Matthew 19:1-9

Michael E. Grooms

Matthew 19 begins with Jesus leaving Galilee and entering the region of Judea. He is followed by large crowds of people as He so often was. Many in this crowd wanted to see Jesus perform a miracle; others wanted to be the recipients of such miracles. Jesus indeed did heal the sick there in Judea. There was yet another element in that crowd. This was the group of Pharisees who often followed Jesus around looking for some means by which they might persuade the people that He was a fraud. They often watched Jesus and His disciples to see if they might catch them in some action for which they could justly accuse them. Since they could find no means for just accusation, they decided to try to entrap Jesus with a question which they seemed to believe would divide His followers.

The discourse found in Matthew 19:3-9 centered on a subject of controversy that divided two schools of thought. The controversy concerned the meaning of the term “uncleanness”, or “indecency” found in Deut. 24:1 which states: “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.” The school of Hillel believed that Moses was permitting divorce for any trivial cause. The school of Shammai held that divorce was allowed only for sexual immorality. In Matthew 5:31-32 Jesus had already condemned divorce except it be for the cause of fornication. It is likely that the Pharisees who were questioning Jesus wanted to create for Him a dilemma so that regardless of His answer they could either show Him in opposition to Moses, or divide His followers between the two schools of thought.

The question was posed: “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” The question relates directly to the writing of a bill of divorcement in Deut. 24:1. The Pharisees are appealing to Mosaic Law and are hoping to entrap Jesus by Mosaic Law. How they must have been surprised when Jesus did not appeal to the Law of Moses to answer their question but rather a universal law for all of mankind given by God in the beginning of the world! Jesus’ answer merits a close examination.

“Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female?” (Matt. 19:4). Here is the basis for that which follows. Genesis 1:27 states that God made male and female, but Gen. 2:18-24 relates why God made them male and female, and the manner in which they were to abide together. God said that “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Gen. 2:18). God then performed the first wedding ceremony. He presented Eve to Adam as his wife. It was God, not Adam, who stated the words found in Gen. 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” These words were penned by Moses before he ever permitted the divorcement of Deut. 24:1 which was given to regulate divorce, not to endorse it. God’s marriage law is simple, and it applies to all the descendants of Adam and Eve. God’s marriage law transcends the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian dispensations. When a man leaves his father and mother to cleave to a woman (marriage) they are joined together by God and become one in His sight. Jesus stated that Moses “suffered” the Jews at one time to put away their wives because of the hardness of their hearts (Matt. 9:8). Moses did not command such, contrary to the claim of the Pharisees. It was suffering on his part.

Paul’s statement in 1 Cor. 13:9-11 concerning miraculous gifts may shed some light here. He said “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” A child is permitted things a man is not as he grows to better understanding. The Mosaic Law paved the way to God’s new covenant with man through Jesus Christ. The Jews under that law had not come to the perfect law of God. Jesus came to bring a better covenant. The Mosaic Law was but a shadow of that better way (Heb. 8). Jesus said that from the beginning, it was not so. God never intended for divorce to be a part of His marriage plan. Jesus makes it clear that there is a distinction between what was “suffered” by Moses and what is God’s will for His people. In Matt. 19:9 when Jesus states “And I say unto you” He clearly signifies that regardless of what had been allowed under the Mosaic Law, He is about to reveal God’s will from that point forward. It is nothing new. It is but a reiteration of that which had been established from the beginning in the Garden of Eden.

In Matt. 19:6 Jesus gives a direct command concerning marriage and divorce. He says, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” The “therefore” is the fact that God has made the husband and wife one. This is essential to understanding what our Lord later says in verse nine. It is God who has joined the husband and wife in marriage. Man cannot revoke the marriage bond that God has joined. The man and woman may get a divorce. The divorce may be ordered by a judge and recognized by the state. They may be “put asunder” in that they live separate lives from that point on. Regardless of all the above considerations, man cannot revoke the marriage bond that God has created without God’s approval. Thus the man and woman are still bound by their marriage vow and held under the marriage covenant by God. The one exception given concerning this is in the case of infidelity. Jesus states: “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” (Matt. 19:9). The exception to the marriage law is that one may be freed from the bond of marriage if they are faithful but their spouse commits fornication (sexual infidelity).

It should be noted that Jesus states one commits adultery if they divorce their spouse for any reason other than fornication and marry again. How can it be adultery if they are no longer married? Adultery, by definition, can only occur within marriage. It is adultery because the marriage bond is still valid. One who has divorced for any reason other than fornication is not freed from the marriage bond by God, regardless of what a judge or a preacher may say! Notice the words of Jesus in the parallel passage recorded by Mark: “Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her” (Mark 10:11). Against whom is the adultery committed? Against the man’s first wife. The man who divorces his wife without scriptural reason (fornication) and marries another is no better than the man who still dwells with his first wife but has an adulterous affair with another. In both cases the man is guilty of committing adultery against the woman to whom God has bound him. Mark 10:12 demonstrates that the same is true of the woman who divorces her husband and marries another.

That which constitutes adultery continues to be adultery as long as one remains in that state. God will forgive all sins but requires repentance, which in this case means the adultery must cease. Forgiveness of the sin does not make the sinful act sinless. Those involved in an adulterous second (third, fourth, etc..) marriage must put an end to such a sinful state. If reconciliation with the first spouse is possible, it is to be desired. If reconciliation is not possible, one must live a life of celibacy (1 Cor. 7:10, 11). Jesus states that some will do so for the sake of the kingdom (Matt. 19:12).