Gr. porneia, a general term applying to illicit sexual relationship. The liberal school of Hillel taught that a man might secure a divorce for the most trivial cause, such as his wife’s permitting his food to burn (Mishnah Giṭṭin 9. 10, Soncino ed. of the Talmud, pp. 436, 437; cf. MB 63). The more conservative school of Shammai, however, interpreted the expression “some uncleanness” of Deut. 24:1 to mean “some unseemly thing,” meaning “immodest,” or “indecent” (Mishnah Giṭṭin 9. 10, Soncino ed. of the Talmud, p. 436). But Jesus made plain that there should be no divorce except in the case of marital infidelity. The marriage relationship had been perverted by sin, and Jesus came to restore to it the purity and beauty originally ordained by the Creator. See on Deut. 14:26.

 In the providence of God the marriage institution was designed to bless and uplift humanity. The companionship of husband and wife was ordained of God as the ideal environment in which to mature a Christian character. Most of the personality adjustments of married life, and the difficulties encountered by many in making these adjustments, call for the exercise of self-restraint and sometimes self-sacrifice. True “love is patient and kind,” it “does not insist on its own way,” it “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:4-7, RSV). When Christians enter into the marriage relationship they should accept the responsibility of applying the principles here stated. Husbands and wives who thus apply these principles, and who are willing for the grace of Christ to operate in their lives, will find that there is no difficulty, however serious it may appear to be, that cannot be solved. Where dispositions are not congenial, the Christian solution is to change dispositions, not spouses.

 A wife put away would naturally seek to find a new home. But by marrying another she would commit fornication, because her previous marriage was not validly dissolved in God’s sight (cf. Mark 10:11, 12). Christ boldly set aside the rabbinical tradition of His day, especially that of the school of Hillel (see the foregoing under “Fornication”), which permitted divorce for any cause. It has been observed that no marriage existed among the Jews of the Mishnaic period from which the husband could not abruptly free himself in a legal fashion. Jesus emphasized that marriage was divinely ordained and, when properly entered into, was divinely ratified. What God had joined together no rabbinical tradition or practice could put asunder.