TRANSLATION MATTHEW 19:1

Now when Jesus had completed these teachings, he left Galilee and came into the territory of Judaea across the River Jordan. Large crowds followed him and he healed them there. Pharisees approached him, in order to test him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to dismiss his wife for any reason?”

He answered them, “Haven’t you read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, ‘for this cause, a man shall leave behind his father and mother, and be made one with his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has yoked together, let no human being separate.”

They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a bill of divorce and send her away?”

He said to them, “Moses allowed you to dismiss your wives because of the hardness of your hearts, but in the beginning it was not the case. I am telling you, that whoever puts away a wife, except for sexual infidelity, and marries another woman, commits adultery.”

His pupils said to him, “If this is the case of a man with regard to a wife, it is not profitable to marry.”

He replied, ” Not everyone can find room for the teaching. For there are some who are eunuchs from their mother’s womb; some who have been made eunuchs by other people; and some who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Rule of Heaven. Let the one who is able to accept this, make room for it in his life.”

There is a non -sequitur in the middle of this teaching in that the forbidding of divorce except for sexual infidelity is intended for everyone, setting an ideal of marriage; whereas the teaching about total avoidance of sexual activity, is for followers of Jesus, and only the most devoted of them. My judgement is that these were originally separate teachings, linked together here by the pupils’ response, that marriage without the chance of divorce is not worth having.

Even then, the reader wants to ask why Jesus goes on to talk of eunuchs. Eunuchs by birth or by forceable castration were assumed to be celibate. Jesus used them as a counterpart to voluntary celibacy by those who wanted to serve God’s rule in ways which were not conducive to marital life, as St. Paul did.

The question about divorce was much debated by Jewish rabbis. The Mosaic law reflected the inferior status of women, in this case married women, who could legally be dismissed for almost any fault in the eyes of a husband, thus depriving her of all income and security. She would return to her family, who might not be happy to support her. A man of course, could have more than one wife, although polygamy was declining as a custom. Jesus solution was that marriage was meant to be for life. In Mark’s gospel he allows no exceptions, while in Matthew he allows the exception of sexual infidelity. Jesus interprets the creation story as making life-long faithful marriage part of the creation of humanity. It is given as an aspect of our original being.

Jewish teaching including that of Jesus is in favour of sexual activity, man with woman, within a faithful marriage. Many other religions of the time were against sexual activity and in favour of celibacy as a more spiritual way of living. Jesus as presented by Matthew and the other evangelists accepted the materially of creation and of human bodies. For him celibacy was a deprivation accepted especially by missionaries as appropriate to the demands of their calling. Some believers also thought that the last days were already in progress and that the time for lengthy relationships had passed.

The Greek word here translated ‘sexual infidelity’ is porneia, which is not unambiguous., leading some modern versions to translate, for example, idolatry. I think the traditional translation is correct.