Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the gospel, we are studying the episode teachings about divorce. This is found in two of the gospels. Matthew 19 312 and Luke ten 212. Follow along with us in your bibles as we read Matthew 19 312.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?
And he that is Jesus answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning. Made them male and female? And said, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife. And the two shall become one flesh, so they are no longer two, but one flesh.
What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: They said to him, why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? He said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality. And marries another, commits a adultery. The disciples said to him, if such is the case for a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. But he said to them, not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth. And there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men. And there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs. For the sake of the kingdom of heaven, let the one who is able to receive this receive it.
So Jesus here is talking to the Pharisees about divorce. And the Pharisees view on divorce was based on deuteronomy. That if you were not pleased with your wife, you could give her a letter of divorce and put her away. What were some ways you could not be pleased with your wife? What were some acceptable practices?
[00:02:52] Speaker B: So that statement that you mentioned from deuteronomy. Was being analyzed and split hair split and amplified over the years in the time of Jesus Christ. They said, if your wife burns your dinner like boils your milk, and that spills over the stovetop, that is the reason for divorce.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: So basically, it's, if I didn't want to be with her, and it was the husband's job, and the wife could not protest or could not come up and say, I disagree, contest it. It just happened.
Jesus comes and says, this is not God's original plan.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Sometimes Jesus explains Moses. But this time Jesus contradicts Moses.
The Lord God who gave Moses the law, is the same Lord Jesus from the Old Testament.
When he brought his people, Israel, out of Egypt, God couldn't share with them the whole truth or light that he had for them. It was a gradual revelation, and God had to settle to some compromises for a while. And Jesus said, it's about time to go back to the original plan for mankind in the Garden of Eden. So there is something better than the law of Moses, and that is God's original intention, vision, dream for humanity.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: And this makes sense, Moses, because the hardness of your hearts allowed divorce for your wife. This is a very patriarchal society, very mental focused. And if this was not given, if there was not provision for divorce, I think there would have been a whole lot more abuse of women.
If you think about something, if you hate something and you're forced to have it around you all the time, you lash out at it. You don't want to be around you treat it badly.
If you love something, you're going to take time and care for it and treat it with the care it needs. And so God made a way for to protect women, that if a husband gets to a place where he doesn't want to be around his wife, instead of treating her badly, keeping her in a corner, not giving her what she needs, he had allowed them to separate. But as you said, we're now in a new era. Error. And it's not that God's laws ever change. God's original statement in the garden of Eden stood all the way through Moses time. It stood through Jesus time. It stands today that when two people get married, in God's eyes, they become one, the two become one flesh. And the Bible says, what God has joined together, let no man separate.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: And this expression from Genesis 224, the husband and wife will become one. By the way, flesh is not there, and Hebrew will become one, is the same word in Hebrew that describes the oneness of God.
When the Bible says, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, exactly the same word. We are united into a new entity called marriage. And God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are united into this entity called Godhead. And our God in the form of a godhead, is one God.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I think behind this, it puts the gravity there that we, when we're selecting a partner for life, we need to be very careful.
A philosophy that has entered into the christian church that I don't believe is biblical is the thought of a soulmate, that there's someone out there specifically for me, and the thought of a soulmate, I think has caused a lot of divorces because we feel like if we connect with this soulmate, everything's going to be right. But marriage takes work. It doesn't matter if you're two best friends. It takes work, hard work, hard, work. It does. There's going to be good times, there's going to be bad times. There's going to be times where you want to be with your spouse and times where you don't.
And so we find people getting divorces because all of a sudden they get into one of these ruts and they look and they feel attracted to someone else, and they say, well, maybe that's my soul, me. Maybe I messed up and try to start again. And marriage takes work. I like to say there's probably a thousand, maybe 10,000 women in this world I could have happily been married to, but I have chosen to be married to my wife. And she, for me, is the best woman in the world, not because of who we are, but because we work to make each other the most important in our lives.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Someone said, the main purpose of marriage, there are multiple secondary purposes, but the main purpose of marriage is not to make you happy, but to make you holy.
And I like to come back to what you said and find an answer in the context.
Remember, last episode was about repentance and being counted as righteous. And the episode before about the persistent woman with an uninterrupted prayer, continuous prayer. So those two elements, a life of prayer, as well as pausing once in a while, looking into the mirror that expresses God's character, the ten Commandments, and going before God and expressing remorse, beating your chest and saying, have mercy on me. Those are like reset points in not only our relationship with God, but relationship with people. Those are reset points for our marriage when both husband and wife come before God and both of them repent and both of them look down and both of them say, have mercy on me. That is when they get closer, not only to God, but closer to each other. And they have the chance to start over the next day, because every day it's a new opportunity to experience God's grace.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: And so divorce is not in God's plan, not even for adultery. He does make provisions for it. But I know couples who there was adultery committed and they worked it out. They went to counseling, they worked things through. And the trust that they have, I'm thinking of one couple in particular, and they share this. They're very open. They give. They've given talks at my church about this. The trust that they have is stronger than the trust they had before.
But it's a different trust. It's completely different. So I think even in the case of marital infidelity, marriages can be saved. They can be worked on, they can get to a stronger place. But God has given a provision. Our goal is to work through difficulties that arise within our marriage with, you know, if at all possible.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Otherwise, we provide for the flesh, as the apostle Paul says.
And I remember when Prince William married his Kate, his wife, today, and they are in line to the throne of the United Kingdom.
He was asked, based on your mom's experience, did you sit down with your wife and write a prenuptial agreement? And he said, no, we didn't do it. And I decided not to do it because I didn't want any provision for divorce. I gave my word. I'm going to work hard to make it happen. And I said, wow, such a good example for everyone. Yeah.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: So Jesus finishes this talking about eunuchs and saying, there are some who are eunuchs from birth, some who have been main eunuchs, and some who choose to be eunuchs themselves.
Now, a eunuch is someone who cannot have children. Right.
I think this is more a spiritual eunuch, like someone who chooses not to get married.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: It's an extension. This eunuch word is used like a metaphor. Yeah. It's not just those who are castrated or it is those who decide to remain unmarried.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: Yeah. And one corinthians seven, eight, Paul is talking to the unmarried, and he says, now, to the unmarried and to the widow, I say, it is good for them to stay unmarried as I do.
So there's this counsel that if you can stay unmarried, if you can happily live a life that way, then do it.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: And if you plan to do it for the glory of God, but it's.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: Not something that's for everyone. And you should not force yourself to do something and end up falling in trying to fulfill it.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: It might be a plan b, the best in different circumstances than the initial plan in the Garden of Eden. It might be good for some. But Jesus says twice, not everyone can receive this thing. And he finishes the passage at the end of verse twelve. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.
That means it's just an exception, a small category, and those people should be able to receive it from the Lord. It is not something that should be imposed by. By church or society or, you know, by family members or so.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: So marriage is something that takes work. Marriage is something we shouldn't enter into lightly. Marriage is something that can be fulfilling. And God has sanctified it and made it very special even before sin. If sin never entered the world, there would still be marriage. So let's do what we can to honor our marriages, the marriages of those around us. And if we're contemplating entering into a marriage, to take time to make sure we are doing it correctly for the right reasons. Let's pray. Father God, I thank you for all the wisdom and knowledge you have given us through your word.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:14:21] Speaker A: I thank you, Father, that in marriage we become one flesh. I know my life is so much better because of the relationship between my wife and myself. And I pray that you'll continue to draw those who are married close to one another. I pray, Father, that those who are contemplating marriage will look at everything and make decisions that will draw them close to you.
And those who are going through those rough times, who don't know if the marriage will last, will turn to you and seek guidance.
I pray that you will be first in all we do. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
