Saturday, October 24, 2015

John 9:35-10:21; Mark 10:2-12; Matthew 19:3-12; Luke 16:18; Mark 10:13-16; Matthew 19:13-15; Luke 18:15-17; Mark 10:17-22; Matthew 19:16-22; Luke 18:18-23

Comparing Jesus' teachings on divorce among the gospels, Mark 10:2-12, Matthew 19:3-12, and Luke 16:18, Mark records perhaps the more radical view that both the husband who divorces his wife and the wife who divorces her husband commit adultery whenever they marry another. By contrast Matthew and Luke report Jesus' words concerning the husband's role and responsibility in divorce and remarriage, but not the wife's. 

Matthew's gospel gives Jesus' exception to the prohibition of divorce--marital unfaithfulness. [Jesus says,] "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." (Matthew 19:9)

Luke's gospel records a prohibition, attributed to Jesus, that Mark's gospel and Matthew's gospel do not record, namely that "...the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Luke 16:18b)

Finally, both Mark's gospel and Matthew's gospel report that Jesus makes the connection between his teachings on divorce and the Scriptures' teachings on marriage. Jesus does so by quoting from the Bible. He doesn't quote from the Bible's moral code on marriage and divorce, however. Jesus quotes from Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24 instead, claiming the Creator's original intention for the husband and wife to become "one flesh" in marriage.

Jesus is not as concerned with what is to be permitted under the Jews' legal code as he is concerned with what is to be honored under the Creator's design.

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