March 28, 2024

Jesus on Marriage – Divorce and Heaven

What does Jesus have to say on the topic of Divorce? (Matt 5:31-32, 19:3-12; Mark 10:1-12; Luke 16:18)

The religious leaders ask if a man can divorce his wife for any reason, hoping to catch him in between two different sets of beliefs on the topic—hoping to alienate Him with one group. Instead, He takes it back to Genesis, showing that it wasn’t good for man to be alone and that God made the two into one flesh. Therefore, there is no provision for divorce. This is consistent across all passages.

So the religious leaders take him to Deut 24, and ask why Moses included divorce. Jesus tells them that it is permission, not rule, and that it was because the Jewish men had hard hearts. This goes toward the fact that the Jewish men could have treated their wives harshly before the law, and Moses was protecting the women while respecting the rights of the man. The rule did not change.

In one of the passages, Matt 19, Jesus goes further and says that there is one exception in which divorce would be permitted, and that would be the case of pornea. There are varying explanations of this word—everything from sexual immorality, to marriage of near kin, to finding out about sexual immorality that happened before the marriage after the marriage. In any of these cases, sexual unfaithfulness is the only case that Jesus mentions, and only in this one place, nothing else.

Does Jesus believe that all should be married? (Matt 19:3-12)

No. Jesus states that some are eunuchs from birth and some are eunuchs for the cause of God. If they are not to be married, then they should be eunuchs for God.

Will there be Marriage in Heaven? (Matt 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40)

No. While some may believe, amusingly, that we couples may become hybrid individuals, the straight reading of the text says that we will not be married or given in marriage in Heaven.

Is Jesus really telling us to hate our spouse? (Luke 14:25-33, 18:29)

In comparison to the love we have for Christ, yes. How does this play out? Many would end up with unbelieving spouses, or would have to ask the question about whether to marry someone that was not a believer. The believer is not free to do as he wishes, and needs to do that which God commands—regardless of whether his spouse or his family agrees. Also, if one does give up these things, Jesus promises blessings that will exceed anything that was lost. This is much like what we see in the book of Job.

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