content/10/17.md
---
pagetitle: Of marriage and divorce, part 5
date: February 19, 2020
prev_url: /westminster-daily/10/16/
prev_date: Oct 16
this_url: /westminster-daily/10/17/
short_date: "1017"
this_date: Oct 17
next_url: /westminster-daily/10/18/
next_date: Oct 18
---
#### Confession of Faith
##### Chapter 24: Of Marriage and Divorce
Adultery or fornication committed after a contract, being detected before marriage, giveth just occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract.[^fnref:wcf1] In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce:[^fnref:wcf2] and, after the divorce, to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.[^fnref:wcf3]
[^fnref:wcf1]: <div class="esv"><h5>Matthew 1:18-20</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <p id="p40001018.06-1">Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf2]: <div class="esv"><h5>Matthew 5:31-32</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <p id="p40005031.02-1"><span class="woc">“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’</span> <span class="woc">But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.</span> (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf3]: <div class="esv"><h5>Matthew 19:9</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p40019009.01-1"><span class="woc">And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”</span></p> </div><h5>Romans 7:2-3</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p45007002.01-2">For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>