Ruling On Divorce
RULING ON DIVORCE
MATTHEW 19:1-12
To cure disease you have to understand the healthy body; so when asked about divorce, Jesus spoke about marriage.
Our Lord’s ruling on the divorce debate, which has already been recorded in 5:31f., is repeated here in reply to the Pharisees’ question. Now it is made clear that his ruling is based on an appeal to first principles: the divine purpose in marriage is implicit in the creation ordinances. Two passages are quoted, the last clause of Genesis 1:27 and the narrator’s comment in Genesis 2:24, following on the account of the formation of Eve—and note that this comment is treated as something “said” by God, since it is part of Holy Writ. From these passages the inference is drawn that marriage is an institution of God, designed to be permanent, and not to be annulled by man. To the natural question why in that case divorce is permitted in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 24:1), the answer is given that this was a concession to “hardness of heart” but a departure from the Creator’s ordinance, which Jesus reaffirms. The words “except for unchastity” (19:9) have the same technical force as the similar exceptive clause in 5:32.
In the social context of that time and place, Jesus’ ruling had the further effect of redressing an inequitable balance in favor of women. The disciples’ reaction (19:10), expressing a thoroughly male point of view, suggests that they felt his ruling bore hardly on men, by depriving them of the right of divorce (a right which Jewish women did not share).
Those “who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (19:12) are those who have remained unmarried in order to devote themselves with undivided mind to the service of God, especially in view of the impending crisis (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:26-35). The unmarried members of the Essene orders provided a contemporary example, which in due course was to be abundantly paralleled among Christians.
Consider Can the ruling on marriage and divorce in 19:3-9 be applied without modification today
• to “Christian civilization” in general;
• to committed church members?