New Testament: Matt 19.4–5

To read the Bible in a year, read Matthew 19.1–15 on January 27, In the year of our Lord Christ 2025

By Don Ruhl 

The Pharisees wanted Jesus to give his judgment on the matter of divorce, but rather than give his view, he quoted Scripture (Which, in his case, was his opinion!): “And He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female’” (Matthew 19.4). 

He asked whether they had read in Genesis 1 that God had made the human race male and female, hence not two males or two females, and then Jesus quoted Genesis 2.24, adding his interpretation to it, saying, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Matthew 19.5). 

Genesis 2.24 does not say, “the two,” but since Jesus is the Maker, he wanted the Pharisees to know that he did not intend in the beginning for a man to have multiply wives nor for a woman to have multiply husbands, but that one man and one woman should be joined for life. 

Therefore, Jesus ruled out homosexuality, polygamy, and endless divorce and remarriage. 

Questions: 

• Do you seek to honor God with your marriage? 
• Why did God create marriage? 

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Don preaches with the Savage Street Church of Christ in Grants Pass, Oregon. 

Listen to his sermons here: GrantsPassChurchOfChrist.com