John Calvin Commentary Matthew 5:31

"It was said also, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:" — Matthew 5:31 (ASV)

Whosoever shall put away his wife. As a more suitable occasion for discussing and explaining this doctrine at greater length will occur later (Matthew 19:9), I will now briefly state what Christ says in this passage.

The Jews falsely imagined that they discharged their whole duty toward God when they observed the law merely as a national code; consequently, whatever the national law did not forbid, they foolishly supposed to be lawful.

Divorces, which husbands were accustomed to give to their wives, had not been prohibited by Moses regarding external order. Rather, only to restrain immorality, he had ordered that a bill of divorcement be given to wives who were put away (Deuteronomy 24:1). This bill was a type of testimonial of freedom, ensuring the woman was afterwards free from her husband's authority. The husband, in turn, acknowledged that he was not dismissing her for any crime, but because she no longer pleased him. This practice led to the erroneous belief that such divorces were unobjectionable, as long as the legal procedures were followed.⁴⁰⁹

But they were wrong to view the rule given to them for a devout and holy life as a mere matter of civil law. For national laws are sometimes adapted to human behavior, but God, in prescribing a spiritual law, considered not what people are able to do, but what they ought to do. This spiritual law contains a perfect and complete righteousness, though we lack the ability to fulfill it.

Christ, therefore, admonishes us not to conclude that what is permitted by the national law of Moses is, on that account, lawful in the sight of God. "That man," He says, "who puts away his wife and gives her a bill of divorcement, shelters himself under the pretense of the law; but the bond of marriage is too sacred to be dissolved at the will, or rather at the licentious pleasure, of men." Though husband and wife are united by mutual consent, God nevertheless binds them with an indissoluble tie, so that they are not afterwards free to separate. An exception is added: except on account of fornication: for the woman who has shamefully violated the marriage vow is justly cast off, because it was by her fault that the tie was broken and the husband set free.

⁴⁰⁹ “Pourveu qu'on observast ce que la Loy commandoit en tel cas;”— “provided that what the Law commanded in such a case were observed.”;”— “provided that what the Law commanded in such a case were observed.”