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Deuteronomy 24: 1 in order that they could live as immorally as they pleased, yet still
make a pretence of being law-abiding.
The Lord Jesus brings them back to a true interpretation of the verse in Deuteronomy.
In Matt. 19: 7, 8 He adds that divorce was given "because of the hardness of your hearts
. . . . . but from the beginning it was not so". Some assume from this that divorce for any
reason is wrong now, but they forget that the first marriage was made in a time of
sinlessness and therefore would never have been broken up while this lasted. There
could have been no question of divorce at the beginning. Others, noting that both Mark
and Luke omit the clause about adultery, assume that Matthew added the clause because
he felt that it represented the Lord's teaching, in which case it was merely Matthew's
opinion. We absolutely reject this as it contradicts the inspiration of the holy Scriptures.
Moreover, the Evangelists omit other facts that Matthew includes, but sound
exposition does not consider these to be wrong because this is so. Rather, we have the
Holy Spirit superintending the composition of His Word in both cases. The plain
teaching of Christ is that marriage is indissoluble except for adultery. God's laws have
social implications, for they deal with human behaviour and this affects all society.
When anyone breaks the laws of God they are disrupting society whether they realize it
or not. Modern conceptions of divorce have drifted far away from God's standards and
instead of solving problems, they only make more, and produce further unhappiness.
Most people are married in a church and take an oath that they do so "for better or for
worse". But how many really mean this and feel the obligation to keep it? "For better",
yes, but "for worse", no. They think this gives them the right to link with someone else,
if they so desire. Is it any wonder that the home, which is the very centre of the nation's
life is being destroyed and anarchy and misery are taking its place? Specially is this so,
when according to some surveys, every third marriage ends in divorce in Great Britain.
Oaths.
"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not break your
oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord'. But I tell you, Do not swear at all:
either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by
Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do no swear by your head, for you
cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your `yes' be `yes', and your `no',
`no'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one" (5: 33-37, N.I.V.).
The Lord now comes to the subject of oaths. In the O.T. God made it clear that
promises to Himself, whether oaths or not, must be kept. A man must "do according to
all that proceedeth out of his mouth" (Numb. 30: 2). In other words, his word must be
relied on, for this is the basis of character. The Lord Jesus did not prohibit oaths in a
court of justice, for He Himself answered Caiaphas on oath. Deut. 6: 13 and 10: 20
commands "thou shalt swear by His name". And Psa. 63: 11 states that "every one
that sweareth by Him shall glory" (or be commended). It was flippant oaths and all that
borders on profanity Christ was prohibiting. Oaths and strong statements have come into
use because men are so often liars. They should not really be necessary. False swearing
was common among the Jews, hence the charge given by James (5: 12) which strongly
resembles the Sermon on the Mount. Dr. A. T. Robertson says: