Divorce and Remarriage Permitted Only for Sexual Immorality
JWs restrict biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage to porneia (sexual immorality) alone, based on a narrow reading of . The organisation does not recognise abandonment, desertion, or physical abuse as grounds that free the innocent party to remarry. A Witness who divorces an abusive but sexually faithful spouse and later remarries faces a judicial committee for adultery. First Corinthians 7:15 is acknowledged but read as permission to separate, not to remarry — the "freedom" is interpreted as freedom from cohabitation only. The result is a pastoral policy that traps abused members in legal limbo.
If porneia is the only ground Jesus permits for ending a marriage, then Paul contradicts Jesus in — which JWs cannot accept but also cannot resolve. Paul writes that a believer whose unbelieving spouse departs 'is not bound' (ou dedoulōtai), using the same verb Paul uses elsewhere for release from the marriage bond itself (1 Cor 7:39; Rom 7:2). The text does not say 'not bound to cohabit' — it says 'not bound' full stop. And Scripture elsewhere treats cruelty as breaking the covenant (Mal 2:16; Exod 21:10–11). The Watchtower's policy produces the opposite of its stated concern for marriage: it protects the abuser's legal standing at the cost of the abused spouse's safety and future.