Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More
Matthew’s book follows a geographic narrative of the ministry of the LORD Jesus Christ as He moves toward Jerusalem.
Creation of marriage
- Tempting Christ with a question (vs 3)
- God is the author of marriage, so He is the one who defines the relationship.
- Marriage definition
- Priority – Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother – Marriage is changing relational priorities.
- Pursuit – and shall cleave unto his wife – Pursuit meaning that marriage is accomplished on purpose; it requires you to move in the direction of forgiveness, charity, compassion, wisdom, selflessness
- Possession – and they two shall be one flesh. It is joining together.
- Trap is sprung (vs 7)
Carnality in marriage (vss 8-9)
- Moses’s exception to the rule is here: Deuteronomy 24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. The uncleanness is defined by the Lord as fornication in Matthew 5:32. Fornication is any sort of sexual activity outside of marriage. The difference between fornication and adultery is fornication is sexual activity outside of marriage while adultery has the element of betrayal. Fornication doesn’t carry the element of betrayal with it. It is marriage bed activity without a marriage. Fornication and Pornography are the same word: one describes the act and the other describes pictures.
- In 1 Corinthians 6:18 Paul describes the effects of fornication. The body is joined and what’s done cannot be undone.
- Sodom and Gomorrah – Jude 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Deuteronomy 29:23)
- Baal-peor, Balak, and Balaam – 1 Corinthians 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
Christianity and marriage (vss 11-12)
- Disciples understand the LORD to say how serious marriage is (vs 10)
- Disciples say in 19:10 that it’s better to stay single then. The Lord says that’s not exactly the case either in 19:11-12. Some men don’t need to be alone; it won’t be good for them. Just like God said with Adam, not good that man should be alone.
- If you thought you only had one shot at marriage and if it didn’t work you could never do it again, people would be a lot more careful with it.
- Jesus says and Paul will reiterate that in the present state of things if a person can serve God and stay single, that’s the thing to do. But that’s not something everyone is capable of doing.
- A few that were single in the Bible: Daniel, Mordecai, Paul, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, John the apostle, John the Baptist, Jonah,
- Paul’s further explanation in 1 Corinthians 7:7-16, 27-
