Before we seek to answer this, it’s good to remind ourselves that God hates divorce. In Matthew 19:3 the Pharisees asked the Lord Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” The Lord immediately drew their attention to God’s design for marriage in the very beginning and He insisted that it was intended to be permanent with these words from verse 6, “What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” The world around us mocks God with their flippant attitude towards marriage and divorce, and the Christian does well to take marriage and divorce seriously.

The Lord went on in this exchange with the Pharisees to give one exception to the rule. In verse 9 He said, “Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.” If one spouse is unfaithful to the other by an act of fornication, which in this case means “adultery,” the marriage bond is broken and it is grounds for divorce. The innocent party would not only be justified in divorcing their unfaithful spouse, they would also be free to remarry. So, the answer to your question is YES, two divorced persons could marry each other if their former marriages ended as a result of adultery, and they were the innocent parties. But outside of this exception, divorce is NOT permissible, and if one does divorce their spouse for any other reason and then remarry, they would be guilty of adultery.

There is one other “possible” cause for divorce and remarriage. The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth on the subject of marriage and he addressed the issue of what happens when one spouse becomes saved and the other spouse remains an unbeliever. In 1 Corinthians 7:14 and 16 he encouraged the believing spouse to stay married, for in doing so they could be a positive influence on their unsaved spouse and perhaps their testimony would lead to their salvation. But in verse 15 he had this to say, “But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.” The word “depart” means “to abandon” and some commentators believe this refers to “permanent desertion” through a divorce and that the believing spouse was not to resist this action; they were free to go through with the divorce. This would then break the marriage bond permanently, leaving them free to remarry. Others believe the word “depart” refers strictly to “separation” and not to divorce. But even in this case, it is almost certain that the unbelieving spouse who separates will enter into another relationship and thus the marriage bond would be broken anyway. The innocent party would then be free to divorce their spouse and remarry. (161.5) (DO)