Marriage and the beginning

The Greek word for divorce in Mark 10:2-16 means to leave one’s station. It was also used in the military, meaning to defect. In Deuteronomy 24:1 a man was permitted to divorce his wife if she displeased him, or because he found something wrong with her. It sounds frivolous, like many modern divorces. Jesus calls Christians to a greater level of faithfulness than under the Old Covenant. Divorce ought not to occur unless like ancient Israel, a spouse has been immoral. We could argue that abuse, addiction and a life of crime are all forms of adultery. In our hardheartedness we have perverted God’s original design. On all modern questions of marriage, Jesus brings us back to the basics. In the beginning, God created them male and female, and what God has joined together, let no one separate.