What does Jesus teach about divorce and remarriage?

Direct answer

Jesus grounds marriage in the creation account of two becoming one flesh and presents divorce as a concession to hardness of heart rather than the original pattern. Matthew 5:31-32 states that putting away a wife except for sexual immorality makes her an adulteress, and that marrying a woman who has been put away is adultery.

In Matthew 19, Pharisees ask whether it is lawful to divorce for any reason. Jesus answers by pointing to creation: the one who made them made them male and female, and a man joined to his wife becomes one flesh with her. He concludes that what God has joined together should not be torn apart. When pressed about Moses's certificate of divorce, he explains that Moses permitted it because of their hardness of heart — not because it reflected the original pattern.

Mark 10 records the same encounter: Pharisees asking about divorce, Jesus appealing to Moses and to hardness of heart, and the same creation-rooted one-flesh teaching. The retrieved passage covers through verse 8 and covers the same hardness-of-heart and one-flesh ground as Matthew 19.

The exception clause — putting away a wife except for sexual immorality — and the remarriage statement appear in Matthew 5:31-32, in the Sermon on the Mount. That passage states the rule and its exception directly. It is Matthew's Gospel that preserves this formulation; it should not be attributed beyond what Matthew's text supplies.

These passages do not address the full range of circumstances that arise in modern marriage, separation, legal divorce, or remarriage after abandonment or abuse. The core teaching is about the intended permanence of marriage and the moral gravity of dissolution, not a legislative code for every circumstance. Pastoral and legal questions that go beyond these texts should not be read back into them.

Sources and supporting excerpts

• Matthew 19:3-8 (WEB) · Gospels (World English Bible)

  One flesh and hardness of heart

  When Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan. Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there. Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.” They asked him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce and divorce her?” He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.

  The World English Bible is in the public domain. "World English Bible" is a trademark of eBible.org. Text from eBible.org.

• Matthew 5:31-32 (WEB) · Gospels (World English Bible)

  The exception clause in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount

  “It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’ but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.

  The World English Bible is in the public domain. "World English Bible" is a trademark of eBible.org. Text from eBible.org.

• Mark 10:2-8 (WEB) · Gospels (World English Bible)

  Mark’s account: creation, hardness, one flesh

  He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them. Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife, and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.

  The World English Bible is in the public domain. "World English Bible" is a trademark of eBible.org. Text from eBible.org.

Provenance and limits

Editorially rewritten from a previously generated Gospels Only answer held for defect resolution. Luke 15 (irrelevant to divorce) was removed. The entry now distinguishes Matthew’s exception clause from Mark’s account and acknowledges the limits of the Gospel texts without issuing pastoral or legal directives. Every displayed excerpt was verified as an exact substring of the full passage text in the current World English Bible corpus on August 20, 2026.

This entry describes what the Gospel texts directly teach about marriage and divorce. It does not offer pastoral or legal advice, and it does not resolve questions about separation, abuse, legal divorce processes, or remarriage after circumstances not addressed in these passages.