Matthew 19:1-12 #2

Matthew 19:1-12 #2
Please consider carefully Jesus’ words in verses 4-5: “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” This is a quotation from Genesis 2:24. This first thing I would like you to notice has nothing to do with the subject of divorce and remarriage. The fact that Jesus quoted from Genesis puts His stamp of approval on that book. Jesus believed that Genesis was an inspired account. Some would like to make Genesis a mythical story upon which the real truth is couched in figurative terms. But Jesus confirmed the creation of Adam and Eve, and in so doing, confirmed the entire creation account.Now to our text. God not only created man and woman, He created the relationship of marriage. The words of verses 4-5 are short, but packed full of lessons concerning marriage. Consider the following teachings in the text:
1. God created “male and female” and these two are to become one flesh. Thus God forbids homosexuality. God gave authority for a man and a woman to become one flesh in marriage, but never gave authority for two men or two women.
2. A man and woman in marriage are to set up their own home. “Leave father and mother,” indicates that their relationship is to be separate from that of their parents and their parents should not meddle in their marriage.
3. The fact that God only gave authority for one man and one woman to come together in marriage, forbids polygamy. Though God later tolerated polygamy in the Old Testament period, He never authorized it. Jesus quoted, “the two shall become one flesh.”
4. That the two are to become one flesh also tells us that adultery is forbidden. The marriage bed is to remain “undefiled” (Heb. 13:4).
5. In that the two are to become “one flesh” indicates that divorce is forbidden. Jesus followed up on these words by saying, “What God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Since God created marriage, He alone has the right to govern it. These laws were given in the beginning. They are not Christian laws or church laws. These are God’s laws for every person who chooses this relationship. No other sexual relationship is allowed.
Berry Kercheville