Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.pdf

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
6. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh: beginning of the creation God made them male
what God therefore hath joined, let not man and female. 7. For this reason shall a man leave
separate. 7. They say to him, Why then did Moses his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
order to give a letter of divorcement, and send 8. And they shall be one flesh: therefore now they
her away? 8. He said to them, Moses, for the are not two, but one flesh. 9. What therefore God
hardness of your heart, permitted you to divorce hath joined together let not man separate. 10. And
your wives; but at the beginning it was not so. in the house his disciples again asked him about
9. And I say to you, That whosoever shall divorce the same subject. 11. And he saith to them,
his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry Whososever shall divorce his wife, and marry
another, committeth adultery; and whosoever another, committeth adultery against her. 12. And
shall marry her that is divorced committeth if a woman shall divorce her husband, and shall
adultery.
be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Matthew 19:3. And the Pharisees came to him, tempting him. Though the Pharisees lay snares
for Christ, and cunningly endeavor to impose upon him, yet their malice proves to be highly useful
to us; as the Lord knows how to turn, in a wonderful manner, to the advantage of his people all the
contrivances of wicked men to overthrow sound doctrine. For, by means of this occurrence, a
question arising out of the liberty of divorce was settled, and a fixed law was laid down as to the
sacred and indissoluble bond of marriage. The occasion of this quibbling was, that the reply, in
whatever way it were given, could not, as they thought, fail to be offensive.
They ask, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever? If Christ reply in
the negative, they will exclaim that he wickedly abolishes the Law; and if in the affirmative, they
will give out that he is not a prophet of God, but rather a pander, who lends such countenance to
the lust of men. Such were the calculations which they had made in their own minds; but the Son
of God, who knew how to take the wise in their own craftiness, (Job 5:13,) disappointed them,
sternly opposing unlawful divorces, and at the same time showing that he brings forward nothing
which is inconsistent with the Law. For he includes the whole question under two heads: that the
order of creation ought to serve for a law, that the husband should maintain conjugal fidelity during
the whole of life; and that divorces were permitted, not because they were lawful, but because
Moses had to deal with a rebellious and intractable nation.
4. Have you not read? Christ does not indeed reply directly to what was asked, but he fully
meets the question which was proposed; just as if a person now interrogated about the Mass were
to explain faithfully the mystery of the Holy Supper, and at length to conclude, that they are guilty
of sacrilege and forgery who venture either to add or to take away any thing from the pure institution
of the Lord, he would plainly overturn the pretended sacrifice of the Mass. Now Christ assumes as
an admitted principle, that at the beginning God joined the male to the female, so that the two made
an entire man; and therefore he who divorces his wife tears from him, as it were, the half of himself.
But nature does not allow any man to tear in pieces his own body.
266
John Calvin