For many years, Matthew, chapters 5 and 19, have been rejected by some people as just a part of the Old Testament and so they do not apply to us today. This has been done, out of one motive or another, perhaps in order to rid the scriptures of the “exception” clause — “except for fornication” and Matthew is the only writer to mention that exception. So, removing Matthew, a wife would have no Scriptural right to divorce even the worst kind of adulterous husband and then marry another man. Of course, no one has the scriptural right to put away a spouse and then marry another person except for adultery on the part of the sinner. Several years ago, a well-known preacher of the time, called me on the phone to tell me he was convinced a woman was obligated to stay with her extremely abusive husband even if he beat her to death. So it was a matter of stay and be murdered as a good servant of Christ. I asked him if that included his children must stay and be murdered as well. He said, yes. See I Corinthians 7:10-11. I once had a four night debate with a preacher who affirmed that an “alien sinner” was subject to no law of Christ except “faith, repentance, baptism and civil law.” Of course, civil law would widely vary from century to century and culture to culture. In that instance, consider that faith, repentance and baptism are the means of becoming free from sin but the sin that would need forgiving might be no more than Jaywalking or going 65 in a 55 mile speed limit zone.

It is also contended, by some brethren, that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are all to be placed in the Law of Moses, in their entirety; not a single part of them is in the New Testament, it is said. That, again, supposedly removes the exception clause from having any application to us today. But, that puts us in the same spot of supposed contradiction between the four books. One cannot push Matthew into the Old Testament in order to separate it from the other three.

However, some groundwork must be laid regarding this area of the subject. We must first determine the importance of where Matthew 5 and 19 belong in the Bible. It is true that Jesus lived and died while the Law of Moses was still the authority for the Jews. And, because they were still under its authority, Jesus insisted they still follow its actual instruction, but not their man-made rules they had enforced on themselves and others. Changes Jews made in the Law were not acceptable on any ground. As long as the Law stood, they were to follow it exactly. At the same time, Jesus gave them some new instruction as well as the original meaning of those things they had perverted. He told them what we are going to emphasize here; that there are some laws God laid down when He first created man and they have never changed. They are for all men.

From the Beginning

Mankind has always been under laws of God, laws that were the same from Creation onward. It has been stressed so forcefully that we are not under “the Old Law” (the Old Testament) but are under the New Testament of Jesus Christ. As a result, a sharp divide has been created in the minds of many. The fact is, there were laws governing man that were made at the beginning of Creation and these same rules have existed since Creation and will dominate mankind until judgment. These laws cover the entire period of the Old Testament, Patriarchal and Mosaic, and are a part of the New Testament from its inception to the present time. Even during the Law of Moses, all men were under these laws; entire nations were judged and punished for their sins. We are not left to wonder just what those laws are, because God has spelled them out so we cannot misunderstand.

Here is a long list of them, in detail, in the New Testament—

“Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things’ sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience: wherein ye also once walked, when ye lived in these things; but now do ye also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth: lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him:” Colossians 3:5-10.

Look back over the historical record beginning with Genesis. Cain and Abel come into view. Cain killed Abel. For that he was punished. “And Cain said unto Jehovah, My punishment is greater than I can bear.” Genesis 4:13. Why was he punished, unless he had broken God’s law? Here are some more—

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaketh.” - Hebrews 11:4.

“For this is the message which ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another: not as Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” -  I John 3:11-12.

“Woe unto them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.” - Jude 11.

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.” - John 8:44.

Explore the period during the Law of Moses and note that non-Jews were guilty of sins that are specified in Scripture. Also, whole cultures of non-Jews were punished because of their sins. Take the time, now, to read Romans 1:18-32, as follows—

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves: for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due. And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful: who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they that practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent with them that practice them.”

Did you read that carefully? “Since the creation of the world.” Paul details sins of men from creation and warns Christians not to do as those people did. Recorded among the sins can be found adultery, homosexuality and words that contain murder as a sin. They were laws of God from the creation of mankind to the present day, spelled out in detail. So, we can point to the universal flood that came on the world of the ungodly. God was going to wipe out the human race because of their sins. And, what are we to say about Sodom and the cities around it? They were wiped out because of their iniquity, the most prominent being homosexuality, a sexual sin. There are other instances of these facts but the ones noted are clear enough. But, now let’s turn our attention directly to Matthew 19 and see how it fits in to our discussion—

“And there came unto him Pharisees, trying him, and saying, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses for your hardness of heart suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it hath not been so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her when she is put away committeth adultery.” verses 3- 9.

Note closely the very specific remarks of Jesus. His response to the Pharisees was

“have ye not read?” But, read what? Well, right back to the beginning when God created humans. He created them male and female because He wanted them to multiply and fill up the earth. In order for Him to accomplish that, He had to make them male and female, instilling in them a sex drive to push them to propagate and fill up the earth. However, this all required regulation as He did not intend for them to act like mere animals. The propagation of humanity, with the rules concerning them was set at Creation and never changed. This is what Jesus was referring to. But, that is not all He said or implied—

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.“ “And for this cause.” What cause? Well, the cause was that God made them male and female with the rules of conduct we can read throughout the Bible. This involves the nature of humanity. Adultery, homosexuality, bestiality or even loose sexual activity are all contrary to the nature of humanity, a nature God established at creation. The Jews had violated that code just as we can now do.  

“From the beginning.” This is stated by Jesus in two places in the above passages. It was already established at Creation and has continued to the present time. FROM the beginning is how it reads! Further, at the close of Matthew 19:8, He says that Moses allowed them to put away their wives but “from the beginning it was not so.” This phrase, in Greek is very precise. “It was not so” is from a pronoun and a verb. The verb is perfect tense and very specific in meaning—

“In short, the perfect tense is very expressive for it speaks of an action that took place in the past, which was completed in past time, and existence of its finished results. For instance one might say “I have closed the door" which speaks of a past completed action. But the implication is that as a result the door is still closed.”

“And, I say unto you.” Jesus is affirming what was said at the beginning and from the beginning, right up to the time of His saying it to these Pharisees. The conclusion is— what He says in verse 9 is exactly what was intended in the beginning of Creation when God made the rules of this relationship of man and woman.

Does this mean that everything taught and practiced in Matthew to John is a part of God’s new law that we must observe? Of course not. But, not everything taught in Acts to Revelation means we must obey them. The most notable would be spiritual, miraculous, gifts. A lot is said about them, disciples practiced them, but they were temporary. This is difficult to get across to Pentecostals. Direct revelation from God through the Holy Spirit is another teaching in the New Testament, but did not exist past the first century. We must “rightly divide the word of truth.”

The Kingdom of Heaven

In our English translations, this phrase is found only in Matthew. As we shall see, that is quite fortuitous to our understanding what we are discussing. At the same time, when we throw into the subject that “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Kingdom of God” are synonymous we then get the point. Note—

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” - Matthew 5:3.

“Blessed are ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God.” -   Luke 6:20.

Indeed, even in Matthew, Jesus uses the two phrases interchangeably. Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God are the same. See this in Matthew 19:23-24—

“And Jesus said unto the disciples, Verily I say unto you, It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through a needles eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

Seeing that the phrase, “Kingdom of Heaven” is found 32 times, but only in Matthew, and it is a synonym of Kingdom of God, there must be a reason. Well, it is simply this—Each of the gospel writers wrote to different audiences, Matthew primarily to Jews. According to The New Bible Dictionary, “The use of ‘kingdom of heaven’ is certainly due to the tendency in Judaism to avoid the direct use of the name God.” So agrees the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary. One unknown author explained the following—

“Further, we are told that the law and the prophets were until John (the Baptist)— ‘The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and every man entereth violently into it.’ - Luke 16:16. And, it should be evident from the Bible record that John began his work before Jesus began his three years of labor. We might add to this the baptism of John.—’The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me.’ 11:30. This was asked of the chief elders and others. They would not answer. Of course John’s baptism came from God, but it was not a practice of the Old Testament in spite the washings of the Law. Even Jesus was baptized by John in Jordan in order to ‘fulfil all righteousness.’ Matthew 3:15. Following this, Jesus baptized more disciples than John, though it was His disciples who did the actual baptizing.”

But, let’s zero in on the purpose of all this as it regards our subject. Let’s now look at Luke 16:16—

“The law and the prophets `were' until John: from that time the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and every man entereth violently into it.”

The way we divide up the Bible is not exactly accurate for our understanding of it. Generally, It is insisted that the authority of the Old Law of Moses extended until the crucifixion of Jesus. But, that is not exactly so. We have noted in previous studies that the New Law of Christ did not become authoritative until after the resurrection of Jesus, plus His ascension into Heaven to offer His own blood to the Father in the Heavenly Holy of Holies, Hebrews 9. Notice, again, that the Law and the prophets were until John. What John introduced, by God’s authority, was not a part of the Old Testament. John came preaching “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.“ This was not the old Jewish kingdom of the Old Testament, as we have noted. It was the Kingdom of God in the coming New Covenant. Even His disciples did not understand this at the time. At His ascension, they asked Him, “dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” The coming kingdom would not be a Jewish kingdom. Jesus had said that “my kingdom is not of this world,” “the kingdom of God is within you,” “if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered unto the Jews, but my kingdom is not from hence.” and numerous other things. It would not be until the Holy Spirit came on them that they would finally and fully understand.

Thus, the Law of Moses and the Prophets were until John, but since then, the kingdom of God (the New Covenant) was preached. A new doctrine was preached—the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins tell the people they were to believe on Him who would come after John—which would be Jesus. After His baptism by John and John was killed, Jesus preached that same message and many people believed and obeyed it. This was totally unlike the washings of the Old Testament. Surely doesn’t sound like all of Matthew is no more than the Law of Moses. We have but to pay close attention to the beatitudes and many other teachings of Jesus spread through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to understand this.