“The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’
And He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.'” (Matthew 19:3-6, NKJV)
Most times when we deal with divorce from Matthew 19 we jump immediately to verse 9; but Jesus’ initial answer to their question in verses 4-6 is very important. When they ask Jesus the question his initial answer has two parts: 1) God intended a man and woman to come together as husband and wife. 2) God intended the man and woman to leave all others and be one inseparable unit.
In essence, Jesus tells the Pharisees that if they understood what marriage was, they would not even ask about divorce. The same holds true today. The greatest reason for divorce today is because people don’t understand (or care) what God intended for marriage. For most people today marriage is self-serving and opportunistic. Until we understand marriage, trying to teach people about God’s stance on divorce is futile, because they will not listen.