I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 9. And I say to you. It is worthy of remark, that in the parallel texts, Saint Mark 10:2. and Saint Luke 16:18. and Saint Paul to Corinthians 7:10. omit the exception of fornication; and also that Saint Matthew himself omits it in the second part of the verse; and says absolutely, that he who shall marry her that is put away committeth adultery. It perhaps crept in here from chapter 5:32, where it is found in a phrase very similar to this, but which expresses a case widely different. Divorce is in no case admitted but in that of adultery. This is what Christ teaches in chapter 5:32, and to this the exception is referred, marked in the two texts. But in this very case the separated parties cannot contract a second marriage without again committing adultery, as we must infer, from a comparison of this text with the parallel texts of Saint Mark and Saint Luke. V.—If we did not understand it in this manner, the case of the adulteress would be preferable to the case of her who should be put away without any crime of her own; as in this supposition, the former would be allowed to marry again, which the latter would not be allowed. Tirinus.—Saint Augustine is very explicit on this subject. See l. 11. de adult conjug. c. xxi. xxii. xxiv.—S. Jerom, in his high commendation of the noble matron, Fabiola, says of her: “that though she was the innocent party, for the unlawful act of marrying again, she did public penance.” In Epitaph. Fabiolæ.—This universally received doctrine of the Catholic Church was confirmed in the general council of Trent. Sess. xxiv. can. 6.