natalie’s blog

No doubt the crowd that was gathered around Jesus that day felt like they were trying to drink water from a fire hydrant. For years they had been living under the life-draining traditions that the Pharisees held up as the epitome of a law-abiding citizen. Now Jesus was promising them new life as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. But instead of releasing them from the laws God had established thousands of years earlier, He was raising the standard. He was going right to the heart of each law. When Jesus came to marriage, He had this to say:

“It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”

Matthew 5:31-32

Just as in the other laws, Jesus was raising the standard for how the people had come to view marriage. We saw that both Mark and Luke recorded this teaching in their Gospels. For a specific reason, however, Matthew is the only one who additionally recorded what is often referred to as “The Exception Clause.”

Jesus intentionally used the word “fornication” when He explained that a man could “put away his wife” for this cause alone. In the same sentence, He used the word “adultery” twice. It’s clear, then, that Jesus was not saying that adultery was a justifiable cause for divorce. In order to understand to what Jesus was referring when He made this statement, it’s helpful to consider the real-life illustration where this is exhibited. Please notice that it is also recorded only by Matthew in his Gospel. Only a few chapters before, Matthew penned the following:

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”

Matthew 1:18-20

According to Jewish custom, if a man who was betrothed wanted to call off the marriage, he had to “put away”/divorce his “wife.” In essence, Jesus’ teaching gave legitimacy to the intentions of Joseph (and any other man who found himself in the same situation) by saying that if a betrothed man found his wife (as she was called) guilty of fornication, he was justified in putting her away. A betrothal was held to be as legally binding as a marriage. The difference is that a betrothed couple had not yet physically consummated their marriage, thus they had not yet been joined together for life by God.

Apparently the Pharisees either weren’t in the crowd when He gave His sermon or they just didn’t get it. Either way, we see them approaching Jesus later on this same subject:

“The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”

Matthew 19:3

I’m not sure what they were expecting Jesus to say, but He took them all the way back to the beginning:

“And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

Matthew 19:4-6

Once a man and his wife are physically united, they become “one flesh.” God has joined them together for life. Jesus affirmed the marriage covenant as originally instituted by God. It is unbreakable by anyone or anything, except death. In violation of God’s law, man may “put [it] asunder” by initiating a separation, but as we have seen, this entitlement contrived by man even still does not end the marriage itself in God’s eyes.

Dissatisfied with His answer, the Pharisees pressed the issue:

“They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 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.”

Matthew 19:7-9

Jesus continued to affirm the life-long marriage covenant as instituted by God in the beginning. To do anything else would have been to destroy the original law that God had given concerning marriage between a man and a woman. Jesus Himself said:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

Matthew 5:17-18

Thus we can see that Jesus was, indeed, upholding the law of God, not providing an exception to it.

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