A New Heart in Christ

“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, and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken. “No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge. “If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. “Take care, in a case of leprous disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt. “When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God. “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin. “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin. “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

Deuteronomy 24:1–4 ESV

Jesus’ Response: “God Decides What Marriage Is, Not Man”

(vv. 4-6)

(vv. 4) Back to Creation (which trumps Dt.)

(vv. 4-5)

(vv. 4) God the Creator instituted marriage

Matthew Explanation of the Text

God created men and women to be together, not to be divorced.

(vv. 4) Marriage belongs to God, but He gave it to humanity

(v. 4) God created male and female, so the genders belong to God

(v. 5) God created the process whereby people leave their parents and are joined to their spouses.

(v. 5) Marriage is a joining of the flesh

(v. 5) The two become one

(v. 6) God did not intend divorce from the beginning

(v. 6) We humans should not be in the business of undoing God’s creation

We humans should not be in the business of undoing God’s creation

Pharisee’s Response: “Moses Said We Could!”

(v. 7) Pharisees again test Jesus as to whether he follows Moses or not.

Pharisees again test Jesus as to whether he follows Moses or not.

Jesus’ Response: “You Have Hard Hearts!”

(vv. 8-9)

(v. 8) Moses allowed divorce, God does not will divorce to happen

(v. 9) Can divorce be justified? Only because of hardness of hearts.

Malachi 2:13–16 ESV

And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 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. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Malachi 2:

Matthew Explanation of the Text

while divorce is allowed in the Torah, it is not really God’s actual will. The “two” were to be “one,” end of point!

(v. 8) Divorce was not God’s original plan, but is the result of humans living and interacting in a fallen world.

Matthew Explanation of the Text

while divorce is allowed in the Torah, it is not really God’s actual will. The “two” were to be “one,” end of point!

Matthew Explanation of the Text

When sinful humanity “separates” what God has “joined,” it can only point to sin, the antithesis of what God wants. It is not whether people have a “right” to divorce (the legal aspect) but rather whether such can ever be in accordance with God’s will (the moral and spiritual aspect).

(v. 9) Jesus permits divorce (“I say to you”) only on the grounds of sexual immorality.

() Paul permits divorce based on abandonment (a sign of an unbeliever)

1) (v. 10) To believers, Paul’s commands come from God

a) (v. 10) Do not divorce

b) (v. 11) If you do divorce, remain unmarried or reconcile to your husband (impossible to reconcile if other spouse has remarried based on )

c) (v. 11) Men and women are the same regarding these commands

2) (v. 12) To mixed (believer and unbeliever) couples, Paul commands (not God; thus a recommendation?)

a) (vv. 12-13) If an unbelieving spouse consents to live with a believing spouse, do not divorce just because you are not both believers

b) (v. 14) Believing spouses are a blessing to their unbelieving spouses. In some way, which I don’t understand, the unbeliever is “made holy” because of the believing spouse. So also the children are “holy” because of the believing spouse.

c) (v. 15) If the unbeliever abandons and separates from the believer, the believer is no longer yoked to that unbelieving spouse (it is as if they were not married in the first place)

i) An implication of this “abandonment” is that the believer who was “abandoned”by an unbeliever is free to re-marry.

ii) If the believer who was abandoned re-marries, they cannot reconcile with the former spouse. Likewise, if the unbelieving spouse re-marries and then later divorces that spouse and wants to reconcile, they cannot.

(v. 9) Divorce and remarriage on any other grounds is adultery. (Except in the case of the death of a spouse, according to Paul)

Re-Marriage () Paul permits a woman to re-marry after the death of a spouse, yet believes that a widow is better off to remain unmarried.

Re-Marriage () Paul, in describing our relationship to the Torah describes the relationship as similar to a wife and her husband. If her husband dies, she is free from the law. If her husband is alive, she is an adulterer if she re-marries.

2) Disciples Draw Near to Discern the Deeper Meaning

(v. 10) If divorce and remarriage is so bad, people should just not risk it and not get married.

If divorce and remarriage is so bad, people should just not risk it and not get married.

Jesus’ Response: The Gift of Singleness is Not For Everyone

(vv. 11-12)

(v. 11) Not everyone can handle being single

()“It is not good for the man to be alone”

Genesis 2:18 ESV

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

() “If you burn with passion, then get married”

1 Corinthians 7:8–9 ESV

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

(v. 12) A Case Example: Eunuchs (an aspect of human sexuality as a result of living in a fallen world)

(v. 12) Some eunuchs are born that way

(v. 12) Some eunuchs are forcibly made that way

(v. 12) Some eunuchs voluntarily make themselves that way “for the kingdom of heaven”

It is a hard saying, but those who are spiritual, true disciples, will draw near to discern the deeper meaning.

Jesus’ kingdom reality means a major change

Eunuchs were not allowed “enter the assembly” (; ), but in the new kingdom reality Eunuchs are not only able to enter, but they will have “a monument and a name better than sons and daughters” ().

Yet, that change is not a physical change, like we’re not literally cutting off our hands, or plucking out our eyes. Those statements refer to a spiritual reality. Just as in those instances, Jesus meant fully committing ourselves to the kingdom of God, Jesus here means that it is a spiritual gift for people who remain unmarried and commit themselves fully to God’s kingdom.

So, whether we are married or unmarried, Jesus is asking for full commitment to the gospel and to his kingdom. That is what it means for someone to “make himself a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom.”

Matthew Explanation of the Text

neither Jesus here nor Paul in 1 Cor 7 is saying that celibacy is to be preferred or is a higher calling. The only point is that it is a valid calling and should be considered by disciples who serve the kingdom.

So What?

What do we do when God moves us along to a new ministry area?

Should we test God?

How should we approach divorce and remarriage?

Matthew Main Idea

the reality of the kingdom demanding a stronger view of the sanctity of marriage and a recognition that both marriage and celibacy are valid kingdom realities.

How should we approach singleness?

Matthew Explanation of the Text

How should we approach those who are sexually (physically) or genetically ambiguous?

Related Media

Related Sermons