Introduction
What is marriage?
Marriage is a relationship marked by an unbreakable commitment of a man and a woman to each other for as long as they live.
What is it that makes the marriage relationship unique?
It is unique because God gives the gift of sexual union only to married couples; cf. the seventh command.
Why must marriage involve an unbreakable commitment?
Because God commands it and because such a relationship is capable of bringing new life into the world.
So it is correct to say that marriage results in a family.
Yes, a marriage creates a family and a family is that environment in which children are best raised to flourish in life.
Genesis
Where does God institute marriage?
On the sixth day of creation, God created Adam. Then Moses records for us:
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18)
When no suitable helper is found for Adam among the animals, God causes Adam to fall into a deep sleep. While Adam sleeps, God creates Eve from Adam’s rib. When Adam sees Eve, he immediately recognizes that she is a human person just like himself, made in the image of God. At this point, Moses records this:
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
This is the institution of marriage.
Why is this verse so important?
It shows us that marriage was something created and instituted by God Himself. It is not something that humans developed.
Malachi
Jesus
Matthew 5:27–32
Matthew 19:3–9 (Mark 10:2–12)
How are we to understand Jesus’ teaching in this passage?
It is clear that when the Pharisees came to Jesus with their question, they intended to get His opinion on the longstanding debate between Shammai and Hillel.
Who were Shammai and Hillel?
They were very famous rabbis; see Hillel (p354) and Shammai (p751).
What was their disagreement?
They had many disagreements, but one of the most famous was their disagreement as to what constituted grounds for divorce. Michalis writes (p140):
The school of Hillel maintained, that Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife for any reason whatever, even the most frivolous; such, for instance, as having overdone his dinner, or because he happened to fall in with a more beautiful woman; and in this notion, the Hillelites were no doubt correct, if the strict meaning of the Mosaic statute is the point in question.
The school of Shammai, whose opinions in point of morality were more commendable, would not admit that a man could conscientiously divorce his wife for every reason alike. But falling, in like manner, into the error of making a civil statute the source of morality, they explained the Mosaic expression, ערות דבר, (Deuteronomy 24:1) the nakedness of a thing, of acts of shame, and maintained, that Moses only permitted divorce, in the case of the wife having trespassed against chastity. It is very strange that so many of our commentators and divines have agreed with this school in an explanation of the words of Moses so palpably improper, after Christ pronounced so distinct and just a decision, and declared, that Moses, on civil grounds, and only on account of his people’s hardness of heart, permitted, what HE, as repugnant to conscience, must prohibit in his disciples.
How does Jesus respond to this inquiry?
First, he shows that Hillel was correct in his understanding of Moses. For all that, Jesus corrects Hillel’s understanding
Luke 16:18
Ephesians 5
Divorce
What is divorce?
Divorce is the breaking of the marriage bond.
Does the Bible permit divorce?
Yes, Jesus says that when one spouse commits fornication, the other spouse is permitted to divorce and end the marriage.
And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another woman commits adultery. (Matthew 19:9)
What is meant here by fornication?
In English, the term fornication is usually distinguished from adultery where fornication is sex between unmarried persons and adultery is a husband or wife having sex with someone who is not their spouse. (Hebrews 13:4) In the New Testament, the word πορνείᾳ is usually associated with fornication and μοιχός with adultery. A closer study, however, shows that these words were not so strictly used in the New Testament. For instance, Jesus says that any man (not just the married man) who lusts after a woman commits adultery:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery (μοιχεύω) with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27–28)
When the apostles write a letter to the gentile-Christians, they warn them to abstain from contaminated by idols and from fornication (πορνείᾳ) and from what is strangled and from blood. (Acts 15:19–20) Here πορνείᾳ is used in a general sense to refer to any sexual sin whether married or unmarried.
In the apocrypha, we find an important verse which shows that πορνείᾳ is the broader word:
For first of all, she has disobeyed the law of the Most High; second, she has committed an offense against her husband; and third, through her fornication (πορνείᾳ) she has committed adultery (μοιχεύω) and brought forth children by another man. (Sir 23:23)
How does Jesus intend for us to understand this word in Matthew 19?