Two Shall Be One (Mark 10:1–12)

Jesus completed His ministry in Galilee, left Capernaum, and came to the Trans-Jordan area, still on His way to the city of Jerusalem (Mark 10:32). This district was ruled by Herod Antipas, which may explain why the Pharisees tried to trap Him by asking a question about divorce. After all, John the Baptist had been slain because he preached against Herod’s adulterous marriage. But there was more than politics involved in their trick question, because divorce was a very controversial subject among the Jewish rabbis. No matter what answer Jesus gave, He would be sure to displease somebody, and this might give opportunity to arrest Him. The verbs indicate that the Pharisees “kept asking Him,” as though they hoped to provoke Him to say something incriminating.

I. Jesus ignored the current debates and focused attention on the Word of God. (vv.1-4)

1 Then He arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan. And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again. 2 The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him. 3 And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.”

A. The Pharisees searched for ways to get rid of Jesus.

Their motive was not to understand or to learn but to trap Jesus in his own words. The Pharisees might have been hoping that Jesus would condemn Herod Antipas’s adultery as John the Baptist had and thus would suffer the same fate. If not that, Jesus’ answer to their question would surely offend one of the two schools of thought on divorce.

All Pharisees agreed that this Old Testament passage permitted divorce, that only the husband could initiate it, and that divorce implied the right to remarry. But they disagreed on the grounds of divorce. The strict view of Rabbi Shammai allowed divorce only if a wife were guilty of immorality; the lenient view of Rabbi Hillel allowed a husband to divorce his wife for almost any reason

B. Perhaps Jesus would take sides in this dispute and thereby split the ranks of His followers.

The Law of Moses did not give adultery as grounds for divorce; for, in Israel, the adulterer and adulteress were stoned to death. Whatever Moses meant by “some uncleanness” in Deuteronomy 24:1, it could not have been adultery.

Jesus explained that Moses gave the divorce law because of the sinfulness of the human heart. The law protected the wife by restraining the husband from impulsively divorcing her and abusing her like an unwanted piece of furniture, instead of treating her like a human being. Without a bill of divorcement, a woman could easily become a social outcast and be treated like a harlot. No man would want to marry her, and she would be left defenseless and destitute.

II. Divorce was due to human rebellion against the divine ideal. (vv. 5-9)

5 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

A. As with much of the law, it was meant to curb behavior already in practice.

For instance, with the law known as “an eye for an eye,” God was not commanding that an injury be made for every injury received. Instead, he was limiting what amount of retaliation could be sought. The law regarding divorce was similar in that it limited behavior rather than setting precedence. It gave a measure of protection to women from husbands who would leave them for trivial reasons.

Jesus reminded his listeners that marriage did not come into existence with the law and Moses. It had been instituted at the beginning of creation by God. Marriage should not be entered into lightly or dissolved for trivial reasons.

B. Jesus contrasted their view of marriage with God’s view from the beginning of Creation.

God made them, the first couple, Adam and Eve, distinctly male and female yet fully complementary to each other. A man shall leave behind his parents, shall be united to his wife, and the two—man and woman—will become one flesh.

As “one flesh” they form a new unit comprising a sexually intimate, all- encompassing couple just as lasting in God’s present Creation order as a blood relationship between parent and child. So they are no longer two, but one. Marriage is not a contract of temporary convenience which can be readily broken; it is a covenant of mutual fidelity to a lifelong union made before God.

III. It was God who established marriage. (vv. 10-12)

10 In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. 11 So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

A. He has the right to make the rules.

According to Scripture, marriage is between a man and a woman, not two men or two women; and the relationship is sacred and permanent. It is the most intimate union in the human race, for the two become one flesh. This is not true of a father and son or a mother and daughter, but it is true of a man and wife.

While the spiritual element is vitally important in marriage, the emphasis here is that marriage is a physical union: the two become one flesh, not one spirit. Since marriage is a physical union, only a physical cause can break it—either death (Rom. 7:1–3) or fornication (Matt. 5:32; 19:9). Mark did not include the “exception clause” found in Matthew, but neither did he say that death breaks the marriage union.

B. The Lord further explained the matter to His questioning disciples

To remarry after divorce, other than one granted on the grounds of fornication, would make the person guilty of committing adultery, and this is a serious thing. Note that Jesus included the women in His warning, which certainly elevated their status in society and gave them equality of responsibility with the men. The rabbis would not have gone this far.

Since He established marriage, He has the right to lay down the rules. A divorce may be legal according to our laws and yet not be right in the eyes of God. He expects married people to practice commitment to each other (Mark 10:7) and to remain true to each other. Too many people view divorce as “an easy way out,” and do not take seriously their vows of commitment to each other and to the Lord.