MARK 10:1-12

MARK 10:1-12

MARK 10:1-12 - Some of the sect of the Pharisees came to Him and put a question regarding divorce. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?” The inquiry was not made sincerely. They were not looking for instruction, but rather for an opportunity to bring a formal accusation against Him. If possible they desired to expose Him as an unsafe and heretical teacher who taught contrary to the law of Moses.

He foiled them by asking them, “What did Moses command you?” They replied that Moses had permitted that a bill of divorcement be given and the unwanted or unloved wife put away. 

   Jesus declared that this had been allowed because of the hardness of men’s hearts, in order that a wife who had no favor in her husband’s eyes might not have to endure even greater indignities than being divorced. But this was not God’s highest thought as to the marriage relationship.

From the beginning God intended one woman for one man, when He made our first parents male and female, and said, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain—(not they three, or more)—shall be one flesh.” Therefore when two are united in wedlock they are no more to be considered as independent personalities, free to go or stay as they please, but they are one flesh. 

   Jesus added, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Men may make laws that violate this divine order, but no human decree can nullify God’s Word. Marriage is a life partnership. Elsewhere Jesus shows that if one of the contracting persons proves unfaithful and by taking up with another in cohabitation breaks the tie, the innocent one is free (Matt. 19:9). But apart from such a breach the tie is indissoluble save by death, as He made clear to His disciples when they were in the house again, away from the multitude. To put away one’s wife and marry another is to commit adultery; and likewise if a wife puts away her husband and marries another man, she becomes an adulteress.