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| Concerning the Pharisees and Scribes Tempting Jesus (by Asking) Whether Was Lawful for a Man to Put Away His Wife for Every Cause. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
16. Concerning the
Pharisees and Scribes Tempting Jesus (by Asking) Whether Was Lawful for
a Man to Put Away His Wife for Every Cause.
After this it is written that “there came unto
Him the Pharisees tempting Him and saying, Is it lawful for a man to
wife for every cause?”6156 Mark,
also, has written to the like effect.6157 Accordingly, of those who came to
Jesus and inquired of Him, there were some who put questions to tempt
Him; and if our Saviour so transcendent was tempted, which of His
disciples who is ordained to teach need be vexed, when he is tempted by
some who inquire, not from the love of learning, but from the wish to
tempt? And you might find many passages, if you brought them
together, in which the Pharisees tempted our Jesus, and others,
different from them, as a certain lawyer,6158
and perhaps also a scribe,6159 that by bringing
together what is said about those who tempted Him, you might find by
investigation what is useful for this kind of inquiries. Only,
the Saviour, in response to those who tempted Him, laid down dogmas;
for they said, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his own wife
for every cause?” and He answered and said, “Have ye not
read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and
female?”6160 etc. And I
think that the Pharisees put forward this word for this reason, that
they might attack Him whatever He might say; as, for example, if He had
said, “It is lawful,” they would have accused Him of
dissolving marriages for trifles; but, if He had said, “It is not
lawful,” they would have accused Him of permitting a man to dwell
with a woman, even with sins; so, likewise, in the case of the
tribute-money,6161 if He had told them
to give, they would have accused Him of making the people subject to
the Romans, and not to the law of God, but if He had told them not to
give, they would have accused Him of creating war and sedition, and of
stirring up those who were not able to stand against so powerful an
army. But they did not perceive in what way He answered
blamelessly and wisely, in the first place, rejecting the opinion that
a wife was to be put away for every cause, and, in the second place,
giving answer to the question about the bill of divorcement; for He saw
that not every cause is a reasonable ground for the dissolution of
marriage, and that the husband must dwell with the wife as the weaker
vessel, giving honour,6162 and bearing her
burdens in sins;6163 and by what is
written in Genesis, He puts to shame the Pharisees who boasted in the
Scriptures of Moses, by saying, “Have ye not read that He who
created them from the beginning made them male and female,” etc.,
and, subjoining to these words, because of the saying, “And the
twain shall become one flesh,” teaching in harmony with one
flesh, namely, “So that they are no more twain, but one
flesh.”6164 And, as
tending to convince them that they should not put away their wife for
every cause, is it said, “What God hath joined together, let not
man put asunder.”6165 It is to be
observed, however, in the exposition of the words quoted from Genesis
in the Gospel, that they were not
spoken consecutively as they are written in the Gospel; and I think
that it is not even said about the same persons, namely, of those who
were formed after the image of God, and of those who were formed from
the dust of the ground and from one of the ribs of Adam. For
where it is said, “Male and female made He them,”6166 the reference is to those formed
“after the image,” but where He also said, “For this
cause shall a man leave his own father and mother,”6167 etc., the reference is not to those formed
after the image; for some time after the Lord God formed the man,
taking dust from the ground, and from his side the helpmate. And
mark, at the same time, that in the case of those who are formed
“after the image,” the words were not “husband and
wife” but “male and female.” But we have also
observed this in the Hebrew, for man is indicated by the word
“is,” but male by the word “zachar,” and again
woman by the word “essa,” but female by the word
“agkeba.” For at no time is it “woman” or
“man” “after the image,” but the superior
class, the male, and the second, the female. But also if a man
leave his mother and his father, he cleaves not to the female, but to
his own wife, and “they become,” since man and woman are
one in flesh, “one flesh.” Then, describing what
ought to be in the case of those who are joined together by God, so
that they may be joined together in a manner worthy of God, the Saviour
adds, “So that they are no more twain;”6168 and, wherever there is indeed concord, and
unison, and harmony, between husband and wife, when he is as ruler and
she is obedient to the word, “He shall rule over
thee,”6169 then of such
persons we may truly say, “They are no more twain.”
Then since it was necessary that for “him who was joined to the
Lord,” it should be reserved “that he should become one
spirit with Him,”6170 in the case of
those who are joined together by God, after the words, “So that
they are no more twain,” it is said, “but one
flesh.” And it is God who has joined together the two in
one so that they are no more twain, from the time that6171 the woman is married to the man. And,
since God has joined them together, on this account in the case of
those who are joined together by God, there is a “gift”;
and Paul knowing this, that marriage according to the Word of God was a
“gift,” like as holy celibacy was a gift, says, “But
I would that all men were like myself; howbeit, each man hath his own
gift from God, one after this manner, and another after
that.”6172 And those who
are joined together by God both mind and keep the precept,
“Husbands love your wives, as Christ also the
church.”6173 The Saviour
then commanded, “What God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder,”6174 but man wishes to
put asunder what God hath joined together, when, “falling away
from the sound faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
demons, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their
own conscience as with a hot iron, forbidding,” not only to
commit fornication, but “to marry,”6175 he
dissolves even those who had been before joined together by the
providence of God. Let these things then be said, keeping in view
what is expressly said concerning the male and the female, and the man
and the woman, as the Saviour taught in the answer to the
Pharisees.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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