Can divorced people go to heaven?

Jesus’ Law on Marriage

Here is yet another erroneous view on the subject of divorce and remarriage:

5) SOME CLAIM BOTH PARTIES IN THE DIVORCE ARE FREE TO REMARRY IF THE CAUSE FOR THE DIVORCE IS FORNICATION. THAT IS TO SAY, THE GUILTY PARTY MAY ALSO REMARRY.

Those who teach this view maintain that if the marriage is broken then neither party is bound, and so both may remarry. They fail to realize that a God approved marriage is more than a civil contract. Two people, in marriage, are bound to each other, and at the same time bound to the law of God. A marriage may be broken by divorce, but the two people involved, although no longer married, are still bound by the law of God. Whether either can marry again depends on whether or not God gives that right. (Review our earlier article on the difference between "married" and "bound", especially in Rom. 7:2,3 and 1 Cor. 7:10,11.)

A more technical attempt to defend this position involves an argument on Matt. 5:32 and 19:9. These folks want us to believe that the only remarriage that Jesus was forbidding was that of a person who was put away for some reason other than fornication. In other words, they would have the verses to read: "Whosoever shall put away his wife for fornication and shall marry another does not commit adultery; and whoso marrieth her which is put away for fornication does not commit adultery". The obvious flaw here is that such a twisted interpretation has the direct result of rewarding the fornicator for his/her sin. Actually, the verses teach that God does not allow any "put away" person to remarry.

- by Greg Gwin