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Matthew 19 – Marriage and Divorce
I love it when my mind gets turned upside down! Jesus’ statements about marriage being for life, with one exception, sounds very rigid – and it is. Jesus’ statement was in contrast to how Hillel and his followers interpreted Deut.24. The common interpretation made any female mistake a cause for dissolution. Basically marriage for the female was based upon performance (“justification by law”). Jesus’ new law, while more rigid for males in Jewish culture, was freer and safer for females (foreshadowing the church). Instead of law being used to dismiss for any infraction, Jesus’ law allows mercy and forgiveness to bind the marriage together (“justification by grace”). Think about it, can any marriage survive without grace?
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