Mark 10 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

1612 161310.9 What therefore the God paired together, let no person separate!"1611These words, "So that no longer are they two, but one flesh," constitute a conclusiondrawn by Jesus from the text just quoted from Genesis 2:24.1612France states that “The antithesis between o` qeo,j, ho theos, ‘the God’ andav,nqrwpoj, anthropos, ‘person,’ highlights the basis of Jesus’ rejection of divorce...” (P.392)1613France comments that “God’s act is expressed in a fait accompli by means of thesimple aorist sune,zeuxen, sunezeuksen, ‘he yoked together’; once the sequence set forth inGenesis 2:24 has been undertaken, the ‘one flesh’ is a fact, not a matter of provisionalityor choice. Given the recognition of Genesis 2:24 as the authoritative basis for marriage,the argument is simple and complete, and Jesus sees no need to qualify theuncompromising conclusion: marriage is for life.” (P. 392)Jesus affirms that when a man leaves his father and mother, and unites with hiswife, something wondrously new has been "joined together by God"--there is a new familyformed, that must be considered as a divine creation, and that must be protected againsthuman attempts to separate or dissolve. This is a view of God's continuing creation andaction in human history, in which God is seen as "joining" males and females in marriage,thereby "creating" the new homes that come into existence as a result.It has nothing to do with the religious backgrounds or beliefs of those so "joined"--forthe first man and woman were neither Jewish nor Christian nor Muslim--they were simplyGod's creation, "humanity," "male and female." And their uniting to form the home was hisdivine intention for them.This teaching of Jesus, rooted firmly and validly in the Jewish Bible, enables thevery highest possible view of the validity of monogamous marriage, and of the home, asGod's on-going creation. Jesus' teaching, with respect to the question asked by the JewishSeparatists, emphatically rejects their centering of their concern on the legal minutiae ofseparation and divorce. Instead, Jesus insists that attention must be centered on thedivinely intended permanency and exclusiveness of the relationship between wives andhusbands, and the fact that whenever separation takes place, it is contrary to the intentionof Almighty God.Swete sums up the teaching of Jesus in this passage as follows: "[There is]...adivine purpose already revealed in the creation of mutually complementary sexes and inthe blessing pronounced upon their union...and these constitute a divine sanction thatrenders lawful wedlock indissoluble at the discretion of the individual..." (P. 217)Luccock comments concerning marriage that "When it drops to the level of a moneyback-if-not-satisfiedpurchase, or a thirty-day trial offer of a bargain, as it has with so many,it ceases to be marriage at its true potential. With no sense of its august and solemnfinality, with no facing and accepting of that closing of doors, 'till death do us part,' the man(continued...)897