Teaching About Divorce

Matthew 19

1 Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from n Galilee and o entered p the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And q large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 And Pharisees came up to him and r tested him by asking, s "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" 4 He answered, t "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, u 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and v the two shall become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. w What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." 7 They said to him, x "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?" 8 He said to them, "Because of your y hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 z And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery." 1

10 The disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." 11 But he said to them, a "Not everyone can receive this saying, but only b those to c whom it is given. 12 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 d for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it."

  1. Cross References
    Matthew 17:24
    When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay the tax?
  2. Cross References
    Matthew 19:1 - 9
    Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.
    Mark 10:1 - 12
    And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.
  3. Cross References
    Luke 9:51
    When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
    Luke 17:11
    On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
    John 10:40
    He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.
    Matthew 4:25
    And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
  4. Cross References
    Matthew 19:1 - 9
    Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.
    Mark 10:1 - 12
    And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.
  5. Cross References
    Matthew 12:15
    Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all
  6. Cross References
    John 8:6
    This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
  7. Cross References
    Matthew 5:31
    "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.'
  8. Cross References
    Genesis 1:27
    So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
    Genesis 2:18
    Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.
    Genesis 2:21 - 23
    So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
    Genesis 5:2
    Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
    Matthew 21:16
    And they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?
  9. Cross References
    Ephesians 5:31
    "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
    Genesis 2:24
    Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
  10. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 6:16
    Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh.
    Malachi 2:15
    Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
  11. Cross References
    Genesis 2:24
    Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
  12. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 7:10
    To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband
  13. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 24:1 - 4
    When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house.
  14. Cross References
    Mark 16:14
    Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
    Mark 3:5
    And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
    Mark 6:52
    For they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
    Hebrews 3:8
    Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness.
  15. Cross References
    Matthew 5:32
    But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
  16. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 7:2
    But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
    1 Corinthians 7:7 - 9
    I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
    1 Corinthians 7:17
    Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
  17. Cross References
    Matthew 20:23
    He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.
  18. Cross References
    Matthew 13:11
    And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
  19. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 7:32
    I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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