Can a valid marriage be dissolved and the parties remarry, or does the bond last until death? The debate turns on Christ's words and the meaning of the "exception clause."
11 verses are cited on this page. Each one links to its chapter in the Greek text.
...they two shall be in one flesh... What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.Matthew 19:4-6
Christ grounds marriage in creation and forbids man to sunder what God has joined.
...Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh.Mark 10:6-9
Mark's parallel, without any exception clause, states the union as unbreakable.
Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her.Mark 10:11-12
Mark records no exception: remarriage after divorce is adultery.
Every one that putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery.Luke 16:18
Luke likewise states it absolutely, with no exception clause.
...let not the wife depart from her husband. And if she depart, that she remain unmarried.1 Corinthians 7:10-11
Paul, giving the Lord's own command, says the separated wife must remain unmarried or be reconciled.
...excepting the cause of fornication.Matthew 5:32
The exception permits putting away (separation) for fornication; it does not, on the Catholic reading, license remarriage, which the parallels rule out.
...except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery.Matthew 19:9
Read with Mark and Luke, the "fornication" (porneia) is taken to mean an unlawful union or separation from bed and board, not a dissolution freeing one to remarry.
Christ restored marriage to the indissolubility of the creation order (Matthew 19:6), and Mark, Luke, and Paul record the command with no exception, calling remarriage after divorce adultery (Mark 10:11; Luke 16:18; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11). The exception clause in Matthew permits separation for grave cause, not the dissolution of the bond or freedom to remarry. The Council of Trent (Session 24) defined that the marriage bond of the baptized, once ratified and consummated, cannot be dissolved. What God has joined, no one may put asunder.