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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Matthew 19:12 - 19:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
12. εἰσὶν γάρ. The γὰρ explains οἷς δέδοται.
διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. In old days some men abstained from marriage in order to devote themselves to the study of the law, in later times men have done so for the furtherance of Christianity.
ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν χωρείτω. Let him accept the rule who can accept it—he to whom it has been given—he who belongs to either of the three classes named.
The disciples found difficulty in the pure and binding conditions of marriage laid down by Christ, and saw no escape save in abstaining from marriage like the Essenes of that day (Joseph. B. J., γάμου μὲν ὑπεροψία παρʼ αὐτοῖς, and Antiq. XVIII. 1. 5, οὔτε γαμετὰς εἰσάγονται). Christ shews that there is difficulty there too. The limitations of Christ were forgotten in early days of Church history. False teachers arose, ‘forbidding to marry’ (1Ti 4:3, κωλυόντων γαμεῖν).
As in so many of our Lord’s important ‘rules,’ the principle of Hebrew parallelism is discernible here. The closing words—ὁ δυν. χωρ. χωρείτω—recall the opening words and respond to them—οὐ πάντες … οἷς δέδοται, the enclosed triplet rises to a climax—the highest motive is placed last.