The Meaning of Matthew 5:32 Explained

Matthew 5:32

KJV: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

YLT: but I -- I say to you, that whoever may put away his wife, save for the matter of whoredom, doth make her to commit adultery; and whoever may marry her who hath been put away doth commit adultery.

Darby: But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except for cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery, and whosoever marries one that is put away commits adultery.

ASV: but I say unto you, that every one that putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, maketh her an adulteress: and whosoever shall marry her when she is put away committeth adultery.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

But  I  say  unto you,  That  whosoever  shall put away  his  wife,  saving  for the cause  of fornication,  causeth  her  to commit adultery:  and  whosoever  shall marry  her that is divorced  committeth adultery. 

What does Matthew 5:32 Mean?

Context Summary

Matthew 5:27-37 - Pure Eyes And Clean Speech
The legislation of the old time insisted that no member of the commonwealth should commit adultery, and enforced terrible penalties. See Deuteronomy 22:22-24. But the Divine Man, who reads the human heart with perfect accuracy, goes behind the deed to its premonitory stages, legislates about the look that may inflame passion, and condemns the soul that does not instantly turn the eye from that which allures it, to the All-Holy, asking to be cleansed not with tears only but with blood. The first act in the religious life is to detect right and wrong in the thought or intention. If the tempter is arrested there, He is powerless to hurt. Kill the snake in the egg!
The prohibition against swearing does not deal with taking an oath in the law court. During His trial by the high priest, our Lord did not resent being put on His oath. On rare and solemn occasions we may have to bare our heads before God and ask Him to corroborate our word. But how different is this from the frequent and flippant use of expletives and extravagances of speech. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 5

1  Jesus' sermon on the mount:
3  The Beattitudes;
13  the salt of the earth;
14  the light of the world
17  He came to fulfill the law
21  What it is to kill;
27  to commit adultery;
33  to swear
38  He exhorts to forgive wrong,
43  to love our enemies;
48  and to labor after perfection

Greek Commentary for Matthew 5:32

Saving for the cause of fornication [παρεκτος λογου πορνειας]
An unusual phrase that perhaps means “except for a matter of unchastity.” “Except on the ground of unchastity” (Weymouth), “except unfaithfulness” (Goodspeed), and is equivalent to μη επι πορνειαι — mē epi porneiāi in Matthew 19:9. McNeile denies that Jesus made this exception because Mark and Luke do not give it. He claims that the early Christians made the exception to meet a pressing need, but one fails to see the force of this charge against Matthew‘s report of the words of Jesus. It looks like criticism to meet modern needs. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 5:32

Matthew 19:9 Except for fornication [παρεκτος λογου πορνειας]
This is the marginal reading in Westcott and Hort which also adds “maketh her an adulteress” There seems to be a certain amount of assimilation in various manuscripts between this verse and the words in Matthew 5:32. But, whatever reading is accepted here, even the short one in Westcott and Hort Here, as in Matthew 5:31., a group of scholars deny the genuineness of the exception given by Matthew alone. McNeile holds that “the addition of the saving clause is, in fact, opposed to the spirit of the whole context, and must have been made at a time when the practice of divorce for adultery had already grown up.” That in my opinion is gratuitous criticism which is unwilling to accept Matthew‘s report because it disagrees with one‘s views on the subject of divorce. He adds: “It cannot be supposed that Matthew wished to represent Jesus as siding with the school of Shammai.” Why not, if Shammai on this point agreed with Jesus? Those who deny Matthew‘s report are those who are opposed to remarriage at all. Jesus by implication, as in Matthew 5:31, does allow remarriage of the innocent party, but not of the guilty one. Certainly Jesus has lifted the whole subject of marriage and divorce to a new level, far beyond the petty contentions of the schools of Hillel and Shammai. [source]
Matthew 5:42 Turn not thou away [μη αποστραπηις]
Second aorist passive subjunctive in prohibition. “This is one of the clearest instances of the necessity of accepting the spirit and not the letter of the Lord‘s commands (see Matthew 5:32, Matthew 5:34, Matthew 5:38). Not only does indiscriminate almsgiving do little but injury to society, but the words must embrace far more than almsgiving” (McNeile). Recall again that Jesus is a popular teacher and expects men to understand his paradoxes. In the organized charities of modern life we are in danger of letting the milk of human kindness dry up. [source]
Luke 16:18 Committeth adultery [μοιχευει]
Another repeated saying of Christ (Matthew 5:32; Mark 10:11.; Matthew 19:9.). Adultery remains adultery, divorce or no divorce, remarriage or no marriage. [source]
John 8:4 Hath been taken [κατειληπται]
Perfect passive indicative of καταλαμβανω — katalambanō (see John 8:3), caught and still guilty. In adultery Present passive participle of μοιχευω — moicheuō “herself suffering adultery” (Matthew 5:32). Used of married people. Not in John. In the very act Old adjective (αυτοπωροσ αυτος — autophōros class="normal greek">πωρ — autos self, and phōr thief) caught in the act of theft, then extended to any crime in which one is caught. Old idiom, but not elsewhere in the Greek Bible. One example in a Berlin papyrus. [source]
John 8:4 In adultery [μοιχευομενη]
Present passive participle of μοιχευω — moicheuō “herself suffering adultery” (Matthew 5:32). Used of married people. Not in John. In the very act Old adjective (αυτοπωροσ αυτος — autophōros class="normal greek">πωρ — autos self, and phōr thief) caught in the act of theft, then extended to any crime in which one is caught. Old idiom, but not elsewhere in the Greek Bible. One example in a Berlin papyrus. [source]
Acts 19:38 Have a matter against any one [εχουσιν προς τινα λογον]
For this use of εχω λογον — echō logon with προς — pros See note on Matthew 5:32; and note on Colossians 3:13. The town-clerk names Demetrius and the craftsmen (τεχνιται — technitai) as the parties responsible for the riot. [source]
1 Corinthians 7:10 Not I, but the Lord []
Referring to Christ's declarations respecting divorce, Matthew 5:31, Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:3-12. Not a distinction between an inspired and an uninspired saying. Paul means that his readers had no need to apply to him for instruction in the matter of divorce, since they had the words of Christ himself. [source]
1 Corinthians 7:15 Is not under bondage [ου δεδουλωται]
Perfect passive indicative of δουλοω — douloō to enslave, has been enslaved, does not remain a slave. The believing husband or wife is not at liberty to separate, unless the disbeliever or pagan insists on it. Wilful desertion of the unbeliever sets the other free, a case not contemplated in Christ‘s words in Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:9. Luther argued that the Christian partner, thus released, may marry again. But that is by no means clear, unless the unbeliever marries first. [source]
2 Corinthians 11:28 Those things that are without [τῶν παρεκτὸς]
Some explain, external calamities; others, the things which are left out in the enumeration, as Matthew 5:32; Acts 26:29. Better, the latter, so that the literal meaning is, apart from the things which are beside and outside my enumeration: or, as Alford, not to mention those which are beside these. The word does not occur in classical Greek, and no instance of its usage in the former sense occurs in the New Testament or in the Septuagint. See Rev., margin. [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 5:32 mean?

I however say to you that everyone - divorcing the wife of him except on account of sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery And whoever if her having been divorced shall marry commits adultery
ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πᾶς ἀπολύων τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ παρεκτὸς λόγου πορνείας ποιεῖ αὐτὴν μοιχευθῆναι καὶ ὃς ἐὰν ἀπολελυμένην γαμήσῃ μοιχᾶται

δὲ  however 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: δέ  
Sense: but, moreover, and, etc.
λέγω  say 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: λέγω 
Sense: to say, to speak.
ὑμῖν  to  you 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative 2nd Person Plural
Root: σύ  
Sense: you.
ὅτι  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὅτι  
Sense: that, because, since.
πᾶς  everyone 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: πᾶς  
Sense: individually.
  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἀπολύων  divorcing 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ἀπολύω  
Sense: to set free.
γυναῖκα  wife 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: γυνή  
Sense: a woman of any age, whether a virgin, or married, or a widow.
αὐτοῦ  of  him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
παρεκτὸς  except 
Parse: Preposition
Root: παρεκτός  
Sense: except, with the exception of (a thing).
λόγου  on  account 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: λόγος  
Sense: of speech.
πορνείας  of  sexual  immorality 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: πορνεία  
Sense: illicit sexual intercourse.
ποιεῖ  causes 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ποιέω  
Sense: to make.
αὐτὴν  her 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Accusative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
μοιχευθῆναι  to  commit  adultery 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Passive
Root: μοιχεύω  
Sense: to commit adultery.
ὃς  whoever 
Parse: Personal / Relative Pronoun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ὅς 
Sense: who, which, what, that.
ἀπολελυμένην  her  having  been  divorced 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Participle Middle or Passive, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀπολύω  
Sense: to set free.
γαμήσῃ  shall  marry 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: γαμέω  
Sense: to lead in marriage, take to wife.
μοιχᾶται  commits  adultery 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: μοιχάω  
Sense: to have unlawful intercourse with another’s wife, to commit adultery with.