Matthew 19:12

“For there are eunuchs, who were so born from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs, who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs, who made themselves eunuchs for the kingly rule of heaven's sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.”.

This view of Matthew 19:11 is confirmed now by what He says in Matthew 19:12. For here Jesus is demonstrating that the practise of non-marriage has in fact been true for some throughout the ages, and is now even more true in the light of the coming of the Kingly Rule of Heaven. He is pointing out that there have always been some who could not marry, (even if they wanted to), and that that situation has now widened, and has become desirable for some, by the coming of the Kingly Rule of Heaven.

The basic idea of a eunuch was that he was someone who totally abstained from sexual activity. In the official sense only the middle type was a eunuch, for a eunuch was someone who had been castrated so that his whole attention would be concentrated on serving his master, often, although not necessarily, involving him in having responsibilities in the harems of great kings (as a eunuch he would not be a sexual threat to the women). Eunuchs were often looked on as men of unique devotion to their masters and as such deserving of high office, even though they could also be looked on with ridicule.

However, a considerable number of men were also ‘natural eunuchs' (or to utilise a Rabbinic phrase ‘eunuchs of Heaven'). This arose either because of genetic defects at birth, or because of some accident or act of violence that rendered them so (consider the seriousness attached to the possibility of a woman interfering with a man's genitals during a fight, the only crime in Israel which warranted the amputation of the hand - Deuteronomy 25:11). The description may have also been intended to include slaves forbidden by their masters to marry. For all such people marriage was usually not an option. Heaven had thus decreed otherwise. To all intents and purposes they were eunuchs, and no doubt sometimes insultingly called such. For no woman could be expected to marry a man who could not produce children. It is an open question as to whether such people were originally intended to be excluded from the assembly of the Lord by Deuteronomy 23:1, or whether that simply referred to the deliberate castration practised in Canaanite religion. But they could certainly not be priests active in the sanctuary (Leviticus 21:20). On the other hand, if born to priestly families, they could eat ‘the bread of their God (Matthew 19:22). What they could not do included approaching the altar and going within the inner sanctuary behind the first veil (Matthew 19:23). The corollary of this, in view of their views on marriage, would be that no man should minister to God who was not married and did not pass on the seed of life. This treatment of maimed priests suggests, however, that such people were not wholly excluded from the assembly of the Lord, and that it was only those whose defect arose from idolatrous religion that were originally to be so excluded.

So Jesus' argument is that there have always been at least two types of men for whom it was inexpedient to marry, natural ‘eunuchs' and man-made eunuchs (It was known for some of the latter to ‘marry'. Strictly, however, it would not in Jewish eyes be a true marriage for it could not be consummated. Consider possibly Genesis 39 where Potiphar was ‘a eunuch of Pharaoh' but married. Although the question then is whether the word translated ‘eunuch' had come to mean ‘high official'). The Rabbis later in fact clearly distinguished between the two, they spoke of ‘eunuchs of Heaven' and ‘eunuchs of man', and the idea was therefore almost certainly prevalent in Jesus' day. This clearly demonstrated that God had made allowances for some who could not marry due to natural reasons (due to Heaven) or violence done to the person (due to man). It had not therefore, even in ancient days, always been the duty of a man to marry under all circumstances, for God had made the world otherwise.

That being so He then adds a third type who need not marry, a type resulting from the fact that the Kingly Rule of Heaven has come, and that is of those who deliberately refrain from marriage and from sexual activity ‘for the sake of the Kingly Rule of Heaven'. That indeed is in mind as a possibility in Matthew 19:29, and we should always allow the context to speak for itself. But such abstinence could only at that stage have had the purpose of enabling that person to serve the Kingly Rule of Heaven with full devotion, in the way that eunuchs did in the case of their masters, and in the way that both John the Baptist and Jesus Himself had (although both died while comparatively young, certainly young enough still to marry, which had possibly, although not necessarily, saved them both from the charge of failing in their duty to God, and this was especially so with Jesus as He had had younger brothers to bring up and provide for). For in fact all priests, including the High Priest, along with all Jewish males, considered it their duty to marry and bear children, demonstrating that none saw marriage as hindering a man from being holy. Thus this exception that Jesus proposed would appear to Jews to be an unusual exception. We can compare with this Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 7:8; 1 Corinthians 7:27; 1 Corinthians 7:32. His point was that from now on devotion to God and the production of spiritual children could replace the normal duty to marry and bear children.

There is no question of this indicating a higher form of service or something to be reserved for a certain class of ministry. Peter was married, as were others of the Apostles. It is rather a matter of their being able to serve the Kingly Rule of Heaven in the best possible way. For some that would be by bearing children and bringing them up to serve Him (it is largely this ministry that has often perpetuated the church at times when love for Him has grown lukewarm), for others it would involve being free from cares and responsibilities so that they could minister better in an itinerant ministry or in difficult situations (1 Corinthians 7:29). Each should determine what was God's purpose for him or her, and serve Him accordingly.

This is further evidence that Jesus saw the Kingly Rule of Heaven as now a present reality. It was precisely because that was so that He could introduce the idea of ‘eunuchs'. For all knew that that the term ‘eunuch' regularly signified someone with particular loyalty to a monarch. Here then it signified someone with a particular loyalty to the cause of the Kingly Rule of Heaven and its King (an idea prominent in this section). It was one of Jesus' vivid illustrations. He did not intend that they would physically become eunuchs, only that they would behave like eunuchs.

‘He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.” Jesus recognises that not all men will be able to recognise this truth, for it went against all that most of the Scribes and Pharisees taught and practised concerning marriage. Nevertheless, Jesus says, it is a truth open to those who will receive it, to those to whom it has been ‘given', and that includes His disciples. Let them therefore now receive it. These words emphasise what a revolutionary idea this was seen to be, and that it should therefore have awoken His disciples to recognise the new situation that was coming. So the whole passage stresses that the Kingly Rule of Heaven is now entering a stage of extreme urgency. The world is about to be turned upside down with the result that marriage is no longer to be seen as a man's first priority. It was very much a practical wake up call. The new age was here.