"They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning, it was not so" (Matthew 19:7-8).
The Pharisees asked the Lord, in view of his statement: "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (vs. 6), "Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorcement, and to put her away?" The Lord explained that Moses did not command divorce: that he "suffered" (allowed, permitted) "you to put away your wives." What Moses had commanded was a bill of divorcement: "let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house" (Deuteronomy 24:1). Moses, for the protection of wives, had commanded that the wife put away be given the bill of divorcement. Moses commanded the bill not the divorce.
The Lord explained what God's will was in the matter. He says, "but from the beginning it was not so." The Lord then sets forth God's law on marriage, divorce and remarriage. He says: "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery (Matt. 19:9). The Lord was not simply explaining the Mosaic law, for the Law of Moses demanded the death penalty for the adulterer and the adulteress (Leviticus 20:10; Deut. 22:22). The Lord was setting forth teaching which would find application in His kingdom.
The verb "committeth" is in the present tense, the force of which is continuous action. It means therefore to keep on committing adultery.
Thus the Lord said "and I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, and shall marry another--except for fornication--keeps on committing adultery and the man who has married a woman who has been put away keeps on committing adultery.
This passage says by implication: a person who--because of fornication upon the part of his or her companion--put away the guilty of fornication companion and marry another person that is free to marry, does not commit adultery. A person who is free to marry is one who has never been married, one whose spouse has died, or one who has put away his/her spouse because that spouse had committed fornication.
Matt. 19:9 is an "exceptive sentence." We need to make a brief comment with regard to how to handle an exceptive sentence. For example, John 3:5 is an exceptive sentence. The Lord said: "Except one be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." The Lord thus teaches: (1) all persons who are born of water and the Spirit are persons who enter the kingdom of God and (2) a person who is not born of water and the Spirit does not enter the kingdom of God.
Likewise, Matt. 19:9: (1) a person who puts away his/her companion--not for fornication--and marries another keeps on committing adultery and (2) a person who puts away his/her companion because of fornication (“except it be for fornication”) and marries another does not commit adultery assuming the one he/she is marrying is free to marry. “Except” in John 3:5 means that the ONLY entrance into the kingdom is by being born of water and of the Spirit. “Except” in Matt. 19:9 means that fornication is the ONLY means by which there can be divorce and remarriage.
"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God" (I Peter 4:11).
Don H. Noblin
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