Matthew 19:3-23

3-12 Compare Mar_10:2-12.

4 Compare Gen_1:27. See Mal_2:15.

4 Man was originally bi-sexual. Adam had both male and female functions (Gen_1:27). Before the woman was taken out of Adam, the sexes were actually one flesh. Marriage is the reverse of this. The woman was not formed from a “rib”. The Hebrew word is nowhere else so rendered. It is used of the chambers in the temple building (1Ki_6:5), and denotes an angular vault. Hence the woman is the complement of the man, and both together constitute the human unit. One is incomplete without the other. The physical union, moreover, is not a mere legal agreement, but actual oneness of flesh, in which each is merged in the other. It is not the work of man merely, but of God. It is contrary to nature and to nature's God to destroy this unity. Originally no separation was contemplated. It is a concession to the hardness of their hearts. Only the infraction and destruction of the physical unity by union with another is given by our Lord as a just cause of separation (9), for, in that case, the unit is already marred beyond repair, in the offending party. It is in fullest harmony with the present grace, in which physical unity has no standing, that even the cause allowed by our Lord is not a valid basis for separation. This corresponds with the overflowing grace in which we are submerged. The only cause now given is where the unbelieving husband or wife gets a divorce. Then the believer is free (1Co_7:15). The believer today is to act in perfect grace even to the acknowledgment of a wrongful separation.

5 See Gen_2:24; 1Co_6:16; Eph_5:31.

7 See Mat_5:31-32; Deu_24:1.

9 Compare Luk_16:18; 1Co_7:10-11.

12 As we have no standing in flesh, such matters are not within our sphere. They do not affect our place in Christ. Not so with the kingdom. We read of a male son who will shepherd the nations in that day (Rev_12:5), and of the hundred and forty-four thousand who are celibates (Rev_14:4) out of the twelve tribes (Rev_7:3). It is more than likely that these are those to whom the special saying of which He spoke has been given.

13-15 Compare Mar_10:13-16; Luk_18:15-17.

14 See Mat_18:3.

16-22 Compare Mar_10:17-22; Luk_18:18-23.

16 See Luk_10:27.

16 When Israel entered the land, each one received an allotment sufficient for a living. This could not be sold outright. It could only be mortgaged till the next jubilee. With some exceptions, no one could acquire much land without encroaching on the allotments of others.

That is why it is so difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom. He must of necessity lose his riches and enter poor. That is the position of this rich youth. He had great acquisitions. This was land which God had allotted to others for their living, but which they had lost through poverty. His superfluous wealth meant distress for them. He claimed to keep the law, and no doubt he had never murdered or robbed any one, for he had no provocation to commit flagrant offenses. He even maintained that he loved his associates as himself! The Lord very simply suggests that he act in accordance with his profession. He did not ask him to give up his own means of livelihood. He could never expect him to relinquish his own allotment, for that was given by God. All He desired was that he should return to others their allotments. This is what God's law does at the jubilee. This is what will occur when the kingdom is established. The believing disciples in the Pentecostal era, recognizing the impossibility of carrying possessions and acquisitions, over and above their inherited allotments, into the kingdom, sold all such property and put the proceeds into the common fund (Act_2:45). None of these acts have any bearing on present conduct. for our allotment is among the celestials. The Israelite might possibly carry his allotment into the kingdom, but we can take nothing of earth into the realms above. The shrewdest saint is the one who exchanges his terrestrial real estate for celestial currency before it all is taken from him. He knows that his acquisitions on earth will all be forfeited and decrease his balance in the celestial bank.

18 Compare Exo_20:12-16.

19 See Lev_19:18.

21-22 See Mat_6:19-21; Act_2:45; 1Ti_6:17-19.

23-26 Compare Mar_10:23-27; Luk_18:24-27.

23 See Mat_13:22.