---
title: Matthew 19:9
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-19-9/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-19-9.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 19:9
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 19:9

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery.”

## JW Usage

JWs teach that Matthew 19:9 permits divorce only on grounds of porneia (sexual immorality). The innocent party may remarry; anyone who divorces for other reasons and remarries commits adultery. This reading is applied strictly by judicial committees, creating situations where physically abused spouses cannot remarry without congregational discipline — unless the abuser also committed a sexual act. The narrowness of the exception is treated as evidence of faithfulness to Jesus' words.

## Protestant Usage

The Greek word porneia in Matthew 19:9 has a semantic range wider than "adultery" (moicheia) alone — it covers sexual sin generally, and the Reformed tradition reads it in light of the whole canon rather than narrowing it to one act. Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:15 adds abandonment as a second recognised ground: "a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases." Historic Reformed and Protestant teaching holds porneia and abandonment together as two biblical grounds for divorce with freedom to remarry. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) codified this reading. The Watchtower's restriction to porneia alone traps abuse victims: a sister beaten by her husband cannot remarry without facing a judicial committee unless the husband also committed a sexual act. A doctrine that punishes the abused while the abuser faces no action unless sex is involved inverts the moral logic of Jesus' own teaching: "I want mercy, not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13, quoting Hosea 6:6).

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Bible Belt Divorce Paradox — What Glass and Levchak Actually Found](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/glass-levchak-divorce-study-response.md) — Engage the study on its own terms, not as a weapon [Practice]
- [The Low JW Divorce Rate Is a Statistical Artifact of Exit, Not a Sign of Healthy Marriages](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jw-divorce-statistical-artifact.md) — When unhappy spouses leave the religion instead of the marriage, the numbers lie [Practice]
- [The Watchtower's Narrow Reading of Matthew 19:9 — and Its Pastoral Cost](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jw-remarriage-matthew-19.md) — Porneia, abuse, and the spouses who cannot leave [Practice]