Matthew 19:1-12

Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 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.”

10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

(ESV)

STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?

  • What is the writer saying?
  • How do I apply this to my life?

💡How to do your quiet time


Divorce has always been a sticky subject. The Pharisees bring the subject of divorce to Jesus in order to trip Him up. They likely wanted to get Him to say something that would offend some and cause them to stop following Him. They ask, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”

Jesus answers by pointing them back to creation. In the beginning God created male and female and ordained marriage as a union between husband and wife that was for life. This union is so strong that husband and wife become like one flesh. It has been described as two sheets of paper being glued together so that they are like one piece of paper, and to try to separate the two again will cause them both to tear and break in the process. What God has joined together is not for man to separate.

They go on to try and trip Jesus up by suggesting He is violating the law of Moses in His answer. But Jesus points out that Moses made provision for divorce only because of the hardness of man’s heart but from the beginning divorce was never part of God’s plan. God’s plan requires no divorce under any circumstance, but Jesus concedes that sexual immorality outside the boundaries of marriage allows for divorce.

The disciples recognise that this lifetime commitment is a hard thing and that it might be better not to marry. Jesus responds that celibacy is an unrealistic solution except for three groups of people who are able to remain single: those who’s sexual drive is diminished by birth defect (eunuchs from birth), those who have ben physically castrated (eunuchs made so by men—usually in royal courts of the time) and those who dedicate themselves to singleness for the sake of the kingdom, to serve God. For everyone else, it is better to marry (1 Cor 7:9,36).

Today’s culture sees marriage very differently to how God designed it. It is no longer seen as exclusively between one man and one woman, nor is it seen as a lifetime commitment. The Pharisees showed they were more interested in their cultural definition of marriage than God’s.
What is your approach to relationships and marriage? Is it led by your own desires (hardness of heart) or by God’s design and purpose for marriage?