Some brethren claim that an innocent spouse has no right to repudiate his fornicator-mate and marry another if that fornicator has already broken the physical marriage relationship. They base the innocent spouse’s divorce right, not upon his own innocence and his mate’s fornication, but upon the status of the physical marriage relationship. They claim that the innocent spouse has the right of remarriage only if he takes the putting-away action while the physical marriage is still intact, and before the fornicator does. This notion is nowhere taught in Scripture. Matthew 19:9 authorizes an innocent spouse to repudiate his mate for fornication and marry another. The innocent spouse’s right to remarry is a God-given right and cannot be nullified by the actions of the fornicator.
One brother cited the example of a fornicator “slamming the door” on his innocent spouse. He argued that since the action of slamming the door constituted repudiation of the innocent spouse, then that innocent spouse was a “put-away” party and had forever lost his God-given right to marry another. This position ignores the principle of guilt and innocence and makes the marital rights of the innocent spouse contingent upon the speed with which he can slam a door!
Most houses have more than one door. What if there are two doors, and the fornicator and the innocent spouse each slam a door at the exact same time. Who then is the “put-away” party? If door-slamming is putting-away, and they both slam a door, then both are equally put away! In this scenario, may the innocent spouse marry another, or not? To be consistent, some will have to say no. They will have to say that the innocent spouse had to slam the door first in order to have the right to marry another.
But it gets even trickier…
What constitutes acceptable door-slamming? Must the slammed door remain shut? What if the innocent spouse’s door jamb is warped and his door makes only partial contact with the jamb, but the fornicator’s makes full contact and latches? Does the unsuccessful door slam nullify the innocent spouse’s right to marry another?
Surely the reader can see the folly in this “first-to-slam-the-door” position. Matthew 19:9 plainly teaches that in the event of sexual immorality, the innocent spouse has the God-given right to repudiate the fornicator-mate and marry another. This right is unaffected by the unlawful actions of the fornicator. Jesus did not base the innocent spouse’s marital rights upon the relative speed with which he acts against the fornicator — He based it upon the cause of fornication. It matters not how fast the innocent spouse can slam a door, dial a lawyer or drive a car to the court house. It matters whether or not he has the cause of fornication.
—Tim Haile