THE WRIGGLING PHARISEES SILENCED
Jesus had now set out his teaching on divorce in his answer to the Pharisees, and so far as he was concerned his answer was clear and decisive. It was unequivocal, and should have required no more elucidation. To suggest that Jesus would command in his first answer that once a man and woman had come together in marriage they must not "put asunder", and then say that, when pressured by the Pharisees he would change his mind and say that divorce was allowable, is straining credulity too far. I certainly would not dare to say that, in almost the next breath, Jesus would contradict himself. But the Pharisees were most put out and embarrassed by his answer, for it meant that both schools of thought among them were wrong. They knew what he meant — that even those who followed the school of Shammai, which only allowed divorce for adultery by the wife, were wrong. How, then, dare men accuse those who are against divorce of being hard-hearted when Jesus says the very opposite!Their embarrassment was plain to all the onlookers, and so they sought to salvage their pride by appealing to Moses, who, they contended, supported divorce. "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?" If the answer of Jesus to their first question had agreed with the school of Shammai that a man could divorce his wife for adultery, then this second question of the Pharisees would have been nonsensical. Why would they appeal to Moses who allowed divorce, if Jesus' first answer had also allowed it? If there is no divorce, they were saying, why did Moses command it? If the previous answer of Jesus had allowed for any divorce at all, there would have been no sense in this further question. It was Christ's complete prohibition of divorce which prompted it. The Pharisees probably had in mind the narrative in Deut 24:1-4Deut 24:1-4 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. 2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance., which we have already dealt with. Moses had not commanded divorce, and Jesus tells them so. He told them that Moses did not advocate divorce, but "because of the hardness of your hearts" he suffered it (verse 8). "But", said Jesus, "from the beginning it was not so". Again he is taking the Pharisees back to Creation, and says that divorce was not part of God's system of things, and is a direct negation of what God had arranged in Creation. It has been invented by men because of their "hardness of heart". How, then, dare men accuse those who are against divorce of being hard-hearted when Jesus says the very opposite! He says that divorce is brought about because of men's hard-heartedness! So those who, like Jesus, oppose divorce must be the ones who are showing love. And although God recognized that among a whole nation like the nation of Israel there would be hard men who would put away their wives, He showed His abhorrence of "putting away" by strictly regulating it. How many of us would have said that, if a woman left her husband to marry another, if the second husband died, she could not return to her first husband (Deut 24:1-4)?
Jesus then goes on to reinforce and emphasize his original answer to the Pharisees, and show that his teaching on divorce is divergent from the Law of Moses. "And I (not Moses) say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her that is put away doth commit adultery" (verse 9). Moses suffered divorce because of the hardness of your hearts, says Jesus, BUT I AM TELLING YOU SOMETHING DIFFERENT. The teaching of Moses was for a national law which would have to deal with all sorts of people, hard-hearted and otherwise. But the teaching of Jesus, which we call "the Law of Grace", is for individuals whose hearts have been touched by the love of Christ. Jesus expresses the morality of the matterJesus expresses the morality of the matter, and the way in which that morality applies to each individual marriage. The morality is, says Jesus, that whoever puts away his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, is an adulterer. And because the first action of adultery does not break a person's marriage-bond, then to continue an adulterous relationship means that those who do this are living in a state of continuous and ongoing adultery. There is no point at which an adulterous relationship stops being adulterous!
We are plainly told in 1 Cor 6:9 & 101 Cor 6:9 & 10 9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. that no "adulterers" shall "inherit the kingdom of God". If we say to those contemplating divorce or remarriage after divorce that it is alright for them to do so, we are encouraging them to place their eternal welfare in jeopardy. How can this be "showing love"? We are not only placing their eternal welfare in jeopardy, but our own future also, by influencing others to deny the doctrine of Christ.