Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 19:4-6

"And he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he who made [them] from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." — Matthew 19:4-6 (ASV)

In His reply, Jesus challenges their knowledge of the law, “Have you not read?” It was a forceful way of appealing to their own boasted knowledge of the books of Moses. Our Lord honors Holy Scripture by drawing His argument from it. He chose especially to set His seal upon a part of the story of creation—that story which modern critics speak of as if it were fable or myth.

He took His hearers back to the beginning when God made them male and female, and made them sons. “In the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). The woman was taken out of man, and Adam truly said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23).

By marriage, this unity is presented and embodied under divine sanction. This oneness is of the most real and vital kind: “They are no more twain, but one flesh.” All other ties are feeble compared with this. Even father and mother must stand second to the wife: “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife.” Being divinely appointed, this union must not be broken by the caprice of men: “What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Our Lord thus decides for the life-long perpetuity of the marriage bond, in opposition to those who allowed divorce for “every cause,” which very frequently meant for no cause whatever.