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Matthew 19:9 – Not New Law
Were Jesus’ statements concerning marriage, divorce and remarriage in Matthew 5; Matthew 19; Mark 10 and Luke 16 new law for the New Testament age or a clarification of the Old Testament teachings? That was a question recently asked, and I cannot answer it…because neither choice would be a correct answer. What Jesus taught about marriage, divorce and remarriage goes further back than the Mosaical Law; that is, all the way back to the beginning. For succinctness, let’s just look at His statements in Matthew 19.
Let’s set the background – Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking…(Matthew 19:3).
Controversy involving marriage, divorce and remarriage is nothing new. As a lesson for us, may we always ask questions to help and not to hurt! Seeking truth is more spiritually minded that seeking to trap someone.
Question 1
Matthew 19:3 – “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” The Pharisees are alluding to Deuteronomy 24:1 which begins, “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her….
Answer 1
Matthew 19:4-6 – And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, [5] and 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’? [6] “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
Sometimes answering a question simply leads to another question. This can be for clarification or, as most likely in the minds of the Pharisees, they think they have set the trap, and Jesus has walked right into it – now to go for the kill…at least in their minds!
Question 2
Matthew 19:7 – They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Again the Pharisees refer to Deuteronomy 24:1 which continues, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, (Deuteronomy 24:1)….
Answer 2
Jesus’ answer can be divided into three parts:
Matthew 19:8-9 – He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. [9] “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Answer 2a – Deuteronomy 24 was prescribed because of the hardness of hearts of the husbands and not because of any sin of the wife – that is why I do not believe the indecency was adultery. The indecency was something the husband considered indecent – not something God considered sinful. This indecency therefore, couldn’t have been for the same reason that Matthew 19:9 allows for divorce, that is, fornication; unless one wants to admit that God allows us to divorce for fornication due to the hardness of our own hearts.
Answer 2b – Deuteronomy 24 contradicted the original purpose of marriage and continued to contradict it although permitted by God. In Greek, perfect tense of a verb means, “and now still is (an action whose results or effects go on); an action leaving a condition or state of lasting significance or status).” When Jesus said that “from the beginning it has not been this way” He states that divorce was not part of God’s original plan. God never intended divorce. Marriage – as God intended – was designed to be as permanent as our flesh; hence we are one flesh with our spouse.
Answer 2c – Therefore the answer to our original query is that Matthew 19:9 cannot be a clarification of Deuteronomy 24 since Jesus already did that in answer 2ab. Consequently, that leaves two options: 1) Jesus is making new law; 2) Jesus is restating what the original intent was.
I opt for the second option for the following reasons:
1) Jesus refers back to Genesis 2 showing that the Deuteronomy 24 passage – although allowed by God – contradicted God’s original purpose (i.e., perfect tense of “has not been this way.”) No, God does not contradict Himself, but when man contradicts God’s purposes – God provides answers. Wouldn’t we all agree that man sinning contradicts God’s original purpose for us? Wouldn’t we all agree that God provides an answer?
2) Understanding Jesus’ exception of fornication as an implied exception to the “one flesh” actually is about as close to a necessary implication that there is. Fornication is a sin involving the flesh of another.
3) In conclusion, apparently everyone in the O.T. who did not follow God’s original purpose (i.e., perfect tense of “has not been this way”) was guilty of adultery even though God allowed divorce due to the hardness of hearts of the husband. Inferred from that is that the purpose of divorce was to protect those who suffered unnecessarily due to another’s hardness of heart. Think – would God have allowed an exception to protect those who had hard hearts?
Application to the Pharisees – Woe! Because of our hardness of hearts, we are committing adultery. Because of our hardness of hearts, we are making our wives commit adultery.
Application to the Disciples – Woe! We better never marry, that is tough.
In conclusion, Jesus simply declared that what was from the beginning, existed during the Law of Moses (perfect tense, “has not been this way”), and exists today. Let’s make our marriages according to God’s original purpose!
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