Gospel of Matthew

Matthew - Lesson 5E

Chapter 5:31-42

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  • Let’s return to Jesus’ examples illustrating what true righteousness requires  

    • But first, let’s not forget the big picture…

      • Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is a gigantic resetting of Israel’s understanding of what it takes to enter Heaven, or the Kingdom

      • Entering the Kingdom, Jesus said, requires living a life that was even more righteous than that of the Pharisees

      • It required living according to the spirit of God’s Law, not merely following the Pharisees’ manmade “oral law”

    • In the second half of this chapter, Jesus has been giving us examples of what this higher standard requires

      • Last week, we learned that the spirit behind "Thou shall not murder” goes a lot deeper than not taking another person’s life

      • The true intent of that law was to be loving to people! 

      • And when God said thou shall not commit adultery, He didn’t just mean don’t fool around on your spouse

      • He meant stay faithful to your wife with your heart, mind, soul and strength…don’t even let your eyes stray!

    • We still have four more examples in this chapter to study, and as we examine them, we’ll continue to see how they refuted the Pharisees’ teaching

      • But we’ve already seen how the Pharisees were perverting the Law for personal gain

      • And we’ve covered the Mishnah’s impact on leading people astray

    • So for the final four examples, I’m going to focus mostly on the heart of each issue, rather than on the Pharisaic concern

      • And I also want us to consider if we’re thinking about these issues like Pharisees too?

      • That is, are we guilty of setting aside the Word of God and ignoring God’s heart on these matters

      • While we pursue our own rules in place of His?

  • So let’s begin with the first of these four examples

Matt. 5:31  “It was said, ‘WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE’;
Matt. 5:32  but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
  • So Jesus’ third example compares the Pharisees’ teaching on divorce with God’s view of divorce from the Scriptures

    • Let me begin by acknowledging divorce is a sensitive and emotionally charged issue

      • Many of our lives have been touched by divorce

      • And it’s always a painful and often embarrassing experience

      • Nevertheless, it’s important we understand the Bible’s perspective on this topic…and we will in time

    • But in this chapter, Jesus is using divorce as an example on a larger point…divorce is not His main point, no more than murder or lust was

      • Furthermore, Jesus returns to this topic again, later in this Gospel, in Chapter 19

      • And at that time, Jesus will go into much greater detail on the subject

      • So I will wait until then to address the subject of divorce in greater detail

  • So for now, we’ll focus on understanding Jesus’ point in this example

    • Jesus quotes from the Mishnah (“it was said” not “as it is written”) where it paraphrases Deuteronomy 24

      • In that law, Moses commanded that a man who divorces his wife must send her away with a certificate of divorce  

      • But Jesus says, that whoever divorces his wife “makes" her commit adultery

      • To understand how these two statements relate, we need to appreciate the culture of Jesus’ day

    • In the ancient east, women had no legal standing

      • Generally speaking, they couldn’t own land or own a business

      • They couldn’t testify in court or enter into contracts

      • So a woman had no way to support herself in the culture 

      • Moreover, women generally didn’t possess sufficient upper body strength to handle the strenuous effort required to work the land

      • So a woman in Jesus’ day literally had no way to provide for herself through labor

    • Therefore, women relied on men to survive

      • During the first part of her life, a young girl lived under her father’s roof, depending on his support

      • Later, when she married, she was supported by her husband for the rest of her life

      • If she was widowed, she would move in with a son or brother-in-law

  • But if that woman’s husband lost interest in her and kicked her out of the house, she faced a desperate situation

    • Not only was her marriage falling apart, but she was at risk of losing her only means of support

      • She would be set out of the house with the clothes on her back and little else

      • There would be no alimony or child support

      • She wasn’t going to get a divorce settlement

      • And generally speaking, she couldn’t return to her father’s house, since she was considered the property of her husband

    • And to make matters worse, the woman was still considered married

      • Which meant that no other man would consider giving her shelter either

      • A respectable man would never spend private time in the company of a married woman, especially in his home

      • That man could be accused of adultery

  • Therefore, a woman abandoned by her husband was literally without hope

    • Unfortunately, this happened commonly in ancient life

      • Hard-hearted and cruel men abandoned their wives routinely, simply because they tired of her or wanted someone else

      • They left these poor women destitute and helpless, without a means of support

    • Such a woman was in real danger of starvation or abuse or death by exposure

      • Her best chance for survival was to depend on the mercy of strangers or family members, eking out a meager life as a beggar

      • The story of Ruth and Naomi is an example of such a situation

    • So to correct this injustice, God said to Israel, in Deuteronomy 24:1, that if a man is determined to divorce his wife, he must give her a certificate of divorce

      • The husband couldn’t kick his wife out of the house with nothing

      • He had to give her a certificate of divorce

      • With a certificate of divorce, the woman had a reasonable chance of finding another man to take pity on her and marry her

      • Another man could take her as a wife without fear of being charged with adultery 

  • But reading the Law carefully, it’s clear that God was not approving of the man’s decision to divorce his wife

    • The Lord was simply commanding the man to show some mercy to his victim

      • God did not intend Deuteronomy 24 to become a license to engage in divorce and remarriage

      • It’s similar to the case of another law

Ex. 22:16  “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife.
  • That Law says, that a man who seduces a woman outside of marriage, must pay a dowry to the family and marry the girl he seduced

    • Scripture is clear that having sex with a woman before you marry her is always a sin…100% of the time…we call it fornication

    • But in Exodus 22, God addresses the aftermath of fornication, because He knew sinful men were going to sin in this way

    • He obligated the man to make amends for his sin by marrying the girl

    • Obviously, Exodus 22:16 doesn’t mean God thinks it’s ok to engage in fornication

  • Likewise, just because God made accommodation for divorce, doesn’t mean He approves of it

    • Nevertheless, the Pharisees had taken Deuteronomy 24 to be just that…a license to divorce

    • They assumed God wouldn’t have made allowance for a certificate of divorce if He didn’t see a need for it at times

  • So they set about to define in the Mishnah the many reasons that justified a divorce

    • Over the years, the Pharisees invented a long list of such reasons

    • None of these reasons were found in Scripture itself, the rabbis simply imagined them

    • The most ridiculous of these rules stated that a husband was justified in divorcing his wife if she burned his soup

    • With rules like that, it’s obvious that these men were simply looking for any reason they could to end marriage

  • But as silly as these rules seem to us, the Pharisees said they were equal to Scripture because they were part of the “oral law”

    • Ironically, their rules were supposedly intended to limit divorce

    • Yet, because of those rules, it became easier and easier for men in Israel to do the very thing God said he hates

    • And all the while, they assumed God approved of their behavior because the Pharisees said it was OK

  • So once again, Jesus sets the record straight 

    • In v.32, Jesus says, that despite Deuteronomy 24, and despite the Mishnah, everyone who divorces his wife makes her commit adultery

      • Given the background I gave you earlier, we can understand what Jesus means when He says, a man “makes” his wife commit adultery

      • By ending the marriage, the husband essentially forced his wife to seek shelter under another man’s roof

      • So in that sense, the husband made her commit adultery because her only other option was starvation

    • But even more challenging, Jesus says that when that next man marries the divorced woman, he too commits adultery

      • That probably shocked the crowd listening to Jesus

      • Everyone in Jesus’ day assumed this new husband was in the clear because that woman came with that certificate of divorce

      • But Jesus says that certificate didn’t change the situation from God’s point of view

    • That certificate was simply intended to make the best of a bad situation by preserving the life of the woman

      • That certificate didn’t actually end the first marriage vows…it just gave the woman a chance for survival

      • Because if the choice is between the woman’s death and adultery, adultery is the better of the two

    • That certificate doesn’t mean that the marriage has ceased – adultery is still adultery

      • The husband’s choice to divorce his wife was a sin, and it led to a chain of sin, by his wife and the next man

      • So we could summarize Jesus’ teaching simply by saying, if you want to please God, honor your marriage as a lifelong bond

      • As I might say to my kids…one wife per life, one man is God’s plan

  • Now, you probably noticed Jesus mentions an exception in v.32

    • I want to wait until Chapter 19 to discuss this exception in detail

      • For now, simply note that grammatically speaking, Jesus’ exception applies to the second half of that verse

      • We could reword the sentence this way… “everyone who divorces his wife makes her commit adultery except in the case of unchastity”

      • Jesus was simply saying that a husband can’t be guilty of making his wife commit adultery if she beat him to it…if she committed adultery first

    • One last thing, I will say on this topic today…while divorce is a sin, it’s not an unforgivable sin, and it’s not worse than other sins

      • Remember earlier, Jesus said that those who have called a person a fool have broken the sixth commandment against murder

      • And He said that those who have lusted have broken the commandment against adultery

      • So how many of you have hated a person? How many have lusted?

    • And some of us have divorced, but I ask everyone…is the sin of divorce worse than our violations of the sixth and seventh commandments?

      • And more importantly, did Jesus die to cover the sin of divorce, or only to cover your sin?

      • Obviously, He died for all of us because we all have sin, no matter what kind

      • And so, we have no basis for judging anyone in the body of Christ concerning their life circumstances or past

      • We all stand by the grace of God in the atoning work of Christ

      • And so our only priority on this topic, or any other, is to encourage everyone to learn what the Word says so we can all do better in the future

  • Let’s move to the next example for today, beginning in v.33

Matt. 5:33  “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’
Matt. 5:34  “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
Matt. 5:35  or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.
Matt. 5:36  “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
Matt. 5:37  “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.
  • The next example begins with our tell-tale phrase “you have heard”, indicating another quote from the Mishnah is coming

    • In this case, Jesus quotes the Mishnah’s command concerning the taking of oaths

      • In the written Word of God, the Lord said in Numbers 30, that we are obligated to keep our vows

      • In Leviticus 27, the Lord warns that failure to keep our vows, even unintentionally, will bring the consequences of the vow

    • In ancient times, written contracts weren’t common, so a verbal agreement was usually the only way business was done

      • Those verbal agreements were solemn, and if a man wasn’t trustworthy, no one would do business with him

      • We have contracts now, but this principle still applies in modern life

    • For example, we vow to pay back a loan

      • We vow to fulfill our enlistment obligation in the military honorably 

      • We take an oath to tell the truth on a witness stand

      • And speaking of marriage, in the ceremony, we vow to remain married for life

      • The Word of God says keep your vows or suffer the consequences

  • But of course, the Pharisees took the spirit of God’s Law regarding oaths and tossed it aside

    • In the oral law, they expanded greatly on what God said concerning oaths

      • They invented an array of ways men could take oaths 

      • And they imagined an equal variety of ways that oaths could be broken or excused

    • For example, the Pharisees created an elaborate system for determining whether an oath was truly binding

      • The binding nature of an oath depended upon what the promisor swore by

      • For example, a person swearing by God’s name was always bound to keep his oath because the Pharisees said God was eternal

      • But swearing by heavens and earth was not binding they said, since the heavens and earth were not eternal

      • And if a man swore his oath while facing toward Jerusalem, then the Pharisees said it was binding

      • But if he swore while facing away from Jerusalem, it wasn’t 

    • The effect of these convoluted rules was encouraging deceit and fraud in business dealings

      • A man could construct his oath concerning some manner in such a way that he knew it wouldn’t be binding

      • Only later, would the victim discover that his agreement wasn’t enforceable in court

      • It’s the equivalent of the small print in a contract

    • In Acts 23:14, men take an oath not to eat or drink until they killed the Apostle Paul

      • In the end, Paul escaped, but we never hear what happened to these men

      • They almost certainly didn’t keep their vow, because the Mishnah had an exception for something called, “restraint”

      • These men were restrained, or prevented, from fulfilling their vow, so they were released from it, the Pharisees would say

  • Of course, Jesus denounces the Mishnah’s stupid rules on oaths

    • In v.34, Jesus says swearing by Heaven is just as binding as swearing by God Himself, because Heaven is the throne of God

      • Likewise in v.35, Jesus says swearing by earth is equally binding as swearing by God because it’s the footstool of God’s feet 

      • And regardless of which way you face, swearing by Jerusalem is always binding because it’s God’s city in the Kingdom

    • Jesus wasn’t validating the Pharisee’s silly categorization of oaths, He was simply exposing how ludicrous their logic was

      • Once again, God made something clear in His word

      • Then later, in their oral law, the Pharisees took the spirit of what God said and perverted it

    • They contrived a set of rules that turned God’s Word on its head by making it easy to divorce or break a vow

      • They called their rules an “oral law” to fool people into thinking that God would be pleased when they did as they pleased

      • In reality, those rules led people away from obedience and righteousness, and into sin

  • So in the matter of making vows or oaths, what does righteousness require?

    • Jesus said it begins with understanding our place in God’s economy 

      • In v.36, Jesus says you shouldn’t make guarantees about things you can’t control…it’s taking a needless gamble and it’s evil

      • Someone might swear an oath upon their own head, meaning they put their own life as a ransom, should they fail to keep their oath

      • But Jesus says you can’t even change the color of your own hair, so how can you assure anyone of what you can do in the future?

    • This example doesn’t seem to work as well today, in our age of hair coloring

      • But the example still applies, because coloring your hair doesn’t change its actual color

      • You’re just covering it up

    • So if you can’t control even the least thing on your own body, why place so much at risk over things you have no hope to control?

      • Jesus’ point is, that God’s Word on oaths wasn’t intended to encourage people to enter into them 

      • And He certainly didn’t want us to set rules for how to make oaths non-binding 

      • On the contrary, the Lord was trying to steer us away from oaths altogether

    • So Jesus says, the spirit of God’s Law was to encourage men to simply state their intentions honestly as “yes” or “no” without need for additional promises

      • If you operate this way, you will never have need to make oaths

      • Because your word will be respected and trusted, based on your history of doing what you say

      • Then, we never have need to put ourselves in jeopardy of violating an oath

      • To operate any other way is evil, Jesus says 

  • In v.38, Jesus moves to the Mishnah’s laws on retribution  

Matt. 5:38  “You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’
Matt. 5:39  “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
Matt. 5:40  “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.
Matt. 5:41  “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.
Matt. 5:42  “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.
  • Jesus quotes from the Mishnah’s take on Exodus 21:24, where the Lord told Israel that justice should be measured out proportionally

    • The Law uses euphemistic examples to say let the punishment fit the crime

    • An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, so to speak

    • We shouldn’t demand something more valuable than was taken from us

    • An eye is far more valuable than a single tooth, so don’t demand an eye for a tooth

  • But of course, you know what the Pharisees did here, right?

    • They took this law hyper-literally, so they could turn it into a license for personal vengeance

    • So according to their Mishnah, a Jew could take personal revenge against someone who harmed them, so long as they only took one tooth or one eye, etc.

  • But the Lord wasn’t advocating taking personal revenge, much less maiming people

    • God was placing a governor on our tendency to react in sinful ways against those who offend us, by requiring that we not go beyond what was done to us

      • He was limiting retribution to ensure that punishment didn’t become excessive

      • The true spirit of that law was to encourage mercy

      • Said another way, if excessive punishment is sin, then showing undeserved favor (grace) is righteousness

    • God’s heart is to encourage mercy for those who offend us

      • So Jesus says, if you want to follow the spirit of the Law, you’ll show no interest in retribution whatsoever

      • Let them strike you without striking back

      • Respond to their unreasonable requests by surprising them with your generosity 

      • When they borrow and don’t return, let them borrow again anyway

      • And when they impose upon you by their unreasonable requests, respond as though you wanted to do it anyway

    • Now, if you’re hearing Jesus’ list and wondering if there are any exceptions to these rules, then you’re still thinking like a Pharisee

      • Instead of looking for ways to limit our obedience to God’s Word, we need to embrace the spirit of what God is saying

      • Righteousness means looking like God and not like ourselves

  • So the right question to ask is, “How would God respond in these situations? What would Jesus do?”

    • For example, what did Jesus do when they slapped Him on the cheek?

      • Was that attack deserved? Did Jesus have a right to respond against His attackers?

      • Jesus had done nothing wrong

      • So couldn’t He have retaliated and still been righteous?

    • Actually, no…He couldn’t, because it wouldn’t have been in keeping with the Father’s will

      • And that’s the point…it’s the Father’s will, and our obedience to that will, that determines our righteousness

      • Jesus had a right to respond, but righteousness required He do something else

      • Jesus had to go to that cross as the Father determined, so that He could complete the plan of redemption that we all depend upon now

      • Can you live like that? With eyes for eternity…making decisions now that support God’s eternal purposes?

  • As you listen to these examples, I bet you’ve been hearing them from the perspective of the injured party…the one offended

    • But have you ever considered that you are the offender? Even more sobering, have you considered you were an offender to God Himself?

      • You were the sinner, the one who offended God

      • And then one day, you came to Christ seeking His mercy

    • In that moment, you were the one demanding things from God that you had no right to have

      • You were the evil person that Jesus didn’t resist when you called upon Him for mercy

      • You were the one who asked Jesus to walk a mile with you, and He surprised you with His generosity

    • Because when you asked Jesus to forgive you for your sins, Jesus went a long way beyond just forgiving you

      • The Bible says that by your faith, He adopted you as a child of God, making you part of the family of God

      • He also has made you a fellow heir in His Kingdom

      • He has promised you a place in His government and a share of His inheritance

      • And He placed His Spirit in you, giving you access to the mind of God by His Word

    • Jesus went the extra mile for us and we certainly didn’t deserve it

      • So how can we refuse our Lord, when He asked us to be His hands and feet to this lost and dying world?

      • How can we refuse to live according to the spirit of His Law when He has already accomplished all that it requires on our behalf? 

  • If you’re searching for the big take-away from this chapter, let me say it plainly

    • Heaven is a tall order…taller than you can reach

      • You can’t get there on your own, because you can’t measure up

      • But Jesus could and did

    • So now we live as His disciples, seeking to please Him and represent Him

      • But you can’t do that effectively if you revert to following rules that were worthless in the first place

      • Stop listening to others’ “do’s” and “don’t’s”, or even the ones in your own head

    • Get into the Word of God and stay there

      • And as you do, you’ll be amazed by two things

      • First, you’ll be continually humbled by how far you are from the standards of righteousness that God requires

      • You’ll understand why Jesus had to live and die for you, because you’ll see clearly that you had no chance to do it for yourself

      • And that recognition will serve to increase your appreciation for the grace you’ve received in Christ

    • And then secondly, as you continue in your studies, you’ll be amazed at how much your heart is changing by what you learn

      • You’ll find yourself thinking and acting differently

      • Almost instinctively, you’ll begin living by the spirit of the Word, where before, you couldn’t even follow the letter of the Law

      • And that recognition will serve to increase your love for Christ and your devotion to Him

    • If you want to receive Christ’s righteousness, if you want assurance that you will be in the Kingdom, then place your faith in Jesus Christ