Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Harvester Podcast is brought to you by the Florida School of Preaching. Listen weekly to take a dive into biblical topics and thoughtful studies on things that matter to our eternal souls.
Welcome to the Harvester podcast.
We are glad that you are listening with us today.
I am one of the hosts, Brian Kenyon.
With me there will be other guest hosts and we will talk about this season some very
important things concerning marriage.
We have entitled this season four as expedient season marriage a study of first
Corinthians seven and marriage is at the basis of human existence as we have discussed
last episode and we are in these first two episodes of this season four we are looking at
some preliminary passages
that are very important to have a good handle on before we get into the discussion that
Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 7.
And those two passages are Genesis 2, 18 through 25, which is God's institution of
marriage, very important on the sixth day of creation.
And as we observe from that lesson, marriage as God ordained is not a Church of Christ
thing.
It's not a Law of Moses Judaism thing.
but rather marriage is for all humanity from the sixth day of creation until that last
generation that standing when jesus returns and so last week we did take a good look at
the genesis chapter two passage and today we want to examine matthew chapter nineteen and
i know the money key verses is verse nine but we want to look at the context from verses
three through twelve
and that will lay some foundation work so that when we do discuss first corinthians seven
when we refer to marriage will have a good idea of what's going on there and will be ever
able better to concentrate on some of the nuances and expediencies that paul mentions in
first corinthians seven and so we go back to matthew chapter nineteen course we know right
off the bat that this is during jesus's lifetime
and during jesus' lifetime who was according to galatians four four he was born uh...
under the law made of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law
and so jesus lived and died under judaism and but yet he is quoting a passage that was
given uh...
to patriarchal in the patriarchal to the page concerning the patriarchal period and then
we noted as we did in last episode that paul uses the same
passage quotes the same verse from Genesis 2.24, he quotes that in Ephesians chapter 5
verses 31 to 33, and we pointed out there that because that passage is applicable in all
dispensations of human history, patriarchal, mosaic, and Christian, that that is something
that is inherent to mankind, not just one covenant or the other.
but God's laws of marriage apply across the board to all mankind.
And so when we get to Matthew chapter 19 verse 3, the Pharisees also came to him testing
him.
And I'm reading from the New King James translation.
The Old King James says, trying him.
I think something to that effect.
But from this verse, and we're going read the whole context here just a minute and then go
back and discuss it, but uh in the beginning here where he talks about
The Pharisees came to him testing him and saying to him is it lawful for a man to divorce
or put away his wife for just any reason and So we know that they are not interested in
learning truth They are more interested in getting Jesus to contradict himself or to
contradict the law because they want to trap him in his words so that they have reason to
get rid of him or to accuse him at least and we seen this building through matthew and
we'll see it all the way to the end to his crucifixion but they're trying to trap jesus
they are not interested in truth however jesus does answer them and he is not somewhat
speaking to them as he is to the people who are around and hearing him which we know
includes we go down to verse ten it includes his disciples who are hearing this
presumably other bystanders as well also notice in here and i do not like the new king
james translation here were says is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any
reason and the reason why i don't like that translation of divorce is because divorce in
our culture uh...
seems indicate a legal proceeding but the word put away as translated in the uh...
king james translation
is more generic and i think this is more generic whether somebody goes to the court
proceedings of a legal divorce or whether someone just kicks his wife out of the house and
says don't come back without any legal proceedings is the same thing you put away it all
falls under that category of who sir puts away his wife whereas divorce is more limited to
the legal things but be that as it may uh...
point here in verse 3 is that they are not interested in truth, they are interested in
trying to trap Jesus in His words.
Now, we'll go ahead and read verses 4 through 12, 4 through 12, and if you're able to
follow along in a Bible, please do so.
If you're driving and listening to this or if you're out walking or whatever you might do
as you listen to podcasts, we appreciate you listening, and I will read the passages, so
no need to take your eyes off the road or the trail.
if that's what you're doing.
But in verse 4, He answered, Jesus answered and said to them, Have you not read that he
who made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause a man
shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one
flesh so then they are no longer two but one flesh Therefore what God has joined together
let not man separate
They said to him, Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to put
her away?
He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your heart, permitted you to divorce
your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife or puts away his wife, except for sexual
immorality, and marries another, commits adultery,
and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.
His disciples said to him, If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not
to marry.
But he said to them, All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been
given.
For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs
who were made eunuchs by men.
And there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs,
for the kingdom of heaven's sake he was able to accept it let him accepted through verse
twelve and so we first go back here to verse verses four verses actually verses four
through six now again as we mentioned the Pharisees are asking him this question not
because they're interested in truth but because they're trying to trap him in his words
now if you read most the commentaries on this so talk about to rabbi's who had differing
views on deuteronomy twenty four actually i guess what goes back to and will mention that
here in just a moment but they had different views now what now whether those rabbi's you
know other commentaries will talk about that that was hundreds of years later but there is
the you know the the thought and the idea
throughout much of uh...
judaism that you had these two schools of thought concerning putting away a wife one
school of thought said you could put away for almost any reason even if she burnt the
bread whereas the other school of thought said only for unchastity or impurity in the
marriage and so you had that that contrast going on culturally and so it appears that the
Pharisees are first trying to get him
to to say one thing which would offend the other group but if he said the other thing
would offend the other group and so trying to get him to go against the populace one way
or the other and so they think they have him trapped except when jesus answers them he
doesn't take the one school of thought or the other school of thought but he answered them
in verse four have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male
and female
and so he appeals back to scripture which of course they claim the Pharisees in verse
three they claim to follow the scripture and so he just simply asked them that question
have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female now
an incidental thing to point out here is that word beginning the word beginning that does
not always mean day one
We know that they were made on the sixth day of creation male and female but it's still
the beginning because it is still creation week and As we mentioned in last episode
Genesis 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without
form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and The Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the water that is an introduction to verses 3 through 31 and so that whole
week
those six days was god's creative activity verses three to thirty one and then the
conclusion of that week is found in in chapter two genesis two one through three where god
rested on the seventh day but all his creative activity was done on the first six days
uh...
exodus twenty verse eleven confirms this no you're not that in six days god created the
heavens and the earth and the seas and all that in them is
And so Genesis chapter 2 is verse 4 and following gives more details of the creation
account that was given in Genesis 1.
And of that creation account we have a more detailed account of why Eve was created,
namely to be a help suitable or help meet for Adam, and how that special relationship of
marriage must exist because the woman was a special creation.
if you will.
And so Jesus goes back to the beginning when He answers those Pharisees, and then He
quotes verse 5 and said, "'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be
joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So then they are not no longer
two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.'"
Now Jesus added a little to that in the latter part of verse 6, what God has joined
together, let not man separate.
We do not have that explicit statement back in Genesis chapter 2 or Genesis chapter 1, but
I would argue that that statement is implied in the very creation of the woman to the man.
And a part of that, if you go over to a somewhat parallel passage,
uh...
in matthew chapter five when jesus is giving that sermon giving that sermon on the mount
and in matthew chapter five course in the sermon on matthew chapter five you have the
section that begins in verse twenty one you have heard that was said by uh...
to those of old you shall not murder but then verse twenty two but i say to you and so you
have that throughout this context of the end of the chapter we have you know
you have heard it said but i say into you you have heard it said but i say into you and
most of time there's a passage quoted from the old testament you have heard it said now
shall not murder for example uh...
except for the last the one that says hate your enemy uh...
the old testament ever said that you have heard it said but i say indeed and so jesus is
not correcting moses
he is not really adding to what moses said but in these passages in matthew five twenty
one following jesus is simply saying what god intended all along through those
commandments another was god never intended for a person uh...
as long as he didn't pull the trigger uh...
he was not guilty of murder but he addresses jesus will address the heart of the matter
you know if you're angry at your brother without a cause then you might as you know this
you've you've in that sense murdered him and what he's getting at a few if you cut nip it
in the bud as we used to say uh...
you know i will never murder somebody if i'm never angry at him without a cause and when
he gets to adultery and he gets the marriage uh...
inverse thirty one he says therefore it has been said whoever divorces his wife let him
give her a certificate of divorce but i say in the u
that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to
commit adultery and whoever marries the woman who is divorced commits adultery so that's
very similar to matthew nineteen nine will get to in a moment i point all that out about
you have heard it said but i say in the u you have heard it said when jesus but i say in
the u and he does again
refer back to Genesis 2 24 and I would argue that Genesis 2 24 inherently you know it
implied that whosoever puts away his wife except to be for fornication commits adultery
and so it inherently teaches that even though it's not explicit in Genesis 2 as it is here
in Matthew chapter 5 as well as Matthew chapter 19 and so when we go back to Matthew
chapter 19
God created them male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave father and
mother and so what God has joined together let not man separate or put asunder and so he
answered their question at that point well verse seven you know here the Pharisees will if
we can get him to go against the school one of these two schools of thought then let's
trap him and see what he says about moses
And so verse 7, said to him, why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce
and to put her away?
All right, and so the question now goes back to Deuteronomy chapter 24.
And Deuteronomy chapter 24, let's turn to there if you're able to, but again, whatever you
do, don't take your eyes off the road.
But in Deuteronomy chapter 24 verses
ah 1 through 4 we have this statement, When a man takes a wife, marries her, and it
happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he found some uncleanness in her, and
he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his
house.
When she has departed from his house and goes and becomes another man's wife, if the
latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce,
puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took
her as his wife, then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his
wife after she has been defiled.
For that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which
the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance."
And so in that passage, and of course that was in the law of Moses, and we will talk about
this.
Well, in fact, let's just go ahead there right now.
Let's just finish reading that context in Matthew 19 and come back to Deuteronomy.
So as we continue reading in Matthew 19, after they said, why then did Moses command to
give a certificate of divorce and to put her away?
He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts,
Permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so and I say to you
whosoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and Marries another commits
adultery with commits adultery and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery
All right, and so I'm gonna go back to Deuteronomy and the reason why I wanted to read
that context in Matthew 19 is because of verse 8 Moses because of the hardness of your
hearts permitted you
to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
notice there's a big difference between their question, why did Moses command, and Jesus'
answer, Moses permitted you, he allowed you, because of the hardest of your heart.
now in the gospel mark this two words are switched the greek words are but and matthew's
account i think it's relevant here well when we go back and like i said this goes back to
do you me twenty four and so when we go back to do you know me twenty four we've we find
out here and there's something that we need to be aware of in deuteronomy twenty four that
the whole all for those verses as one big if then
statement if then statement and uh...
the king james is not a good translation on this verse verse twenty four well i guess the
whole context for this reason i'm a read the king james right here the king james says
when a man has taken a wife and married her and it come to pass that she find no favor in
his eyes because he has found someone clean this in her then
let him write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of her
house." The word then in the middle of verse 1 in the King James, there's no scriptural
justification for that word then.
That word then should be and, or something like that.
It is not the if, the only then, the only command in this whole passage.
durami twenty four one through four is inverse for her husband who divorce her must not
take her back to be his wife verses one through three are simply describing the conditions
that would be present for the then to take effect if this happens if this happens if this
happens if this happens if this happens and then he's not allowed to take a back but the
king james access if the conclusion then
let him write her a bill of divorcement but check your translation i think the king james
is the only one that has the word then in there as the king james new king james reads
when a man takes a wife and maryser and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes
because he has found some uncleanness to her and he writes her a bill of divorcement puts
her in his hand and sends her out of his house and so
and no no other translations i'm aware of has to then inverse one like the king james now
why do they do that i have no idea but i was suspect and has something to do with you know
king james who authorized the king james translation remember he was the head of the
church of england uh...
comes over to us as the episcopal in church but over there the church of england and why
how did the church of england start
well you gotta go back to king henry the eighth wanting to put away his wives and the
catholic church wouldn't let him so he said fully on you i'm gonna go ahead and do it
anyway and so he created his own church that pretty much reflected the roman catholic
church except for marriage and divorce and some other things as well and so perhaps that's
the reason why the king james has been
let him give her a writing of divorcement but the word then is not justified by the
language or the context simply what that clause is saying is just giving another condition
if you notice also inverse twenty four uh...
for man a chapter do not twenty four verse one takes a wife marys her and happens that she
finds a favor in his eyes because he has found someone clean this in her and he writes her
a bill of divorce puts it in her hand
and send her out of his house this and most commentaries would bring this out if they go
into any detail this is a public don't know ceremonies right were but this is a public
acknowledgement that he is putting her away uh...
a public acknowledgement uh...
of this and by the way that that word divorce actually certificate of divorce
in matthew nineteen is actually the word apostasia which is an apostasy of marriage if you
will that's just an incident thing all right so verse two of deuteronomy twenty four when
she has departed from his house well actually if you go back up he has found some unclean
this in her and that word unclean this is kind of vague uh...
the word itself seems to me some kind of shame and some translations will have it that way
a lot of commentators would suggest and had something to do with exposing nudity or
something like that inappropriate exposure or something like that but the fact is kind of
vague in the fact that it's not in detail is i think important because it doesn't matter
what the reason is now jesus commented on that and added because of the hardness of your
heart he allowed that but it doesn't matter what the reason is so much but he's talking
about again the only command is in verse four
And so he's leading up to that by showing these conditions.
When this condition is present, when this condition is present, when this condition is
present.
And then verse 2, when she has departed from his house and goes and becomes another man's
wife, if, and here's some more conditions, if the latter husband detests her and writes
her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if
the latter husband dies, who took her to be his wife, then...
and all major translations and i checked and even maybe the king james does it there
knowing the king james does doesn't even have the then in verse four how about that but
anyway the other translations do because that's really the true conclusion then and that's
the only imperative then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be
his wife after she has been defiled for that is an abomination before the lord
and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an
inheritance okay and so the then so if verse if the conditions of verse one are present if
the conditions in verse two are present if the conditions in verse three are present then
the former husband cannot take her back again and this would be for two reasons number one
it would prevent the husband uh...
plan yo-yo with his wife at the summer your younger viewer listeners out here maybe don't
know what a yo-yo is but some of us do you might know what a yo-yo is but anyways this
little round things got a string around and you anyway you play with it but you can throw
it out bring it back to it out bring it back and that's the point i'm making here this was
to protect the though the first wife or though you have a wife from being used as a yo-yo
my kick you out bring you back to kill bring out
out bring you back and uh...
we know that there's uh...
women even in our culture for some reason they keep going back to that abuse of
relationship where they are kicked out and then they're brought back kicked out brought
back and uh...
this is very unfortunate there's a lot of other issues going on with that and so we can
save that for another lesson some more somewhere down the road but this would prevent that
because if you're put away your wife under that old law you better think twice and hard
about it because if you do
there's no going back you can get her back again and then secondly would protect that
second marriage of the wife it would protect that marriage and as i mentioned in last
uh...
episode sometimes even in the church over the last few decades well i don't think so much
anymore but specially from the my awareness from the nineteen eighties when i became a
christian and even before that divorce couples were kinda look down upon uh...
even when that divorce was scriptural
and the remarriage was scriptural uh...
but even then sometimes church members will look look down on people like that consider
them secondary citizens of the kingdom when such should not be the case if everything is
scriptural but when jesus said because of the hardness of your heart that's why do ronnie
me is there twenty four one through five as jesus gives the demand divine commentary on it
and there's also another old testament commentary on that passage or least the hardness of
heart aspect of it and uh...
that is found in malachi malachi chapter two and uh...
that's in the context and many of us are familiar with that verse you know god is the one
that says god hates putting away or god hates divorce and if you go to malachi real
briefly we won't spend a whole lot of time in there but
i would encourage you to study that even more and if you have a hard time find malachi
it's go to the book of matthew and one one or two pages back and you'll find malachi but
in malachi uh...
chapter two and uh...
course in verse sixteen uh...
for the lord god of israel says that he hates divorce and that's the passage there of
course is uh...
important to know what the board what kind of divorce does god hate all right what kind of
divorce is god hate
the kind of divorce God hates is the one He describes right here.
And if you go back up to verse 13, Malachi 2, verse 13, and this is the second thing you
do, you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying, so He does not
regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
Yet you say, for what reason?
the Lord hath witnessed between you and the wife of your youth." Now the wife of your
youth occurs a handful of times throughout the Old Testament, and what that term refers to
is your legitimate God-ordained wife, your legitimate God-ordained wife.
And so there is a problem that God says to Malachi's audience that there is a problem
with you and the wife of the youth whom you have dealt treacherously, yet she is your
companion and your wife by covenant.
And so she is your legitimate covenant wife.
But did he not make them one having a remnant of the spirit?
And why one?
He seeks a godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously
with the wife of his youth, for the Lord God of Israel hates putting away." And if you go
back and read up in the context, actually I should have began in verse 10, if you go back
up to verse 10, "'Have we not all one Father?
Has not God created us?
Why do you deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers?
Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in
Jerusalem.'"
for judah has profaned and i like this term right here the lord's holy institution which
he loves he has married the daughter of a foreign god so marriage is a holy institution
god ordained marriage is a holy institution they have gone against that by putting away
the wife of their youth their covenant wife and by marrying the daughters of a strange god
and so a foreign god may the lord cut
off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this being awake and aware yet who brings an
offering to the Lord of Hosts and then the verses we just read and so they would put away
they dealt treacherously some translations verse 15 15 14 and 15 have violently in there
and so they have done this and so they have gotten rid unscripturally put away the wives
of their youth
to marry these foreign gods and in that putting away they have done violently or
treacherously and they have profane the holy institution of marriage when we talk about
violently and treacherously you know think back all the way back in genesis chapter twelve
i'm thinking of are stevie chapter twenty off the bat where abraham lied about sarah to a
bimlet
and the lima abit them alec thought sarah was fair game and so he took sarah in fact let
me just go here and read this in jenesis chapter twenty so he took sarah and then all the
lord appeared to him to a bit like that is well let me let me read this because i think it
reads better than i can explain it but inverse uh...
one in abraham journey from
there to the south and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur and stayed in Giroar.
Now Abraham said to Sarah his wife, She is my sister, and Abimelek king of Giroar sent and
took Sarah.
But God came to Abimelek in a dream by night and said to him, Indeed you are a dead man,
because the woman who you have taken, she is a man's wife.
But Abimelek had not come to her,
and he said, Lord, will you slay a righteous nation also?
Did he not say to me, she is my sister, and she, even she herself said, he is my brother?
Now notice this, in the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands, I have done this.
And God said to him in a dream, yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your
heart, for I also withheld you from sinning against me, therefore I did not let you touch
her.
Now therefore restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and
shall live.
But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all yours." And so
if you read the rest of that, Abimelek is kind of irate at Abraham for saying that Sarah
was his sister.
Now this is way before the law of Moses, but yet Abimelek knew that it's wrong to have
another man's wife.
and if in this probably why one of the reasons anyway why abraham would lie about it
because that whole culture new i would probably i would argue that culture new that the
only way and this goes back to genesis to that the only way that the someone could be
could marry another man's wife is if that man died and we find that principle in the new
testament as well and so
abeilek wanted sir bad enough and he knew that there was abraham's wife he might just
decide to kill abraham so he could have sarah so sir would be free but regardless of them
like new that one man one wife for life and joseph later on do that as well in genesis
thirty nine well how do these people know that well they knew it because that's god
created it that way and it was passed down through the ages
even until God's will was put in writing with the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
And so because of the hardness of your heart, as we go back to Matthew 19, because of the
hardness of your heart, God allowed you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it
was not so.
So there were some exceptions in marriage under the Old Covenant that lowered the
standards.
because of the hardness of your heart, Jesus puts those standards right back up where they
were from the beginning.
And that is one man, one wife, for life.
And again,
part of the old law in keeping the nation or the people of Israel intact.
You know, this is why they had the inheritance laws, the marriage laws, and the marriage
laws, by the way, were not just for, you know, a Jew had to marry a Jew, but the marriage
laws, you had to marry someone from your own tribe.
And one of the reasons why is because that nationality, those nations, that nation, those
people had to stay intact until the promised seed
should come or would come as, you know, introduced to us in Genesis 3 15 and then narrowed
down to the seat of Abraham in Genesis 12 and then subsequently narrowed down to Isaac and
Jacob and then Jesse and David and then all the way down to Christ.
And so those nations, those tribes had to stay intact.
Of course, God could work providentially as He did when that got out of order.
with some in the genealogy but the purpose one of the purposes of keeping those tribes
together with the marriage laws was to bring christ the promise seed through the lineage
of abraham isaac and jacob jesse david etc and of course now that that's that's done uh...
we're no longer under that system we're under the gospel uh...
those marriage laws and stuff do not apply all the way at least marrying in your own tribe
and stuff
and we'll talk more about that when we get into first corinthians seven but the marriage
law that god ordained in genesis two twenty four that still holds true all the way until
jesus comes again so uh...
after jesus says that inverse s nine you know he says well actually because the hearts of
your heart the matthew nineteen nine and i say to you
whoever divorces or puts away his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another
commits adultery and whoever marries her who is divorced or put away commits adultery
alright and so here and here's another i do not like the translation sexual immorality
that seems to be too general i would consider you know going to a strip joint and you know
doing stuff there physically
would constitute sexual immorality but not fornication i was asked one time by dear sister
who walked in on her husband when he was viewing pornography and doing something there he
shouldn't do whether it was scriptural to put him away for fornication and if she could
remarry and like any other fs o p student would do for student graduate i've said well you
know what
let me study that get back to you next week and so i start studying that pretty hard and
of course once i got the first karenthian six and that's what really convinced me of what
i'm about to say right now that fornication which really the lexicans define it as
unlawful sexual intercourse and that i believe is bauer art gingrich's definition unlawful
sexual intercourse
and in my research unlawful there doesn't mean man's but unlawful according to God's law
and then also intercourse and of course Bowers lexicon was originally written in German
and then translated into English I think 1951 was the first English version of that but uh
and so his word intercourse doesn't mean copulation
uh...
but they can refer to interaction interaction unlawful sexual interaction now course i
grew up in an here and person and become a christian does eighteen years old never heard
the church christ before then but in the locker room discussions we would have you know
well i'm i made a home run with that girl last night and of course i never made a home run
uh...
that since but anyway uh...
and what that man you had sexual intercourse with somebody she said he'd home run and he
just held hands or just got a
you sit across the table and eat pizza then that was i got the first base i'm not sure
what second base would be i'm not sure what rounding third would be but somewhere along
the line there there would be fornication first corinthians seven i will bring up first
corinthians seven here verse one first corinthians seven verses one and two now concerning
the things were of you wrote unto me uh...
Let me get over there and read that for you.
So I got the Bible here.
1 Corinthians 7, and of course when he says, now concerning the things whereof you wrote
unto me, chapter 7 begins a section through the whole rest of the chapter, about five or
six times that phrase will come up, now concerning the things you wrote, or just now
concerning.
And apparently the Corinthians had written him a letter before this, and 1 Corinthians in
many ways is a response to that letter.
and in that letter they ask paul a bunch of questions we don't have all the the questions
but we do have paul's answers and so his answer here which you wrote it to me it's good
for a man not to touch a woman and when the context there is a present distress going on
probably persecution related we'll talk about more about that but he's advising that they
stay single but even in this chapter where he's advising that they stay single he does
say but if you marry you have not sinned a couple times in that and even here in verse two
though it's good for man not to touch a woman nevertheless to because of sexual immorality
let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband the old king james
which i like that translation better here it says nevertheless to a to avoid fornication
let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband notice he says
it's good for men not to touch a woman
they parallels that with fornication in the next verse and so some touching would involve
fornication you don't have to you know copulation is not not where it starts and i don't
know i'm not here to tell you what touching constitutes fornication what touching doesn't
but we don't want to see how close we can get to sin we want to stay as far away from it
as possible
Matthew chapter 5, whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery
with her already in his heart.
But adultery in the heart is not the same as literal adultery or fornication as Jesus
addresses here in Matthew 19 verse 9.
All right, but whosoever marries, and so it's not, going back to Matthew 19, 9, it's not
the putting away except to be for fornication that constitutes adultery.
So putting away a wife is not adultery, but whoever puts away a wife and marries another
commits adultery.
And so that's where the adultery comes in, and marrying here in this verse 9 assumes that
there will be a sexual relationship with that, and so whoever marries her that is divorced
commits adultery as well.
And so that's where it is.
Now this is not hard to understand.
you need help done it misunderstand this and let me show you there's plenty of help out
there to help you misunderstand this and i was preaching a small congregation one time in
florida and that filling in preaching supposed to be filling in for a couple years to the
hard one of our students who's going to graduate until this didn't preaching wasn't for
him which is good for him to know that then and so i'm the preaching there for six years
until i became director of the school here at florida school of preaching
but three occasions occur where people off the streets now one of them was related to one
of our members distantly but there were three couples who came off the street that wanted
me to do their wedding ceremony and so i have a procedure have a questionnaire that i give
them and when they asked me i say what they want let me give this questionnaire fill it
out get it back to me and we'll meet next week on monday seven o'clock at night whatever
it was set a time but their homework is to fill out that that form and that form and asks
have you ever been married
if yes, what happened?
You know, something like that.
And so when I get that before we meet that first week, I know at least initially whether
they have a right to remarry or not.
And so if they don't have a right to remarry according to scripture, and there were three
of these couples that did that, all three of them, I did other weddings of people I knew
and passed the test and all that.
But anyway, when I knew they didn't have a right to remarry, I wouldn't tell them that.
We would just meet on our first meeting and we would study God-ordained marriage.
and i would go over pretty much the same lesson that i gave in the first episode of this
season on genesis two twenty four and we would swt we would you know i'd read a verse he'd
read a verse he'd read a verse we go around and read genesis two eighteen to twenty five
and explain it and all that and then we go to matthew nineteen we've worked with we would
read verse three through nine i'd read a verse he'd read a verse he'd read a verse and
every time without exception all three of those times and these were people that were not
scholars you know they didn't even know where the book of Matthew was but every time
without exception we get to verse nine and I would ask them to explain verse nine to me
and without exception every single one of them would say well that says unless I divorce
my wife for cheating or for fornication as one guy said I have no right to remarry without
exception all six of those couples realized that
and our explain to them well that's why i cannot do your wedding ceremony because
according to what we just read you have no right to marry now the women would be the ones
who would get angry if they did but the guys and they would accept it but i i i say that
the same that it's easy to understand what's being said here it's just will they listened
to what god has to say
and so it's not hard to understand.
In fact, the disciples understood it.
Notice in verse 10, his disciples said in him, if this is the case of the man with his
wife, it is better not to marry.
And he said unto them, all who cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it is
given.
So even his disciples knew if marriage is that strict, if marriage is that strict, I
guess, uh from lack of better word, then it's better not to marry.
and they have a point.
You know, don't marry.
We address this with commitment in the first episode with Genesis 2, but if you cannot be
committed to somebody for life, do not marry.
We made reference to the best time to get a divorce is before you get married.
It's not worth losing your soul over uh to get into a marriage that you're not going to be
committed to.
and then be divorced and then remarried without God's approval, that's going to cost your
soul.
And so so important that we take it seriously as God has given.
And it's not, God is not asking for the impossible for those who are unscripturally
divorced to remain single.
It'll be difficult, but it's not impossible.
For he says in verse 12, if there are eunuchs who are made eunuchs of men or eunuchs from
their mother's womb, these are those who were born with
defects or Whatever the proper word for that is today, but they cannot their reproductive
organs have or did not develop or something And they cannot have children so they're made
that way from their mother's womb Some are made eunuchs of men and I would say Daniel
Shadrach Meshach and Abednego would be in that category When they're made eunuchs they
usually castrate those servants So they won't be tempted and all that kind of stuff
because a lot of times they would be over the harem we see that with uh
in the book of Esther, and we see that in some other places as well.
But then some, he says in verse 12, make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's
sake.
And so they are made eunuchs because they are committing themselves to God's kingdom, and
they're going to forego those intimate relationships because they're not in the proper
sphere of marriage as God ordained.
The Apostle Paul would have fit into that category.
and he'll say some things in first corinthians seven that will discuss on that as well
when we get to that but what matthew nineteen nine again is telling us is it's it's it's
based on based in genesis two twenty four and it's saying that there's no exceptions for
divorce and remarriage except for fornication and then it's only the innocent a
fornication spouse in a scriptural divorce that is free
remarry with God's approval, providing she remarries someone who is approved of by God to
remarry.
And so those are the two preliminary passages that I wanted to point out before we begin
our in-depth look at 1 Corinthians chapter 7.
And again, season 4 is about the expediencies of marriage, a study of marriage in 1
Corinthians
chapter 7.
And so we appreciate your joining us for this podcast and this discussion of Matthew 19,
9.
And so now the foundation is laid for us to begin a study next episode on 1 Corinthians
chapter 7.
We'd love to hear your feedback and please share this podcast with others who might be
interested or who need to be interested in this topic.
We look forward to your joining us again.
in episode three as we continue our discussion on 1st Corinthians chapter seven and the
expediencies of marriage.