Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 19:6

"So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." — Matthew 19:6 (ASV)

What therefore God has joined—Strictly interpreted, these words go further than those in Matthew 5:32 and appear to forbid divorce under all circumstances. They are, however, the expression of the principle that should underlie laws, rather than the formulated law itself. As such, they assert the true ideal of marriage without making provision, as was made before, for that which violates and annuls the ideal.

It is remarkable that the essence of marriage is made to depend not on laws, contracts, or religious ceremonies, but on the natural fact of union. Strictly speaking, that union constitutes, or should constitute, marriage. The sin of all illicit intercourse—whether in adultery, concubinage, or prostitution—is that it separates this union from the relations and duties that the divine order has attached to it, making it minister simply to the lusts of a person's lower nature.

The evil of any system that multiplies the availability of divorce is that it treats as temporary what was designed to be permanent, reducing marriage, so far as it goes, to a partnership that lasts only for as long as it is pleasing. This may, in some stages of social progress, be the lesser of two evils, as the following verses indicate; but it does not cease to be an evil. The efforts of all teachers and legislators should be directed toward raising the standard of duty rather than acquiescing in its debasement.