Matthew 19:10

It is difficult to fix the precise meaning of ἡ αἰτία. It is either: (1) the cause or principle of the conjugal union: ‘If the union be so close as thou sayest;’ or, (2) the cause or reason for divorce, namely adultery, referring to αἰτία, Matthew 19:3 : ‘If for this reason, and for this alone, divorce be allowed;’ or (3) ‘the case’ in a legal sense like causa, res de qua in judicio agitur: ‘If this be the only case with which a man may come into court.’ A further meaning, sometimes assigned ‘condition,’ ‘state of things,’ may be rejected. On the whole (2), which is Meyer’s view, seems preferable.

In D the reading is ἀνδρός, the correct word in contrast with γυναικός, but the reading is not supported. μετὰ is used to express relation generally, as in modern Greek.

οὐ συμφέρει γαμῆσαι. Nothing could prove more clearly the revolution in thought brought to pass by Christ than this. Even the disciples feel that such a principle would make the yoke of marriage unbearable.

γαμῆσαι. This aorist is used both in the sense of ‘to give to wife’ and ‘to take to wife,’ it is nearly confined to late authors. See Veitch sub voc. γαμέω.