Get Real! This is the 21st Century! Times have changed since the days of Jesus. Can you expect us to live by a marriage law made 2,000 years ago?
That question is settled for Christians in (Matthew 19:3-9). The times of Jesus were entirely different from the times of Adam and Eve. The culture of Palestine was not the culture of Eden, yet Jesus without hesitation cited and reinforced a law of marriage that was enacted at least 4,000 years earlier when there were only two individuals on earth. From the text, several significant facts are evident.
God is the author of marriage. “He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female’” (Matthew 19:4). This is a reference to (Genesis 1:27) and (Genesis 2:21-25). When God had made the woman “He brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:22) and thereafter she was called his wife (Genesis 2:25). This was God’s provision for man because it was “not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). It is still not good for man to be alone, and when a man and woman covenant to be husband and wife, God joins them together even as He joined Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:6).
God is the authority over marriage. As creator of man and author of marriage, He has the right to regulate marriage. No king, legislature, court, church, parent or individual has the right to make any law that would amend the law of God on this or any other subject.
God stated the law of marriage. Jesus cited God’s law in the text we are considering: “He who made them at the beginning…said ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’” (Matthew 19:4-5). This simple statement contains numerous necessary inferences. (1) Marriage is to be heterosexual; a man is joined to his wife (a feminine word in the original language). (2) Marriage is to be monogamous. A man is “joined to his wife”—not wives. “They two (not three or four) shall become one flesh.” (3) Marriage sanctifies the sexual union. This is the significance of “one flesh” (See I Corinthians 6:16). In marriage the bed is “undefiled” but outside of marriage it is fornication and/or adultery (Hebrews 13:4).
Marriage is to be permanent. Jesus drew another inference from this statement: “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6). This harmonizes with all other teaching in scripture concerning God’s purpose for marriage. Malachi testifies that God “hates divorce” (Malachi 2:16). Surely God would be displeased with anyone who destroyed a bond that He had formed. This is the law of marriage in a nutshell: one man, one woman for life. This is the way it was for Adam and Eve and this is the way God intends it to be for all time. We must not become so involved with side issues that we lose sight of the original purpose. It is only when marriage is viewed as permanent that it produces the blessings that God intended.
A Marriage can be broken before death. Not by the law of a human legislature or by decree of a judge, and not in a manner pleasing to God—but it can be broken. This is not evident in the model (Adam and Eve) nor is it evident in the original law of God. However, Jesus, as God’s infallible interpreter, makes this clear in (Matthew 19:9) when He says, “Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” When one marriage partner violates the vows of marriage and engages in sexual relations with an outsider, the innocent party is allowed to divorce the guilty party and remarry. If the divorce occurs for any other reason, either party who remarries commits adultery and so does the partner who is taken.
Can the guilty party remarry? Human reasoning might conclude that this would be acceptable. But can human reasoning be trusted? My own reasoning would never have seen in the original law of God the possibility of any acceptable divorce and remarriage. I only know that the innocent party may divorce and remarry because Jesus allowed for it. Jesus gave no hint that the guilty party may remarry and I cannot trust my reasoning sufficiently to condone it. I do not believe it can be done by faith.
The disciples apparently concluded from the words of Jesus that marriage was too binding to be expedient (Matthew 19:10). From other scripture, however, it is clear that Jesus did not intend to discourage marriage, but He surely gave His disciples, both then and now, reason to understand its solemn significance so that it will not be entered casually or its commitment taken lightly.
~ by Sewell Hall