Can a Divorced Woman Remarry According to the Bible

That question doesn’t just get asked. It lands. It feels heavy, like a stone in your gut, and it almost always comes with a story of pain. Of confusion. Of a desperate search for an answer that feels both true and kind. I’ve sat with so many people, in my office or over coffee late at night, who are carrying this exact weight. Their marriage is over—a reality they never imagined—and now the future is a terrifying blank.

They look at their Bible, a book that once brought comfort, and now it feels like a list of rules. They ask, “What now? Am I supposed to be alone forever?” This isn’t just some dusty theological debate. It’s a real-life crossroad where your faith, your hope, and your heartache all collide. So, let’s walk this road together. Let’s try to find out, can a divorced woman remarry according to the Bible?

There’s no simple yes or no here. Answering this demands we handle God’s Word with incredible care, with compassion, and with a total reliance on the Holy Spirit to guide us. It means looking at God’s beautiful design for marriage, His deep hatred of divorce, and His absolutely overwhelming grace for broken people. My goal isn’t to give you a rigid, dogmatic answer. It’s to open up the scriptures with you, so that you can find clarity and a sense of peace for yourself.

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Key Takeaways

• Right from the start, the Bible paints a picture of marriage as a sacred, lifelong bond—God’s amazing idea for one man and one woman.
• Jesus Himself points to a very specific exception allowing for divorce and potential remarriage: “sexual immorality” (Matthew 19:9).
• The Apostle Paul brings up another scenario, what some call the “Pauline Privilege,” which allows for remarriage when a spouse who isn’t a believer decides to leave (1 Corinthians 7:15).
• Good, Bible-believing churches see these passages differently, which has led to a range of views on the topic.
• No matter where we land, the whole conversation has to be soaked in God’s profound grace and His power to make all things new.

What Was God’s Original Design for Marriage Anyway?

Before we can even touch the Bible’s teachings on divorce, we have to rewind. All the way back to the beginning. What was the plan in the first place? When you go to the Garden of Eden in Genesis, you find God’s blueprint. It’s breathtaking.

God makes Adam, the first man, and says, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). So He forms Eve, the first woman, from Adam’s own body. When Adam lays eyes on her, he bursts into poetry: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Then comes the foundational verse for all of marriage: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

One flesh.

That’s everything right there. This isn’t a business contract. It’s not a temporary housing arrangement. It is a covenant. Two people become a brand-new, single entity. This union was meant to last a lifetime, a living, breathing picture of the love between Christ and His people, the church. Jesus doubles down on this very idea, saying, “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6). God’s perfect will, His best design, is one man, one woman, for life. Divorce was never, ever part of the original plan.

But Didn’t Moses Allow for Divorce?

This is a crucial question. If marriage is supposed to be forever, why does the Old Testament law seem to create a loophole? The passage people usually bring up is Deuteronomy 24:1-4. It talks about a man giving his wife a “certificate of divorce” if he finds some “indecency” in her.

For a long time, this was used to permit divorce for all sorts of reasons. But Jesus speaks directly to this law when the religious leaders try to trap him. They ask if it’s okay to divorce for just any reason. After Jesus reminds them of God’s “one flesh” plan from Genesis, they counter, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” (Matthew 19:7).

His answer changes everything. He tells them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so” (Matthew 19:8). See the difference? Moses didn’t command divorce; he allowed it. It was a legal concession, not God’s ideal. And why? “Because of your hardness of heart.” God knew that in a fallen world, people’s hearts would become hard and they would divorce.

So, He regulated it to protect the most vulnerable person—the woman. That certificate proved she was legally free, not an adulteress or a runaway. It gave her the ability to remarry and have a future. This law wasn’t a permission slip from God; it was a merciful provision in a world broken by sin.

What Did Jesus Actually Say About a Divorced Woman Remarrying?

When we get to the New Testament, Jesus brings the conversation right back to God’s original, beautiful design. He makes the grounds for a legitimate divorce incredibly narrow. What he says is the foundation for how Christians should view this, and we find it mainly in the Gospel of Matthew.

In the famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “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” (Matthew 5:32). He says it again later: “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9).

Those are tough words. There’s no getting around it. Jesus makes it clear that divorce is a violent tearing of something God Himself has stitched together. But right in the middle of that hard teaching, He gives one, and only one, reason: “except for sexual immorality.” This is the famous “exception clause.” It’s the key to the whole discussion. The implication is huge: if a divorce happens for this specific biblical reason, the innocent person is no longer bound by the covenant. They are free. And that freedom means they can remarry without it being called adultery.

Does “Sexual Immorality” Cover More Than Just a Physical Affair?

Here’s where we have to look a little closer. The Greek word Jesus uses for “sexual immorality” is porneia. This is a big deal. The specific word for adultery in a marriage is moicheia. Jesus knew that word, of course, but he chose porneia, a much broader term.

Porneia covers a whole range of sexual sins. Adultery fits under its umbrella, but so do things like incest, prostitution, and other serious sexual sins that break the covenant. While some scholars have argued it only refers to unfaithfulness discovered during the Jewish betrothal period, most believe Jesus was using a catch-all term for major, covenant-destroying sexual sin.

What this suggests is that if the very foundation of the “one flesh” union is destroyed by a pattern of serious sexual sin, Jesus allows for divorce. This isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card for an unhappy marriage. It’s a sad and serious concession for a covenant that has been betrayed and shattered.

Is There an “Exception Clause,” and What Does It Mean for Her?

So, yes. The “exception clause” is real. And it means that not everyone who gets divorced and remarries is committing adultery. If a woman’s husband has been unfaithful in this way, shattering their covenant, Jesus says she is permitted to divorce him. The logical next step, which almost all Christian thinkers agree on, is that this freedom from the marriage also means freedom to remarry. She is the innocent party. Forcing her to remain single for the rest of her days because of her husband’s sin would be a cruel injustice. It would turn a provision of grace into a punishment.

I walked through this with a dear friend. We’ll call her Sarah. Her husband had been living a double life, and a long-term affair finally came to light. Sarah loved God, and her entire world was destroyed. After the initial shock, a second wave of fear washed over her: What would her church think? She was so afraid of being labeled, of being seen as “less than.” She called me one night, sobbing. “Does God really expect me to be alone now? Am I being punished for something he did?”

We spent hours in Matthew 19. I literally watched the weight lift off her as she saw that Jesus’s words were not a prison, but a key to a locked door. The exception was a painful one, but it was there for her. It was God’s acknowledgment that sin can and does destroy things. Her husband’s porneia had broken their bond. For her, divorce wasn’t an easy choice; it was a tragic reality. And in that tragedy, God’s Word gave her permission to one day hope again.

What if My Unbelieving Husband Left Me? Paul’s Perspective.

Jesus isn’t the only one who speaks to this. The Apostle Paul adds another vital layer in his first letter to the Corinthian church. This was a messy group of new believers trying to figure out how to follow Jesus in a pagan world, and they had a ton of questions about marriage.

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul tackles a specific situation: a Christian married to a non-Christian. His first piece of advice is for them to stay married, if the unbelieving spouse is willing. But then he asks the big “what if.” What if the unbeliever wants out?

Paul’s answer is direct: “But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved” (1 Corinthians 7:15). This is often called the “Pauline Privilege.” It is a second biblical allowance for divorce, and by extension remarriage, this time because of abandonment by a spouse who is not a believer.

What Does “Not Enslaved” Really Mean for a Believing Woman?

That phrase “not enslaved” is everything. Some translations say “not bound.” What does that mean? In marriage, to be “bound” is to be held by the covenant vows. If a believer is no longer bound to a spouse who has deserted them, they are released from the marriage covenant itself.

It makes sense. The believer wants to honor God and the marriage. The unbeliever, by walking away for good, is the one who severs the union. Paul says that in that case, the Christian is free. And for centuries, Christian pastors and scholars have understood that freedom to include the freedom to marry another believer. The act of abandonment ends the marriage, and the Christian isn’t forced to live in a state of suspended animation, legally tied to someone who has rejected them and their faith. The bond is broken. She is free.

This is a lifeline for a woman whose unbelieving husband has simply walked out the door. God does not command her to spend her life waiting or force her into singleness because of his choice.

Does This Apply if We Were Both Christians When We Married?

This question always comes up, and it’s a fair one. Paul is clearly talking about a mixed-faith marriage in 1 Corinthians 7. He doesn’t directly talk about what happens when someone who calls themselves a Christian abandons their spouse. This is where we have to be so careful not to make the Bible say more than it says.

With that said, some pastors apply the principle of abandonment more broadly. They might argue that if a professing Christian acts like an unbeliever by completely abandoning their spouse and their vows, it is essentially the same covenant-breaking act. But that is an interpretation, not a direct command. A woman in that awful situation should move with great care and get lots of counsel from wise, biblically solid leaders in her church. It’s not a decision to be made alone.

Are There Other Situations the Bible Might Allow for Remarriage?

So we have two clear, explicit permissions for divorce and remarriage in the Bible: sexual immorality (porneia) and abandonment by an unbeliever. But life is rarely that neat and tidy. What about the terrible situations that don’t seem to fit into either of those boxes?

This is where we have to rely on the wisdom of the church and apply biblical principles to situations the Bible doesn’t name directly. We have to ask: what other actions are so destructive that they completely violate the “one flesh” covenant?

What About Cases of Abuse or Neglect?

Let’s be clear: abuse is evil. Whether it’s physical, sexual, emotional, or financial, it is a devastating reality that demolishes everything a marriage is supposed to be. While the New Testament doesn’t have an “abuse clause,” many pastors and theologians argue that severe, unrepentant abuse is a profound form of abandonment. A husband who terrorizes his wife has abandoned his most basic biblical calling to love her as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25). He has made himself a danger, not a protector. He is destroying the covenant with his actions.

To back this up, many point to a principle in Exodus 21:10-11.

The law discusses a secondary wife or female slave. It says her husband must provide her with food, clothing, and marital rights. If he fails to provide these basic things, “she shall go out for nothing.” She is free. This establishes a biblical idea of covenant neglect. If failing to provide food and clothes was grounds for freedom, how much more is failing to provide basic safety and human dignity? Unrepentant abuse is a terrible form of abandonment and neglect.

I once sat with a woman—we’ll call her Maria—in a soul-crushing marriage. Her husband had never cheated, and he hadn’t moved out. But for years, he had emotionally battered her, controlled every dime they had, and cut her off from everyone she loved. He was systematically destroying her. She felt completely stuck because he hadn’t committed porneia.

We talked for a long time about what a covenant really is. I asked her, “Is he loving you? Is he protecting you? Has he abandoned what it means to be a husband?” The answers were obvious. His actions were a total desertion of his vows. For Maria, getting to a safe place was the first step. And her church community agreed that his actions had broken their covenant, ultimately setting her free.

How Do Different Churches View These Gray Areas?

You need to know that good, godly people disagree on these tough questions. Christians who love the Bible have landed in a few different places, which usually include:

• The No Remarriage View: A small group believes marriage can never be dissolved. Even after a legitimate divorce, they would see remarriage as adultery.
• The “Betrothal View”: This view sees the porneia clause in Matthew as applying only to unfaithfulness during the betrothal period, meaning there are no grounds for divorce once a marriage is consummated.
• The Two Grounds View: This is probably the most common view among Protestants. It says remarriage is okay only after a divorce for sexual immorality or abandonment by an unbeliever.
• The Expanded Grounds View: This view builds on the last one, arguing that principles from scripture show that things like severe abuse and neglect also break the covenant and are grounds for divorce and remarriage.

Knowing where your own church stands on this is a really important part of navigating your own journey.

I Feel Trapped by Guilt. How Does God’s Grace Fit In?

We can debate Greek words and legal clauses all day. And that’s important. But if we do all that and miss God’s heart, we’ve missed the whole point. For the woman asking this question, the conversation is usually buried under a mountain of guilt, shame, and a sense of failure. And let’s be honest, the church hasn’t always helped. Too often, we’ve offered judgment instead of grace.

But that is not our Father’s heart.

The entire Bible is one big story about redemption. It’s the story of God taking the shattered pieces of our lives—pieces broken by our sin and the sins of others—and making something beautiful and new. Your divorce is not the end of your story. It is not the sin that God’s grace can’t cover. Think of the woman at the well in John 4. She’d had five husbands and was living with a man who wasn’t her husband. Her life was a mess. And Jesus went out of his way to meet her. He didn’t lecture her; He offered her “living water.” He saw all of her brokenness and loved her anyway.

If you want to dive deeper into the theology of grace, resources from places like Dallas Theological Seminary offer solid, biblically-based teaching. But the message is simple: our hope isn’t in having a perfect marriage; it’s in having a perfect Savior. Romans 8:1 says it best: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That promise is for you. It doesn’t matter if you were the innocent party or if you share in the blame for your marriage ending. Grace is there for the taking. Repentance flings the door wide open to forgiveness and a fresh start. God is a God of second chances.

A Path Forward in Hope

So, can a divorced woman remarry according to the bible? The answer isn’t a simple yes or no. It’s a “sometimes, yes,” wrapped in caution and grace. The Bible honors marriage as a sacred, lifelong covenant. But it doesn’t bury its head in the sand about the reality of sin.

When a marriage covenant has been truly broken by sexual immorality (porneia) or by an unbelieving spouse walking away, the Bible gives a clear release. That release from the marriage bond frees the innocent person to remarry. For the other messy, painful situations like abuse, finding a path forward requires incredible wisdom, a lot of prayer, and the support of a loving, Bible-believing church family.

If this is your story, please hear me: God sees you. He knows your heart is aching. You don’t have to do this alone. Dive into the scriptures for yourself, find wise pastors or elders to talk to, and lean hard into the amazing grace of a God who loves to make broken things new. Your past doesn’t get to write your future.

FAQ – Can a Divorced Woman Remarry According to the Bible