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Before we turn to the Savior's words in this
connection let us remind ourselves that we are interested in what
the Scriptures actually teach in these matters and not what is the
consensus of opinion of any group of men however eminent. If we have
preconceived ideas let us try to divest our minds of them and fairly
consider the words and the context.
Even a casual reading of the two longer passages in Matthew 19 and
Mark 10 will show that the Lord Jesus Christ was setting forth the
Divine mind with respect to the institution of marriage.
(a) From
the very beginning there were only two, one man and one woman.
(b) The marriage relation was to supersede the relation of the son
to the parents, because a man was enjoined to leave his father and
his mother and "cleave" unto his wife.
(c) The two are to be "ONE FLESH." This is twice repeated. They are
not any longer reckoned to be two but ONE (Matt. 19:5, 6). It would
seem that the Saviour could not have been more specific in setting
forth the indissoluble nature of the marriage relation after the two
have become one. No exception is allowed in the thunderous
declaration, "What God hath joined together let not man put
asunder!" Being convinced from these words that Christ is setting
forth an irrefragable union we are disinclined to believe from the
outset that He will later introduce an exception that will dissolve
the indissoluble or break the unbreakable. To do so would be for Him
to contradict Himself, to, stultify Himself.
So drastic are His words, so contrary to the looseness of the times
in which He lived, so great an advance upon the allowances of the
great Lawgiver, that they immediately take issue with Him and demand
of Him why Moses made certain concessions and permitted divorce
after marriage. He replies that it was on account of the hardness of
their hearts.
Bereft of the Holy Spirit as an indwelling presence since Adam's
fall, without the example of the God-man who lived in poverty and
self-sacrifice and died in agony and ignominy, the hearts of men,
under the law were ignorant, impenitent, hard. "But," He repeats,
"from the beginning it was not so." It was not so in the sinlessly
felicitous condition in which the first couple found themselves and
it is not to be so when by the impartation of the Spirit at
Pentecost men and women are to be made partakers of that beloved
Adam the Last-the period of Grace.
DEMON OF DIVORCE
Now we come to verse nine in the great battleground, the verse which
the ignorant have wrested and the vicious have perverted to provide
an aperture through which the demon of divorce has been permitted to
enter nominal Christendom. This writer admits with shame that he
himself was formerly one of "the ignorant who wrested" the verse to
mean something that with careful consideration and hallowed study it
obviously does not mean.
When we viewed the blighting effects of divorce within that which
calls itself the church and became convicted that we and others had
spoken all too glibly about "Scriptural grounds for divorce" without
any very careful study of the lone two verses of almost identical
phraseology (Matt. 5:32; 19:9), from which such "grounds" were
allegedly derived, we set ourselves to discover the truth.
We know of no occasion on which we have carefully and open-mindedly
set ourselves to know the truth of any passage under the guidance of
the blessed Holy Spirit that we have been left further in darkness
or error. This occasion was no exception.
"And I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be
for fornication and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and
whoso marrieth her which is put away, doth commit adultery." If the
verse is read at first omitting the parenthetical phrase "except it
be for fornication," it will be seen that divorce and remarriage are
forbidden in the strongest terms. What a volume of sin and
wickedness has been excused with that little parenthetical phrase!
We note the exception rests with the word "fornication," while the
word "adultery" occurs twice later on in the same verse. Exactly the
same thing is true in Matt. 5:32. We are forced to conclude then
that there is a definite distinction in the use of the two words
"fornication" and "adultery." The consultation of any reputable
English dictionary will show that "fornication" means "illegitimate
sex relation on the part of an unmarried person," while "adultery"
means "illegitimate sex relation on the part of a married person."
A study of the Greek words which these English words are used to
translate will show about the same meanings, with the difference
that "porneia" (fornication) widens out on some occasions to mean
general unchastity. However, when in this verse Christ uses it in
contradistinction to "moikeia" (adultery) we are compelled to the
conclusion that it is used in its specific sense of premarital
impurity.
A simple illustration will aid us in understanding the issue. The
word "man" has both a specific and a general meaning. Specifically
it means the male of the human species. In general it means the
whole of the genus "homo." The context will always reveal whether it
is used in its general or its specific sense. If the word "man" is
used in the same sentence with the word "woman," one is sure that it
is used in its specific and not in its general sense.
SCRIPTURE NEVER MAKES ADULTERY GROUND FOR
DIVORCE
So it is with "porneia" and "moikeia." When these words are used
together they denote a contrast and no amount of sophistry or
obscurantism can make them synonymous or interchangeable.
Fornication here simply does not mean adultery unless words have
lost their meaning and it is a reflection if not an insult to the
omniscient Son of God to insinuate that He was unable to express
Himself clearly in such an important statement. If He had intended
to make adultery a ground for divorce under His law He could very
easily have said so. When He meant "moikeia" (adultery), He said "Moikeia."
The cause of the misunderstanding of this passage by many honest
hearts lies in a difference between Oriental and Occidental customs
and terminology. When a Westerner reads the words, "Whosoever shall
put away his wife, except it be for fornication," etc., he naturally
supposes that "fornication" is used of something of which a "wife"
can be guilty. A "wife" with us in the West is one who has already
entered into the marriage relation. It is never used of a young
women who is merely betrothed. But in the East betrothal is a very
serious affair and is legally as binding as marriage itself, so that
even before the marriage is consummated the young woman is a wife.
This is seen in the first chapter of Matthew, where in verse
nineteen we read, "Then Joseph her husband...was minded to put her
away privily." He was NOT her husband according to our usual Western
terminology as the verse preceding clearly states. Mary was merely
"espoused" to him. The same thing appears in the next verse in which
the Angel Gabriel counsels Joseph, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary
thy wife." She was not yet his wife according to our Western usage.
The use of "wife" for a betrothed girl is seen also in Deut. 22:24.
It was the real occurrence in the case of a betrothed wife of what
Joseph thought had occurred in the case of Mary that Christ had
reference to in Matt. 19:9 as a just cause for terminating a
betrothal contract which had not yet eventuated in marriage. It is
noteworthy that Joseph planned to put away Mary. This implies a
legal process and not merely an oral disavowal. The verb used in
this case is exactly the same verb as the one used in every instance
where it is translated "divorce"- "apoluo." While Joseph himself, on
the assurance of the Angel, became convinced that Mary had not
committed fornication, the stigma of illegitimate birth pursued the
Blessed Lord Jesus all through His life and never left his lovely
mother. This is seen in the wicked taunt that His adversaries hurled
at Him in later years, "We be not born of fornication..." (John
8:41.) It serves only one purpose for us, and that is the further
clarification of the use of that ugly word‹ unwed motherhood is
invariably that porneia.
We believe that every fair-minded reader will follow us in
concluding that the parenthetical phrases "saving for the cause of
fornication" and "except it be for fornication," in Matt. 5:32 and
19:9 respectively, are not to be taken to contradict the whole trend
of His remarks wherein He is setting forth the indissolubility of
the marriage relation and the union into one flesh of two bodies but
simply to allow of the termination of a betrothal contract if the
woman is found guilty of impurity before the marriage is
consummated.
It is deeply significant that in Mark's gospel, written more for the
Romans than the Jews, the words of Christ with respect to the
unbreakable nature of the marriage bond are again set forth, but the
exception is omitted ~Mk. 10:2-12). The Gospel of Luke, written by a
Greek to a Greek, carries only the one verse on the subject (16:18)
in which Christ unequivocally affirms that divorce and remarriage
are adultery. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish," Luke
13:3. "The blood of Jesus Christ, His son cleanseth us from all
sin," 1 John 1:7. |
