I`m taking this study from the more in depth version found in Matthew chapter 19.
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?" 19:3
Two primary schools of thought existed during the time of Jesus the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel. The former believed that divorce was only acceptable on the grounds of unfaithfulness to the marriage relationship. Hillel, being more liberal, believed that anything was grounds for divorce, from over cooking a meal or simply because they found another women more attractive. Whichever way Jesus may answer could have been a loss for Him. 4 options that would be considered,
(1) No divorce ever. In this case He would be disagreeing with Moses and inconsistent in His teachings.
(2) Only for unfaithfulness. He would be siding with Shammai and therefore against the House of Hillel.
(3) For which ever reason. He would be siding with Hillel and therefore against the House of Shammai. Not to mention again all the wives who might have been listening.
Option number (4), His option...
He answered, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." 19:4-6
Jesus answers their crafty question by referring back to the way God originally intended man to exist. Note that marriage is not an invention by man but an institute appointed by God. He designed it, it was His plan from the beginning. Also note that marriage in God's eyes has always been between one male and one female, and never in any other combination be it two males or two females or a male and many wives or a female with many husbands. Far beyond the realms of sexuality, the two are now considered, under the premise of their covenant agreement with each other, one flesh. Formally two individuals now they are one, and no piece of paper or judge can change what God has set in motion.
They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?" He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 19:7-8
Israel was a stubborn and stiff necked people. For this reason the theologians Gill and Matthew Henry suggest that Moses permitted divorce for the sake and safety of the women. Had it not been so, then perhaps the men would have continued in the mistreatment of their less then favorable spouses and perhaps even kill their very wives out of their own lust for evil. Note the contrast between the pharisees use of the word "command" and that of Jesus' "allowed." but from the beginning it was not so, God hates divorce (malachi 2:16) but to save people from committing even great atrocities Moses permitted them to leave each other.
And I say to you: "whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery." 19:9
Now, with the understanding that marriage is of God, between one male and one female for life, Jesus gives His only exception for the rule, sexual immorality. However, if for any other reason than He commits adultery for remarrying. We can brake our vows to each other, and we can have the government or a judge tell us that its okay and we are free to do whatever we want, But we are unable to withdraw ourselves from the duties that and commitments we made between and before God. In other words, even while divorced your still married, which is why any one who remarries commits adultery.
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