The Gospel According to Saint Matthew Chapter 5 verse 32

[Mort_Alz]

In Matthew’s gospel account, he records Jesus as saying: “everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery” (ESV). [the 2010 version of the NIV says “makes her the victim of adultery,” but that seems, if you will, a bit too easy to just change the translation].

Is it just me, or does this seem to be unjust? Almost like Jesus blames the woman in this case for something she could not help. It at least seems this way from a first glance at the scriptures. How does she ask for forgiveness for that? “Dear God, I am wholeheartedly sorry that my HUSBAND divorced me. I know that I am wrong for my HUSBAND’s actions. Please forgive me for being guilty of adultery on account of my HUSBAND.” When I try to take this scripture in it burns and screams in protest against my conscience and against everything my soul tells me is right and fair.

My guess is, I’m just understanding this with poor exegesis. Does anyone have any answers?

 

[JM3]

In Matthew’s gospel account, he records Jesus as saying: “everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery” (ESV). [the 2010 version of the NIV says “makes her the victim of adultery,” but that seems, if you will, a bit too easy to just change the translation].

Is it just me, or does this seem to be unjust? Almost like Jesus blames the woman in this case for something she could not help. It at least seems this way from a first glance at the scriptures. How does she ask for forgiveness for that? “Dear God, I am wholeheartedly sorry that my HUSBAND divorced me. I know that I am wrong for my HUSBAND’s actions. Please forgive me for being guilty of adultery on account of my HUSBAND.” When I try to take this scripture in it burns and screams in protest against my conscience and against everything my soul tells me is right and fair.

My guess is, I’m just understanding this with poor exegesis. Does anyone have any answers?

You are assuming that the exception of sexual immorality is the only reason that Jesus allows for divorce.

Consider this meaning. Jesus is saying that ‘everyone who divorces his wife…makes her commit adultery’. The exception of sexual immorality is that the ‘wife’ cannot be made to commit what she has already committed.

 

[Gem]

That’s because that’s not what He means.

Jesus is saying that by divorcing and attempting to re-marry one commits adultery - man or woman. Read this line in context in each of the Gospels in which it appears.

Civil divorce in and of itself isn’t necessarily a sin (e.g. if done to protect a spouse from abuse).

Gem

 

[TimothyH]

Of course there is the strict interpretation of what Jesus is saying in verse 32, that those who divorce and remarry are committing adultery and hence the Church’s teaching that marriage is once and forever.

This is an importat thing to know if that is as far as you want to take it but Jesus’ teaching goes much further, to the heart of what he came to do, to save us from sin in this life on earth in a very real way. A full understanding of Jesus teaching on adultery in verse 32 requires that it be read in the context of verses 27 to 28 as well as Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 19.

***You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. **(Matthew 5:27-28 NAB)*The first thing anyone says about this passage is that it seems to be impossible. How can mortal man not commit adultery in his heart through lust? Lust seems to be in our very nature. This becomes even more discouraging when we consider that Jesus did not limit lustful looks and thoughts to just women (and men) to whom we are not married. The prohibition seems to be against looking at all woman with lust including ones own wife! This was the view of John Paul II.

The Pharisees ask Jesus about this point blank in Matthew 19;

***Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning **the Creator ‘made them male and female’ 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’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss (her)?” He said to them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. (Matthew 19:3-8)*Here Jesus makes two references to how things like divorce and adultery were not present “In the beginning.” The people to whom he was talking were devout Jews and scholars and would have immediately recognized his reference to Genesis - how Adam and Eve lived in “In the beginning”, in perfect communion with God and each other in the Garden of Eden before sin entered the world. That is what Jesus came to do - to take us back to the way it was “in the beginning” when man lived in a sinless state, naked yet without shame.

My reply is long enough so end it with a referral to John Paul II’s catechesis “Theology of the Body”, best explained in Christopher West’s book “Theology of the Body for Beginners.” Worth the 13 bucks IMO.

-Tim-

 

[roelblomsma]

In Matthew’s gospel account, he records Jesus as saying: “everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery” (ESV). [the 2010 version of the NIV says “makes her the victim of adultery,” but that seems, if you will, a bit too easy to just change the translation].

Is it just me, or does this seem to be unjust? Almost like Jesus blames the woman in this case for something she could not help. It at least seems this way from a first glance at the scriptures. How does she ask for forgiveness for that? “Dear God, I am wholeheartedly sorry that my HUSBAND divorced me. I know that I am wrong for my HUSBAND’s actions. Please forgive me for being guilty of adultery on account of my HUSBAND.” When I try to take this scripture in it burns and screams in protest against my conscience and against everything my soul tells me is right and fair.

My guess is, I’m just understanding this with poor exegesis. Does anyone have any answers?

My understanding is a the man who divorces his wife unjustly is doing moral harm to his wife and therefore responsible for any act in this matter committed by that woman. I don’t think this means that afterd that the woman is responsible. I do agree that translation can be tricky. Considering that Jesus warned men earlier about looking at women (and having to take out their right eye), I suppose Jesus is aware that men are the evil doers as it comes to matters of vice.

 

[Mort_Alz]

That’s because that’s not what He means.

Jesus is saying that by divorcing and attempting to re-marry one commits adultery - man or woman. Read this line in context in each of the Gospels in which it appears.

Civil divorce in and of itself isn’t necessarily a sin (e.g. if done to protect a spouse from abuse).

Gem

Jesus is usually quite clear when he teaches. Why did he not say what you claim he means? Why did he not say? “He who divorces his wife causes her to commit adultery if she tries to remarry?”

 

[Dave_Noonan]

In Matthew’s gospel account, he records Jesus as saying: “everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery” (ESV). [the 2010 version of the NIV says “makes her the victim of adultery,” but that seems, if you will, a bit too easy to just change the translation].

Is it just me, or does this seem to be unjust? Almost like Jesus blames the woman in this case for something she could not help. It at least seems this way from a first glance at the scriptures. How does she ask for forgiveness for that? “Dear God, I am wholeheartedly sorry that my HUSBAND divorced me. I know that I am wrong for my HUSBAND’s actions. Please forgive me for being guilty of adultery on account of my HUSBAND.” When I try to take this scripture in it burns and screams in protest against my conscience and against everything my soul tells me is right and fair.

My guess is, I’m just understanding this with poor exegesis. Does anyone have any answers?

In the social structures of the times, it was extremely rare for a woman to have the means to live on her own–no alimony or property rights. Thus, when a man expels a woman from the household, he basically forces her to find another man to survive, or to live as a prostitute. I think Jesus’ point (especially within the context) is that it’s the MAN that is causing the sin in this case, not the woman. So, the woman is indeed generally the victim.

The Greek verb involved here is difficult to render in English, since is it is a passive infinitive–and we don’t really have a passive form of “to commit adultery” (be “adulterated”??) in English. Thus, the NIV–which I’m not at ALL a fan of in general–at least attempts to show this in the translation, which is commendable. There’s no “causes to commit” in the Greek text.

Contemporary society is quite different now, so it’s important to be careful when making analogies.

 

[Robbinson]

Jesus is usually quite clear when he teaches. Why did he not say what you claim he means? Why did he not say? “He who divorces his wife causes her to commit adultery if she tries to remarry?”

The phrase “makes her commit adultery” (the ESV translation) is probably better translated “makes her an adulteress” (this is the RSV-CE translation and if you check a reverse interlinear Greek-English translation - this is more “accurate”). The latter translation lends itself to better understanding that the divorce by the husband results in the “unintentional sin” by the wife.

Its a breaking by both parties (husband and wife) of God’s covenant - that man and woman become “one flesh” (echad) in Marriage.

That said, Catholic teaching on this differentiates between civil marriage/divorce and marriage in God’s eyes. Civil divorce (under limited circumstances - irreconcilable differences, abuse, etc) is not a sin - but the marriage remains in God’s eyes - thus sexual relations outside of that “marriage” is adultery.

Blessings,

Brian

 

[Huiou_Theou]

This teaching is in a specific context:
Go back to Matth 5:20;

Matth 5:20 For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Matth 5:21 You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgement.

Jesus is not speaking of just any man divorcing any woman; Indeed, God himself will talk of writing a bill of Divorce to Israel (the northern kingdom) and putting her away.
What Jesus is doing is taking the law of the day as practised by Pharisees and scribes (lawyers) and comparing it to the law. Be very careful to understand that Torah (LAW) includes the book of Genesis: Adam and Eve is not just a story – it is a Law that the Pharisees were bound by. Legal opinions of the day can be found in part in the Talmuds (Jerusalem and Babylonian). What Jesus does here is show the hypocrisy of some of these legal opinions.

In the Law of Moses, a woman was put away if a man found “something unclean in her”. Divorce, then, is a pronouncement by a man that the woman is filthy. Thus remarrying her after another man has had her, Moses calls an “abomination”.
It is not necessary that every woman be made an “adulterer” for Jesus’ words to be true – it is merely necessary that the practices of the Pharisees in his day would cause this to be so.

As to the means of “most” women, and marriage, I am not certain. Mary of Magdala, is supposed to have been quite wealthy and liking of men. Roman women were permitted to divorce their husbands, and quite a few other lecherous practices…
It is certain that there was no welfare at the time; it is also certain that (even to this very day) the Catholic church in its cannon law reserves the right to divorce a spouse who has committed adultery to the innocent spouse. That is, adultery is a crime worthy of the other spouse divorcing them though forgiveness is counselled.

There is one thing, however, that I would like to call people’s attention very strongly to when reading Matthew 5:32. The most important is “what God has joined” – does not mean, any man or woman who has had sexual relations. God does not join every marriage – and thus not every marriage enjoys the protection of God’s law. A child is not the correct meaning of “what God has joined” either – for a child honors its mother and father according to the fourth commandment (honorarium meaning money and care – hence the sin of korbanning one’s honorarium to their mother). A mother with sons would presumably have no need of becoming an adulteress – so Jesus’ words here are suggestive of being rather specific to the practice of the Pharisees in his day and may not apply to many situations found today as often.

The permanency of marriage, once Joined by God, however is absolutely affirmed in this passage and elsewhere.