By Wendell Tenison
The testament of Christ embellished with an old testament commandment:
Matthew 19:3-9 "The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?.....And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,.....And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?.....Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder......They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?.....He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so......And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."
The "every cause" alludes to Deut.24:1-4. This was the law and commandment under the law of Moses. The "have ye not read" refers back to the book of Genesis 1:27; 2:24. Bear in mind that the law of Moses was in effect at this time and Jesus as the last prophet to the Jews, was instructing them out of the law.
Moses, because of the hardness of their hearts gave a commandment not according to God’s original law of separation. Those Jews put the heat on Moses to taint the law of God by demanding that he favor the husband in every respect.
The only modification Jesus made to Deut.24:1-4, was that he deleted "for every cause" and added "except it be for fornication." The woman still had no right to put away her husband. Really what Jesus did was that he now made it double tough for them to put away their wives.
Now here is the embellishment: the religious world has transported this law which was terminated by the death of Christ into his new testament. Since this law is not acceptable to the world in its original form, they have added the woman’s right to put away her husband. How neat! In the judgment there will be an accounting by all who promote this abominable doctrine.
In our next and last segment, we shall see how God’s laws of separation are maintained on a spiritual level and his law of spiritual adultery has not changed.