Luke 16:18

Every one that putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth one that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

Jesus' purpose in the introduction of this saying was clearly that of condemning the Pharisaical perversion of God's law; and, in context, there was no necessity for Jesus to note the exception, as in Matthew 19:9. This verse affords the most positive proof that one cannot ever know what Jesus taught unless he shall take into account ALL THAT JESUS SAID, whether reported by one evangelist or another. Geldenhuys spoke of the "absolute impossibility of basing detailed rules ... upon isolated sayings of Christ."[34] There can be no excuse for scholars and theologians premising whole systems of thought on portions of the Gospels, or upon one Gospel, as distinguished from other Gospels. One hardly enters the New Testament until the words of Jesus thunder from the sacred page: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). That principle, laid down by Jesus, is alone sufficient grounds for rejecting the basic assumption underlying a great deal of modern critical exegesis. God gave his people four Gospels; and in that gift is the certainty that one cannot understand the whole corpus of truth unless he shall take all of them into consideration.

Ryle caught the implication of Jesus' words in this verse, thus: "With all your boasted reverence for the law, you are yourselves breakers of it in the law of marriage. You have lowered the standard of the law of divorce."Luke 2p. 211.">[35] Barclay also discerned the connection between this and the preceding verse, saying that "As an illustration of the law that would never pass away, Jesus took the law of chastity."[36]

For further discussion of Jesus' teaching on marriage and divorce, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 19:1-10.

[34] Norval Geldenhuys, op. cit., p. 423.

Luke 2p. 211.">[35] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, n.d.), Vol. Luke 2p. 211.

[36] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 219.