What Christ Said… 

Matthew 5:31-32 
“Now it was said, ‘WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY IS TO GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE’; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 

What many Christians hear today… 

One of two camps: 
Divorce is NEVER allowed. If there is abuse, neglect, beatings, rape, etc., it doesn’t matter because God hates divorce. Couples MUST NOT DIVORCE and must seek counseling to preserve the marriage. 
Two: 
Divorce is sanctioned by God. I cannot get along with my spouse. My spouse irritates me, frustrates me, angers me, in everything he or she does. This marriage is a bust. Will try on the next one. 
God ordained and instituted marriage from the very beginning. Our God is a covenantal God and marriage is a covenant between a man, a woman and God. We are admonished to treat our marriages as representative of Christ’s love for His church. This means we are willing to be patient, long-suffering, caring, supportive, listening, obedient (not meaning what many people THINK it means…), and love sacrificially (give our very lives for our wives, men, as Christ did for the world!). 

However, He does not indicate that we must remain in actual abusive, adulterous, or dangerous marriages. We should never be too quick to pull the pin on the divorce grenade, but there are certain situations that God does NOT expect us to remain in. 

Marriage and divorce are not just legal matters. That is something HUMANS created. Marriage is a covenant, and divorce is a means out of that covenant in extreme circumstances. Marriage and relationships are not disposable. Consider this, Christ said that divorce is acceptable in cases of adultery. Yet we are married to Him as the church and many of us are adulterous to God. Thank goodness He doesn’t just up and divorce us, but gives us the opportunity to work it out with Him through repentance and renewal.