“And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?'” Mark 10:2
March 8, 2024
We live in a culture of divorce. There was a time if a divorce took place in a church, no matter the size, it was no small matter. Divorce is epidemic in our society and equally so in the church. In many cases it has even been elevated to the level of an opportunity for self-improvement. The duty-to-self ethic is undermining marriage. The Pharisees wanted to draw Jesus into a theological trap so that His authority could be discredited. They had turned an Old Testament permission in certain cases (Deut. 24:1) into a command to divorce. Jesus countered the question of the Pharisees with one of His own by using the word “command.” By doing this Jesus was shifting the emphasis to the intention of God regarding marriage and divorce. In order to focus on God’s ideal, Jesus insisted that marriage be the starting place, not divorce. The religious leaders, like many Christians today, were looking for loopholes, exceptions, and permission rather than the standard God has set forth. In the first of four assertions, Jesus says that God’s standards for marriage, divorce, and remarriage will be challenged by those holding contrary standards. If your marriage is in trouble, don’t start with what one of your favorite preachers and theologians says. Follow the moral lines in the road of life God has given in the Scriptures.
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Read through Mark 10:1-12 prayerfully to prepare yourself for a brief clinic on how to think about marriage God’s way.