Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 19:5

"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?" — Matthew 19:5 (ASV)

Jesus aligns himself with the prophet Malachi, who quotes the Lord as saying, “I hate divorce” (Malachi 2:16), and also refers to the creation story. He cites Ge 1:27 and 2:24, implying that the two sexes should be united in marriage. The “one flesh” in every marriage between a man and a woman is a reenactment of and testimony to the very structure of humanity as God created it. Jesus concludes, then, that the husband and wife are no longer two but one, and that by God’s doing (v.6). Divorce is therefore not only “unnatural” but rebellion against God.

Jesus’ response sets forth two profound insights that must not be lost. (1) Although Jewish leaders tended to analyze adultery in terms, not of infidelity to one’s spouse, but of taking someone else’s wife, Jesus dealt with the sanctity of marriage by focusing on the God-ordained unity of the couple. (2) Jesus essentially appealed to the principle of Jewish exegesis: “The more original, the weightier.” Since marriage is grounded in creation, in the way God has made us, then it cannot be reduced to a merely covenantal relationship that breaks down when the covenantal promises are broken. But the argument in this instance leaves unanswered the question of how the Mosaic law is to be taken; and therefore the stage is set for the Pharisees’ next question.