it in that one exception, and that exception only. Two things can be true at once, its not always one or the other. He can both be against divorce and have that one exception. 

But back to my point about covenants. If someone breaks their part of the deal, you can continuing doing what you've promised, but its voluntary and you're not obligated to. 

In fact, God did this twice. He didnt break promises, but the Israelites did, by not obeying Him and turning to idols. See Judges (the whole book) and the major prophets (Isaiah, esp Jeremiah, etc.) for accounts of this. 

Because the Israelites broke their part of the covenant, God didnt uphold His by exiling the Israelites and giving them over to their enemies. His promise to them was that they wont be given over to their enemies if they obey Him. They broke their promise and so He gave them over to their enemies. 

Of course, He still had to keep His promise to Abraham, that Israel remain a nation and that he'll have many descendants, because Abraham never broke his part as the first patriarch, so God still continued to keep His part of the covenant by remembering to not kill all of the Israelites. (see Genesis) Thats why He brought them back from exile. 

See Ezra and Nehemiah for the event in the sentence above.

Also Ezekiel. 

So thats why Jesus said divorce WHEN SOMEONE CHEATED is ok when God said divorce isnt ok generally.

Again, im not saying Jesus approved divorce in every single case. Im not using His words to try to twist it into something that it isnt. 

I know Jesus doesnt LIKE it, even if He ALLOWED it. 

Your statement, "Jesus doesnt approve divorce" is true 99% of the time.

But because the statement didnt make exceptions, its still wrong because it forgets the exception Jesus did make, although it's 1%. 

You have also said that I havent found a verse that said Jesus approved of divorce, and I already did. Its the verse in Matthew 5. And also the one in Matthew 19. These are the most direct and clear verses I can find.

You didnt explain that one. Not the verse, but "except on the grounds of sexual immorality."

Thats seven entire words completely ignored. 

You didnt consider the whole verse. You skipped to where Jesus said divorce is adultery. I didnt intend to argue it wasnt. In fact, it is because it IS adultery that makes it "ok" in the case of the OTHER PERSON cheating. See my point about covenants. 

You said "if you read it carefully," but you ignore an entire chunk of a verse. Had I NOT read it carefully, I wouldve said, "aha! Jesus DOES allow divorce, He said so! He made this one exception, why cant He make another?"

Obviously thats not what im arguing. Im simply saying such, unideal, exception, exists. It also doesnt mean other exceptions, just that one. But since auch exception exists, "Jesus doesnt permit divorce" isnt a 100% accurate statement. 

If you said "Jesus doesnt permit divorce MOST of the time," I have no case.

That is my argument.

You also brought up matthew 19, but that wasnt in my previous argument. I did cover that though. 

I also dont need to counter argue about God not liking divorce in the Old Testament. He doesnt change, I know that.

Had I mentioned this though:

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 ESV

[1] “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, [2] and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, [3] and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, [4] then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

This would seem like a counterargument to all of your OT examples indeed. 

I did say seem for a reason. 

I didnt counterargue because I dont take verses out of context, ignore them (ahem), and miscomprehend them (i couldve miscomprehended the verse above and take it in isolation without considering other verses, but that would be wrong) as well as using different translations (changing from modern to kjv, and vice versa, you need to keep translations consistent) so that it can appear to fit my point of view. 

I know God doesnt want divorce and that wasnt the ideal, even if it says on paper (or tablet) that divorce was ok in some cases. 

My point isnt that God allows divorce in all cases. My point is that God makes rare exceptions, and thats why your statement isnt 100% correct. It wouldve been unrefutable if you said 99% of cases. 

Thats what im basically saying (again.)

So even if God doesnt like divorce and hates it, as the OT says, theres still an exception in NT. God doesnt change, and even God allowed divorce in the law, as deuteronomy seems to suggest. Not everything God allows is something He wants. See for example Job and what God allowed to happen to Him. And also evil things in the world in general.

So thats why He still hates divorce but allows it in the OT. He can still be against divorce, so much so, that it cant be for any reason, as the pharisees asked about, but only when the OTHER person cheated. (i have forgotten this part, obviously if the person cheated, they dont get to ask for a divorce, only the one cheated on.)

No contradiction here, Im not inventing a new God.