Vincent's NT Word Studies
8. Because of (prov). Rev., for: having regard to.It was not so (ou gegonen outwv). The A.V. is commonly understood to mean, it was not so in the beginning. But that is not Christ's meaning. The verb is in the perfect tense (denoting the continuance of past action or its results down to the present). He means: Notwithstanding Moses' permission, the case has not been so from the beginning until now. The original ordinance has never been abrogated nor superseded, but continues in force.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
19:8 {For your hardness of heart} (pros ten sklerokardian h-mwn). The word is apparently one of the few Biblical words (LXX and the N.T.). It is a heart dried up (skleros), hard and tough. {But from the beginning it hath not been so} (ap' arces de ouk gegonen houtws). The present perfect active of ginomai to emphasize the permanence of the divine ideal. "The original ordinance has never been abrogated nor superseded, but continues in force" (Vincent). "How small the Pharisaic disputants must have felt in presence of such holy teaching, which soars above the partisan view of controversialists into the serene region of ideal, universal, eternal truth" (Bruce).
