Jesus answers the question about divorce by pointing to Scripture, but in a very specific way. For the Pharisees, Scripture was just law and decree, yet they misunderstood even that law, so Jesus points to the pre-Mosaic period in which the law was only written on the hearts and obeyed naturally, thus tracing the law beyond Moses to the creation ordinances, something we find elsewhere in the New Testament (Hebrews 10:16; Galatians 3:19). Thus, he expresses, indirectly, the provisional character of the Mosaic law, which will soon no longer be needed, as Christ’s work already brings us nearer to paradise. Saying that God is said to have created... from the beginning
also shows that he is the Creator of all things, and so has the right to do as he wills. He made Adam and Eve, immediately as male and female, as man and woman.
Translators sometimes place a question mark at the end of Matthew 19:4, starting a new sentence with the words and said
at the start of Matthew 19:5, taking not God, but Jesus, as the subject. This is done because Genesis 2:24, which is quoted here, contains not the words of God himself but those of Adam, but this should make no difference, since Adam was nevertheless the vessel bringing the Word of God.
Jesus answers the question concerning divorce by pointing to Scripture, but does so in a very particular way. For the Pharisees, Scripture was nothing but law and prescription—and yet they still misunderstood that law. Jesus therefore points to the pre-Mosaic period in which the law was still only written on the hearts and obeyed naturally. This is very important: Jesus traces the law back beyond Moses to the creation ordinances, something we find elsewhere in the New Testament—see Hebrews 10:16 and Galatians 3:19. Therefore, what is expressed here—albeit indirectly—is the provisional and incidental character of the Mosaic law, which will soon no longer be required, as through the work of Christ we already come, even on earth, nearer to paradise. Furthermore, the fact that God is said to have created... from the beginning
indicates him as the absolute cause of all things, the One who has the right to do as he wills. He made them—that is, Adam and Eve—immediately as male and female, as man and woman.1
Translators sometimes place a question mark at the end of Matthew 19:4. A new sentence would then supposedly begin with the words and said
at the start of Matthew 19:5, taking not God but Jesus as the subject. This is done because Genesis 2:24 which is quoted here does not contain the words of God himself but those of Adam. Yet this makes no difference, however, as Adam was nevertheless the vessel bringing the Word of God.2
4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,