Class Notes: 4/13/2014

Mark 10:2-14; God created Marriage when he created man and woman; The Kingdom of God belongs to those who believe in Jesus

In our study of Mark we are in Mark 10:2-3; where the Pharisees test Jesus regarding divorce so we took up a study of the doctrine of divorce so we could understand their question as well as Jesus' answer.

The Pharisees are trying to entrap Jesus and Jesus is going to expose their hypocrisy. Divorce had become quite common in Israel because of the divorce gimmick and their use of ceremonial rather than moral uncleanness as the basis for divorce. The Pharisees were misusing Moses command and Jesus was going to expose it.

The trap was that if Jesus takes a liberal view of divorce the Pharisees will condemn Him for distorting the law. If Jesus takes a strict view, no divorce, they will condemn Him for rejecting Deut 24;

Mark 10:3; Jesus responded by asking them "What did Moses command you?" and in verse Mark 10:4; their answer was that Moses permitted divorce.

Mark 10:5; Jesus responds telling them that the only reason Moses permitted was because of their hardness of heart.

Divorce was permitted because of the hardness of their hearts. The reason that divorce is necessary under certain circumstances was not because of uncleanness it was because of hardness of heart from negative volition.

Hardness of heart is a product of negative volition. Positive volition on the part of both parties is required for a marriage to go right and without it no marriage is ever right.

Positive volition results in mental attitude love. Negative volition results in hardness of heart. With negative volition there is no love and a marriage cannot not function without love. Col 3:18-19;

So the cause of divorce is negative volition on the part of one or the other or both in the marriage.

Mark 10:6; Jesus then bypasses Moses in Deuteronomy and goes back to Genesis and Garden of Eden quoting Gen 1:27; adding the words "from the beginning" referring to the fact that at time that the man and woman were created the divine institution of marriage was also created.

This shows us that the creation of marriage was simultaneous with the creation of male and female. This also shows us that from God's perspective it is impossible for there to be a "homosexual marriage."

Mark 10:7-8; He goes on to quote Gen 2:24; When God said to the man and his wife, "You shall be joined to each other," this is separation from the parents, "for this reason a man shall leave father and mother."

This tells us that the newly married man and woman have to leave their homes and establish their own life together separate from the parents. It can't be done with a mother or father, or both violating the privacy of the newly married couple.

There were no in-laws at this time this was written and yet one of the greatest enemies of marriage is the violation of privacy and interference from parents.

The word translated "joined" means to glue together; "and they shall become one flesh (divine institution #2)."

God designed marriage for one man and one woman. It was consummated with sexual intercourse thereby creating both a spiritual and physical union that was so sacred to God such that He no longer considered the husband and wife as two but as one flesh.

This means that any human decision that results in the union being dissolved results in "torn flesh" so Jesus goes on to say.

Mark 10:9; therefore what God has joined together let no man separate.

In His response to the Pharisees Jesus says, Let's forget Deuteronomy 24 for the moment and go back to God's original intent for the divine institution of marriage. "What God has joined together, let no man separate."

With this statement He bypasses their trap implying that they are violating the intent of God with their divorce gimmick. He deals with God's original intent with marriage and completely ignores exceptions.

He is aware of their trap so He is going to rip off the rhetorical veil of their hypocrisy. Remember they have already rejected Him and they are trying to entrap him so He is not trying to win them over or influence them He is in their face.

The principle is that once you know that someone has rejected the truth and that in their evil they oppose the truth there is no point in trying to be nice. Just ignore them if you can get and in their face if they won't let you ignore them.

So He gives them the strict answer because it was God's original intent for Marriage "from the beginning" no exceptions but because of their negative volition and implacability God's permissive will permitted a few exceptions in Deut 24:1-4;

The phrase "from the beginning it was not so" tells us that marriage came before divorce. The divine institution came before divorce, so the principle is that marriage is primary and divorce is secondary. There is no divorce without the institution of marriage.

Jesus takes a hard line with the Pharisees because of their negative volition and makes the case that their sin and evil is the real cause of divorce because Moses only addressed it because of their "hardness of heart."

Mark 10:10; Once the scribes and the Pharisees have left with their tails dragging the disciples who have been listening with amazement ask Him about it.

Mark 10:11-12; In his explanation Jesus continues with the hard line of God's original intent so He takes the case of the guilty party in the divorce gimmick and tells them that the one who initiates the divorce gimmick and remarries is committing adultery. In our study of the doctrine of divorce we called this the "Herod syndrome"

The position taken in Mark 10:12; is only expressed in the book of Mark (Net note 17) but the same principle applies to a woman who divorces her husband and marries another man.

This was relevant to Mark's Roman readers because under Roman law a wife could initiate divorce proceedings. Jewish law did not permit a wife to divorce her husband but it was sometimes practiced in Judea because at the time the Jews were under the aegis of Roman rule.

Mark 10:13; And "they kept on bringing" plural imperfect active indicative of the Greek word "prosphero" small children "piadon" to Him for Him to touch (Net note 19) but his disciples rebuked or scolded them.

This time the children represent the principle of child evangelism and training in doctrine, rather than what saw before where Jesus stood a child in their midst as an analogy or training aid for humility and grace orientation rather than arrogance.

His touching them was a visible sign of His blessing because they recognized Him as God, having just believed in Him or they want more information, so they were most anxious to have the Son of God place His hand upon their head. This is personal blessing for them because they are being identified with Him.

"But the disciples rebuked them." The disciples in their arrogance have again put on a self-righteous phony front. In this case they are guilty of discouraging young people. This is often a problem with adults who think they are important so they don't have time for anyone who they consider unimportant so they discourage young people rather than encourage them.

The people who brought the children were rebuked for bothering Jesus with all of these "little kids." The principle is that without humility from doctrinal orientation it is impossible to help young people, self-righteous arrogance, legalism and hypocrisy drives young people away.

Mark 10:14; But when Jesus saw this he was indignant. The Greek word translated "indignant" is "aganakteo" that means to be grieved greatly, incensed, offended.

Jesus had righteous indignation about this and He commanded his disciples "Send the children to Me and stop hindering them."

The Greek word translated "permit" in the NASB is the second person plural aorist imperative of "aphiemi" an intensive form if "eimi." It is a command for them to send the children to Him.

The Greek word translated "hinder" is the second person plural present active imperative of "kolyo" that means to prevent, hinder, restrain, or stop. The present imperative is a command for them to stop something they were doing. They were to stop the process of hindering the people who were bringing the children to Him.

"...because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" Net note 21 The word "such" means "of such kind." They have trusted me, they have accepted me, and they want blessing and to be in my presence, for of such a category is the kingdom of God

These children are believers, so they are not so little that they cannot make a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ.


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