“Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.” (1-2) But the Pharisees only to test Him hoping to get Him to stumble and lose His rating among the people. “The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’ And He answered and said to them: ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, (Genesis 2:7; 22; 5:2) and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? (Genesis 2:24) So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.’ As always, Christ referred the issue to higher ground, not to what Moses said, but to what God had said. Bypassing Moses altogether, he rested his case upon the word of God, appealing to [the Creation account of] Genesis...” (Coffman Commentary)
Click link to the next study in my sequential chapter study through the Gospel of Matthew. https://www.mymorningmanna.com/post/matthew-20
“Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’ “He said to them, ‘Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.’ Jesus admits that this was allowed, but still he contends that this was not the original design of marriage. It was only a temporary expedient growing out of a special state of things, and not designed to be perpetual. It was on account of the hardness of their hearts. 'And I say to you,’— Emphasis should be laid here on the word ‘I.’ This was the opinion of Jesus - this He proclaimed to be the Law of His Kingdom this the Command of God ever afterward.—‘whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.’ (3-9) Indulgence had been given by the laws of Moses; but that indulgence was to cease, and the marriage relation to be brought back to its original intention. Only one offence was to make divorce lawful. This is the Law of God; and by the same Law, all marriages which take place after divorce, where adultery is not the cause of divorce, are adulterous. Legislatures have no right to say that people may put away their wives for any other cause; and where they do, and where there is marriage afterward, by the law of God such marriages are adulterous!” (Albert Barnes)
The bar was thus raised. “His disciples said to Him, ‘If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.’ That is, if a man have not the liberty to put away his wife when she is displeasing to him.” (Adam Clarke) But He said to them, ‘All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it." (10-12) by my Spirit. I will help them.“Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven” etc.
“Now behold, one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?’ So He said to him,
‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ He said to Him, ‘Which ones?’ Jesus said, "'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
The young man said to Him, ‘All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ Jesus did not refute but convicted but convicted of the first tablet of commandments.
“But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ “All attempts to make such a thing possible must appear ridiculous in the light of Christ's statement… When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ Only the power of God can bring a man of wealth to quit trusting in his riches and to place his hope in God through Christ, or to possess his possessions instead of being possessed by them. People of affluence should always remember that only the power of the Eternal can empower them to force their wealth to subserve the purposes of God and His kingdom.” (Coffman Commentary)
"Then Peter answered and said to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (22-30) “The present age is under Satan’s dominion, and Christ gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from it (Gal 1:4). The age to come is of another order that may be called ‘eternal.’ To be guilty of an ‘eternal’ sin (Mark 3:29) is to be guilty of one that will not be forgiven even in the age to come (Matt 12:32). That the age to come is eternal in quality is seen in the fact that the life of the age to come (eternal life) is possible even in the present age through faith in Jesus. Where John talks of ‘eternal life,’ the other Gospels generally speak of the ‘kingdom,’ though these expressions are used interchangeably in the Synoptics (Matt 19:16–17, 23; Mark 9:45, 47) and in John (John 3:3, 5, 15, 16). To inherit the kingdom is to enter into eternal life (Matt 25:34, 46)…”
(The Fire That Consumes by Edward Fudge) And that only through obedience.
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