Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Matt. 5:27-32. Eye. Notes

EY.1* . The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content by Bruce M. Metzger (Abingdon 1965, second, enlarged edition 1983).
EY.2* . The scholar Raymond E. Brown affirms this point in An Introduction to the New Testament (Anchor/Doubleday 1996).
EY.r3. The Sermon on the Mount -- An Exposition by James Montgomery Boice (Zondervan 1972).
EY.r4.
The scholar Bruce M. Metzger [EY.1*] observes that neither Mark nor Luke includes the exception of adultery, meaning that it may be that Jesus did not give that exemption. The addition of the exemption in Matthew "reflects an attempt of the early church to adjust the high ideal of Jesus' interpretation of the indissolubility of marriage to suit the exigencies of those whose hearts, like men's hearts in the days of Moses, were still hard!" One could, after all, separate from Runaround Sue without remarrying – but clearly that possibility is too much for many men, especially those who are still "wet behind the ears" in Christ's service.

Metzger does not see this modification as improper, on ground that "such an adjustment of Jesus' teaching fell within the power to bind and loose given to the apostles – that is, the power to adapt laws and make exceptions." (Matthew 16:19; 18:18)


In any case, a saying such as this points to the need for human beings for grace, the unmerited favor and forgiveness of God.

Luke 16:18
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

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