Matthew 19:4

And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, AND HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, HAVE YE NOT READ, THAT HE WHICH MADE THEM AT THE BEGINNING MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE - or better, perhaps, 'He that made them made them from the beginning a male and a female.'...

4._Have you not read? _Christ does not indeed reply directly to what was asked, but he fully meets the question which was proposed; just as if a person now interrogated about the Mass were to explain faithfully the mystery of the Holy Supper, and at length to conclude, that they are guilty of sacrilege and forgery who venture either to add or to take away any thing from the pure institution of the Lord, he would plainly overturn the pretended sacrifice of the Mass. Now Christ assumes as an admitted principle, that at the beginning God _joined the male to the female, _so that the two made an entire man; and therefore he who _divorces his wife _tears from him, as it were, the half of himself. But nature does not allow any man to tear in pieces his own body. He adds another argument drawn from the less to the greater. The bond of marriage is more sacred than that which binds children to the...

3-12 The Pharisees were desirous of drawing something from Jesus which they might represent as contrary to the law of Moses. Cases about marriage have been numerous, and sometimes perplexed; made so, not by the law of God, but by the lusts and follies of men; and often people fix what they will do, before they ask for advice. Jesus replied by asking whether they had not read the account of the creation, and the first example of marriage; thus pointing out that every departure therefrom was wrong. That condition is best for us, and to be chosen and kept to accordingly, which is best for our souls, and tends most to prepare us for, and preserve us to, the kingdom of heaven. When the gospel is really embraced, it makes men kind relatives and faithful friends; it teaches them to bear the burdens, and to bear with the infirmities of those with whom they are connected, to consider their peace...

Verse Matthew 19:4. _HE WHICH MADE THEM AT THE BEGINNING_] When Adam and Eve were the first of human kind. _MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE_] Merely through the design of matrimonial union, that the earth might be thus peopled. To answer a case of conscience, a man should act as Christ does here; pay no regard to that which the corruption of manners has introduced into Divine ordinances, but go back to the original _will, purpose_, and _institution_ of God. Christ will never accommodate his morality to the _times_, nor to the inclinations of men. What was done at the _beginning_ is what God judged most worthy of his _glory_, most profitable for _man_, and most suitable to _nature_....

AND HE ANSWERED AND SAID ... - Instead of referring to the opinions of either party, Jesus called their attention to the original design of marriage, to the authority of Moses an authority acknowledged by them both. HAVE YE NOT READ? - Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:21. “And said, For this cause,” etc., Genesis 2:24. That is, God, at the beginning, made but one man and one woman: their posterity should learn that the original intention of marriage was that a man should have but one wife. SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER - This means, shall bind himself more strongly to his wife than he was to his father or mother. T

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 19:1 _The beginning of the last journey to Jerusalem_._ The question concerning divorce_._ _(Mark 10:1.) MATTHEW 19:1 WHEN JESUS HAD FINISHED THESE SAYINGS. This is the beginning of a new section of the history, commencing, as usual, with the formulary, AND IT CAME TO PASS. "These sayings" must refer to what was recorded in Matthew 18:1. But St. Matthew's narrative omits many events that happened in the interval between the account of the Galilaean ministry and the history of these last days, that i

AND HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM,.... Not by replying directly to the question, but by referring them to the original creation of man, and to the first institution of marriage, previous to the law of Moses; HAVE YE NOT READ, THAT HE WHICH MADE THEM AT THE BEGINNING, MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE? This may be read in Genesis 1:27 and from thence this sense of things collected; that God, who in the beginning of time, or of the creation, as Mark expresses it, made all things, the heavens, and the earth, and all that is therein, and particularly "man", as the Vulgate Latin, and Munster's Hebrew Gospel supply it here, made the first parents of mankind, male and female; not male and females, but one male, and one female; first, one male, and then, of him one female, who, upon her creation, was brought and married to him; so that in this original constitution, no provision was made

HAVE YE NOT READ See (Genesis 1:27); (Genesis 2:23); (Genesis 2:24). The passage is significant as Jesus' confirmation of the Genesis narrative of creation....

MATTHEW 19:4 kti,saj {B} It is easier to suppose that copyists changed the word kti,saj (which is supported by several excellent witnesses) to poih,saj, thus harmonizing it with the Septuagint text of Genesis 1:27 (which is quoted in the immediate context), than to suppose that poih,saj was altered to suit the Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:27 (arB, which means “created”)....

7. DEPARTURE FROM GALILEE. Concerning Divorce. Little Children Blessed and the Rich Young Man. CHAPTER 19 _ 1. The Departure from Galilee. (Matthew 19:1 .) 2. Concerning Divorce. (Matthew 19:3 .) 3. The Blessing of Little Children. (Matthew 19:13 .) 4. The Rich Young Man. (Matthew 19:16 .) 5. The Rewards in the Kingdom. (Matthew 19:27 .)_ In the first part of the nineteenth chapter we find a continuation of teachings concerning the kingdom. This, we repeat, is not the same kingdom promised to Israel, as it w