Discussion on Marriage and Divorce – Part 4

These comments on re-marriage and divorce started in a first article post that I attempted to describe the position no divorce/no remarriage.  The next post examined the claim that this position is in fact the historical position. The fact is that it is not the historical position. I followed up with that by addressing the claim that the exception clause in Matthew 19:9 pointed to specific issues of incest or unfaithfulness during the betrothal period.  The word, I showed in that article was in fact a word that covers a broad category of sexual sin.

 Christ’s teaching on this topic is found in Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 19:3-9, Mark 10:2-12 and Luke 16:18.   It was only Matthew that included the exception clause:

 ““It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” (Matthew 5:31–32, ESV)

 And

 “He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”” (Matthew 19:8–9, ESV)

 Some critical scholars suggest that Matthew added this phrase.  They would say that the exception clause is of human origin.  It’s called redactional addition.[1]  First of all that conclusion is based on a faulty assumption.  The assumption is that Mark and Luke would disagree with Matthew.  The reality is that no Gospel is complete in the sense that they give a comprehensive record of everything that Jesus did and said (e.g., John 21:25). Mark wrote to a specific audience as did Luke and John.  Matthew’s audience was clearly the Jews.

 The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as Israel’s Messiah. “Matthew crafted his account to demonstrate Jesus’ messianic identity, his inheritance of the Davidic kingship over Israel, and his fulfillment of the promise made to his ancestor Abraham (Matt. 1:1) to be a blessing to all the nations (Gen. 12:1–3). Thus, in large part Matthew’s Gospel is an evangelistic tool aimed at his fellow Jews, persuading them to recognize Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah.”^[2]

Divorce was a subject that was being debated and of particular interest to Matthew’s audience. The other Gospel writers mention it in passing (John not at all). It was Matthew’s audience that was interested in the particularities, the parsing, the deconstructing and analyzing of the Law.  Therefore, it seems appropriate that Matthew provides an expansive view of the topic.

It is important to note that Matthew is consistent between Chapter 5 and 19.  It is also important that both passages are addressing different contexts.  Christ is affirming the issue of marriage and divorce within the context of Kingdom living in Chapter 5.  In Chapter 19, we are in the midst of Jewish leaders trying to trip up our Lord. “Their "test," here, is probably delivered in the hope that Jesus would say something to damage his reputation with the people or even seem to contradict Moses . . . here it is set in a theological disputation that raises the question of what divorces are allowed.”[3]  That to me makes Matthew 19, the logical and proper text to examine, which I intend to do in the next article.

 

 

---

[1] E.G., http://julianfreeman.ca/articles/divorce-exception-clauses-matthews-gospel

^[2] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1816). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[3] Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/VI. Opposition and Eschatology: The Triumph of Grace (19:3-26:5)/A. Narrative (19:3-23:39)/1. Marriage and divorce (19:3-12), Book Version: 4.0.2