Sanctity of Marriage in the New Covenant
Jesus not only
prohibits adulterous actions and thoughts, but He also warns against divorce
and other compromises against the sanctity and permanence of marriage.
Jesus
continues His exposition of the fulfillment of the Old Testament, calling again
for pure interior attitudes in order to safeguard against wicked actions. This
time He goes even further, calling for a complete break with whatever causes
one to sin, even if that means a member of the body!
Although
not even a fundamentalist would take literally the Lord's injunction to
dismember oneself if necessary in order to avoid sinning, His reasoning is not
exaggerated - it would indeed be better to suffer the loss of anything in this
life, rather than suffer in eternal damnation! "Gehenna" is the
Hebrew name for Hell, originally a reference to an ancient smoldering garbage
dump to the south of Jerusalem.
Jesus
not only prohibits adulterous actions and thoughts, but He also warns against
divorce and other compromises against the sanctity and permanence of marriage. The
exception clause in verse 32 is difficult to translate. Clearly, since Jesus
was unequivocally opposed to divorce, most scholars conjecture that the
exception refers to unions which are intrinsically illicit, such as incest. It's
obvious that Jesus was not afraid to confront hard issues with the call to
holiness!