Part 2. Biblical "Divorce Exemptions Clauses" Debunked.

Many highly educated brethren and bible commentators (including William McDonald) disagree with His teaching and peruse their own judgment using their own intellect as they study this critical question. This has proven to be in vain. The truth will be able to cut through, and we can be assured, the truth shall win and prevail. John Piper Position Paper Cited www.desiringgo...
Christ plainly told them, unapologetically, the truth about how the matrimonial bound works from the beginning. We cannot change it, try as we may. Sin and rebellion against God’s will never have fruition.
The Church’s compromising on this issue sets a terrible example to the world of outsiders.
We live in an adulterated generation looking for direction and sound living in a separated, holy church. But as they look in, they observe similar, or even worse marriages trends in the world pleasing church than the secular world.
Some church leaders and counselors also seem to practically advocate and encourage divorce and remarriage within the Christian assembly. These helpers seem to recon it as some great solution to the disappointed couples’ problems, and do not want to deny victims another chance at a happy family and more pleasure. Pastors and overseers can and do use the “exemption clauses” to justify such action with troubled families.
But we have no choice but to accept and submit ourselves to the teachings of our Lord Jesus on this issue. But it should delight us to be able to obey our Lord on this issue. We wait on the Lord and desire to do His will, whatever it is.
Matthew 19:8-9 The Exemption Clause Review and the “Betrothal Argument.”
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
It must be said here. In a world where as of 2018 over 80% of internet traffic is connected to pornography (ie “fornication”) it is conceivable that a vast majority of wives could use the “exemption clause loophole,” for fornication to divorce their husbands. But how will this help?
While porn and addiction is certainly not every man’s battle, it is ramped in the modern church today and a stumbling block to many. The gross sin of fornication and adultery has never in history of civilization been so freely and privately available. The rise of internet in the digital age of machines/technology have allowed people to connect in cyberspace.
But even if a wife uses the “exemption clause” for the sin of fornication as an excuse to remarry, would her new adultery partner even be innocent of “porneia?” So how does that compute? It does not.
We therefore now know it is impossible the “exception clause” for fornication could be used in any like context. Christ said that a man who thinks of another woman as to possess her has committed adultery in his heart and would therefore be guilty of the sin. The exemption for fornication is obviously talking about something very different. It is talking about sex before consummated marriage.
We also understand that Christians are also called to forgive one another. So what? We do no forgive a spouse for fornication, but divorce them? How does that grace add up when the Lord said, “forgive and you will be forgiven”? Husbands and wives must adopt the practice of forgiveness if they are to succeed. This is the case even if there is no adultery or fornication. They must practice this to be an example to the world.
Another question is what of the use of original word “fornication” which is used in the context of marriage? The one who commits adultery on his wife has committed adultery, not fornication. Yet most say, “because the other committed adultery, they are exempt!”
For example, we do not say, “my wife/husband of 25 years fornicated on me.” To be clear what happened we say, “my wife committed adultery against me with another man.” The exemption clause in Matt 19:8 does not say adultery, but fornication! Some liberal Bible translations have substituted fornication with “adultery,” or even “marital unfaithfulness.” But that is dishonest, and a liberal, bias of the original word used there. The word fornication was used here to make perfectly clear that the exemption clause was not referring to adultery in a sealed marital bound. Adultery committed in a marriage, while a horrific sin, does not eradicate the marital bound.
Adultery and fornication are very different terms. We know this because the bible lists them as different many times: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: 9 “Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals… shall inherit the Kingdom of God.”