The History of the Issue
All the church fathers except one (Ambrosiaster) agreed that remarriage after divorce, whatever the cause, constitutes adultery. Even in the case of adultery, the faithful spouse did not have permission to remarry. This remained the standard in the church until the 16th century when Erasmus suggested that the “innocent” spouse not only had a right to divorce an unfaithful spouse, but could also contract a new marriage. This view was
accepted by the Reformers and is the standard Protestant evangelical position on divorce and remarriage today. But is this viewpoint consistent with Scripture. There are a number of important questions that must be answered to arrive at a biblical teaching on marriage and divorce.