Jesus teaching on marriage

Jesus ' Teaching on Marriage

Marriage is a that we find throughout the Bible from the first chapter until the last . Jesus , in Matthew 19 , was asked by the Pharisees to comment on the subject of divorce - v 3 - 6 . Some Pharisees approached him , and to put him to the test , they said 'Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever

4 He answered 'Have you not read that the Creator from the beginning made them male and female

5 and that he said : This

is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes to his wife , and the two become one flesh

6 They are no longer two , therefore , but one flesh . So then , what God has united , human beings must not divide

7 They said to him 'Then why did Moses command that a writ of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce

8 He said to them 'It was because you were so hard-hearted , that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives , but it was not like this from the beginning

9 Now I say this to you : anyone who divorces his wife-I am not speaking of an illicit marriage-and marries another , is guilty of adultery

10 The disciples said to him 'If that is how things are between husband and wife , it is advisable not to marry

11 But he replied 'It is not everyone who can accept what I have said but only those to whom it is granted

So it seems that Jesus taught that Christian marriage should not easily be dissolved , though verse 11 could be interpreted as meaning there are occasions when it can be . In giving Jesus ' teaching on divorce Matthew here follows his Marcan source found in HYPERLINK "http /www .usccb .org /nab /bible /mark /mark10 .htm " \l "v2 " Mark 10 :2-12 as he does Q in HYPERLINK "http /www .usccb .org /nab /bible /matthew /matthew5 .htm " \l "v31 " Matthew 5 :31-32 , cf HYPERLINK "http /www .usccb .org /nab /bible /luke /luke16 .htm " \l "v18 " Luke 16 :18 Verses 10 - 12 of Matthew 19 are peculiar to Matthew and deal with the subject of celibacy for the kingdoms sake

Generally in Judaism at the time there were two schools of thought on the subject named after the rabbis who promoted them . The teaching of Hillel was quite strict , while Shammai allowed divorce for more trivial reasons . In the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine commentary on this passage the writer notes that Jesus ' words are similar to those of the Qumran Community

In Mark 10 v 3 we have some words that Matthew chose to omit . They replied "Moses

permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her " Christ quotes from HYPERLINK "http /www .usccb .org /nab /bible /genesis /genesis1 .htm \l "v27 " Genesis 1 :27

and 2 v 24 to prove that God intended that marriage be permanent

Looking at the life of Christ himself , rather than...