Holy Matrimony

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

HOLY MATRIMONY

Matt 5:31-32

31 "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'   32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

NIV

We think that we first should understand the culture in which Jesus taught this principle. For centuries it was a completely patriarchal society in that the man had absolute control or authority. Woman only had their identity as they relate to a man. She would first only be known as a daughter, in fact, one to be used by her father as a method to gain something through arranging her marriage into a particular family. Second, she would only be known as the wife of some named man. Her value was based on her ability to produce sons, and then her identity could also be known as the mother of this son or sons. If in any way she displeased her husband, the law permitted him to simply write out a paper of divorce and send her on her way. There would be no court, no arbitration, no settlement, just here is your paper of divorce, you are no longer useful to me, go. This would leave her, in essence, no identity of her own. Of course, there were some exceptions to this identity issue throughout the Old Testament, but this was the normal cultural standard. Jesus breaks that down and starts a new covenant within the marriage. Jesus reinstitutes what He established in the beginning when He created Adam and Eve, one man, one woman to be united together, walking side by side through life. This was the significance of God taking the rib of Adam, putting Eve at his side, not at his foot to be a servant, and not from this head, having authority over him. Side by side is the way of marriage, Jesus has lifted marriage to the right place. But this is also hard teaching as in our current culture it seems marriage has been broken to pieces. Our culture now accepts all types of co-habitation situations and not just between a man and a woman, without the bonds of marriage. In some sense, if there never was a legal or moral marriage, there can be no illegal or immoral divorce. Even within the church, we are seeing divorce as an acceptable solution to marital discord. We are also seeing remarriage of divorced people within the church, although some denominations have specific guidelines that must be met before condoning such a union. Nevertheless, how do we deal with this considering our culture in the world and in the church? How do we deal with a woman who has been divorced, and what about a man who is divorced? Jesus did not mention the man, other than one who marries a divorced woman causes her to commit adultery. Does this mean this principle does not apply to men? That is if a man is divorced and is married to a woman who has never been married before, does she cause the man to commit adultery? This could go down the rabbit hole forever. We think the major takeaway from this teaching of Jesus is that this union between a man and a woman is holy matrimony, the emphasis on holy.