John Gill Commentary Matthew 19:11

"But he said unto them, Not all men can receive this saying, but they to whom it is given." — Matthew 19:11 (ASV)

But he said unto them

With respect to the inference or conclusion, the disciples formed from what he had asserted:

all men cannot receive this saying ;

of theirs, that it is not good to marry, but it is more proper and expedient to live a single life! every man, as the Syriac version renders him, is not (hl qpo) , "sufficient", or "fit", for this thing; everyone has not the gift of continency, and indeed very few; and therefore it is expedient for such to marry; for what the disciples said, though it might be true in part, yet not in the whole; and though the saying might be proper and pertinent enough to some persons, yet not to all, and indeed to none,

except those to whom it is given ;

to receive such a saying, to live unmarried with content, having the gift of chastity; for this is not of nature, but of grace: it is the gift of God.