The first person we will hear from is Victor Oke. He says,
“Genesis 2:24 is a message that spans every generation. Every family unit begins with a male and female and it is imperative to see that loyalty begins within each unit. To see through that passage, consider Adam’s poem in verse 23 of the same chapter.
‘This is (at last/now), the bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh
She shall be called woman
She was taken out of man’
Adam acknowledged Eve indicating that he was pleased with God’s choice of a partner for him. ‘I will search no further and God did not have to search any further. I will keep her; I will protect her, and I will love her because she was taken out of man’. Consider Jesus’ saying in Mark 10:5.
Genesis 2:24 What God has joined together, let no man put asunder…
Considering Genesis 2:23-24 Jesus Christ declared that what God has joined together let no man put asunder or separate. What prompted Jesus’ response was the Pharisees’ question about divorce. The Pharisees’ question was not about the legality of divorce but whether it is in accord with God’s divine purpose. As always this was a teaching moment for the Lord, he declared to them that in God’s purpose divorce was not factored in. The Pharisees misunderstood Moses’s law written in Deuteronomy 24: 3 (1-4), so, what they understood wrong Jesus put it right.
The Pharisees claimed that Moses gave them the legal status to give a woman a writ of divorce, but Jesus declared to them that Moses because of the ‘hardness of your heart’ made it legal for you to divorce a woman, but from the beginning that was not the case. Moses in this way was able to establish some order in the divorce cases that were rampant at that time.
Hebrews 13:4 ‘Let the marriage bed be undefiled…’
The sanctity of marriage is highly emphasized in this passage. The vow of marriage makes it that marriage should be honorable and not undermined, secondly, a Christian’s sexual behavior honors or dishonors Christ’s declaration and instructions. The cause of Christ is upheld in marriage by one’s sexual behavior, (Broadman’s commentary).
Marriage bed here means sexual intercourse and let the marriage bed be undefiled, which means purity or sincerity in marriage, keeping the vows intact, and adhering to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a distinction between sexual promiscuity, fornicators, and adulterers. Fornicators are guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse, while adulterers are guilty of sexual intercourse with another person’s mate.
Matthew 19:4 ‘Have ye not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female, …’
The background of Jesus’ declaration in Matthew 19:4 is found in Genesis 1:27b ‘Male and female made he (God) them.’ The Pharisee’s question here is about the same as the question they asked Jesus in Mark 10:2, but here it has a different connotation. The question is now qualified, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any course?” (Cf. Mark 10:2)
For any course is a difference here. In answering the question in both instances Jesus from the backdrop of Deuteronomy 24:1 declared God’s intention from the beginning as seen in Genesis 1:27, that God made them male and female. And for marriage, Matthew 19:5 a man shall leave his father and mother and be one with his wife. Also, man should not undo God’s work. Note that man and woman becoming one does not mean that individual selfhood is lost rather, it is fulfilled in marriage.”
Hello again, I hope you enjoyed your holidays! The next post will come on January 9th.
