ACC ~ Matthew 19 v5 - 6

WHAT GOD HAS JOINED

CHRYSOSTOM: Then he showed that it is a fearful thing to tamper with this law. When establishing this law, he did not say, “Therefore, do not sever or separate” but “What God has joined together, let man not separate.” If you quote Moses, I will quote the God of Moses, and with him I am always strong. For God from the beginning made them male and female. This law is very old, even if it appears human beings have recently discovered it. It is firmly fixed. And God did not simply bring the woman to her husband but ordered her also to leave her father and mother. And he not only ordered the man to go to the woman but also to cling to her, showing by his way of speaking that they could not be separated. And not even with this was God satisfied, but he sought also for another greater union: “for the two shall be one flesh.” THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 62.1. [1]

[1] PG 58:597; NPNF 1 10:382.

LET NOT MAN PUT ASUNDER

JEROME: “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” God “has joined” in making one flesh of man and woman; this no man can put asunder, unless perhaps God alone. Man “puts asunder” when we dismiss our first wife in desire of a second; God, who also had joined together, puts asunder, when by consent for God’s service, we so have our wives as though not having them. [1] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.19.6. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 7:29.

[2] CCL 77:166.

THE UNION OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH

ORIGEN: The apostle understands “the two shall become one flesh,” as referring to Christ and the church. So we must say that Christ did not dismiss the former (so to speak) wife, that is, the former synagogue, for any other cause than that the wife committed fornication, being made an adulteress by the evil one. Along with him she plotted against her husband and gave him over to death, saying, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, crucify him, crucify him.” [1]

It was she, the synagogue, therefore who left him, rather than that her husband divorced her and sent her away. Therefore it says in Isaiah, rebuking her for this divorce: “Where is your mother’s bill of divorce, with which I put her away?” [2] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 14.17. [3]

[1] Jn 19:15.

[2] Is 50:1.

[3] GCS 40:325-26; ANF 9:506.