>From: "Wayne McNamara" <Wayne.McNamara@...> >Reply-To: <Wayne.McNamara@...> >To: <faithandlife@...> >Subject: [FaithandLife] Mattthew 5:32, 19:6 link to Deut 22:13-21 >Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 12:47:18 -0800 > >Just looking for a little insight from some of you seasoned men. > >Could Deuteronomy 22:13-21 be (at least in part) what Jesus is talking >about in Matthew 5:32 and 19:6. Can we translate "except the marriage >itself be fornication or unlawful?" Is this a proper translation? Can >you Greek wizzes help me here? > >Thanks. > >Wayne+ ------------------------------------------------------ Fr. Wayne+ Over 40 years have passed since I sat in the class room and worked on Greek. I certainly am no wizard, but I will have a go at it. The underlying question is what did Jesus say about divorce and illegitimate marriage? Some scholars hold that Mark 10:4-12 best reflects Jesus’ sayings on the subject. If that is the case, the Rabbinical exception, “for the cause of unchastity”, is a moot point. Some scholars think that the exception clause was added to the saying by Matthew as an accommodation due to the “hardness of hearts” in his Christian congregation, just as the rabbinical exceptions Jesus referred to were an accommodation to the Jewish community, but not the will of God for marriage. If however, Matt. 5:32 is also a saying of Jesus, and he does include the unchastity exception, then the conclusion that Jesus is referring to Deuteronomy 22 as well as Deuteronomy 24 is on point. The New American Bible for Catholics is sympathetic to you as they translate thusly: “But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” I personally don’t think that is a legitimate translation. I think it and yours is a commentary, an interpretation. The interpretation may be a correct way of understanding the “unchastity exception”, but it is not a translation of the words. Below are a couple of versions of the Greek Text, and what I think is a reasonable translation of the words, by the New American Standard Version. It should be noted that there is strong agreement between the various Greek texts as to the content of Mat 5:32. logou porneiav can be translated as the rule, word, thought, law, or morale mandate of what constitutes, illicit intercourse, incest (Leviticus 18), or marriage to a divorced person (Mark 10). I don’t think it legitimate to say logou porneiav says that the marriage question to which Jesus is responding, is that of incest or illicit marriage for other reason as described in Deuteronomy. The question that the Pharisees put to Jesus is, can a man divorce a woman for every cause? I think it clear that the saying in Matthew 5:32 is the exception to the prohibition against divorce is illicit sexual behaviour. The tense is present. The marriage has been in existence, the unchastity occurs after marriage and is an exception to the divorce prohibition. Otherwise, if a man merely tires of a wife and divorces her, he has put her in the position of being an adultress when she remarries. However, if there has been illicit laisons with men, women or beasts, then the covenant of marriage has been broken, and the man is free. That is not what the Deuteronomy passage contemplates, but it may have reflected challenges to marriage in Matthew’s day. I think the Leviticus passage and the Deuteronomy 22 passage points to a betrothal situation, rather than a marriage that has existed for some time. In Deuteronomy 22, the marriage could not be legally consummated because of incest, previous, marriage, or other irregular union that made a covenanted marriage impossible. As in the case of Mary and Joseph, pregnancy during the period of betrothal was good cause for putting away an espoused wife. Obviously, if a young woman became pregnant by one man while betrothed to another, there was no basis for a covenanted marriage. If Jesus words on the subject were only those recorded in Mark 10, then the “grounds for divorce” as practiced in America are slim indeed. But even if the expanded saying in Matthew 5:32 does accurately reflect Jesus’ saying, and he does include the rabbinical exception, how many American divorces occur because it was discovered on the wedding night that there had been incest or other illicit activity that made a covenanted marriage impossible? The reaction by the disciples to the words of Jesus makes it clear that they understood his standard was very high (possibly no exceptions), because they say, “It were better for a man not to marry.” The covenanted relationship was to be until death, giving each partner ample opportunity to forgive one another their trespasses as they themselves asked forgiveness. Thus, while I don’t think the translation you suggest, or that the New American Bible puts forth is a real translation, it probably does reflect the stringency of Jesus teaching on marriage and divorce but does not seem to be the answer Jesus was giving to the Pharisees question. Was that confusing enough? Charles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5:32 [Greek Font Size: -/+] [View in: BYZ/TR] but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever * marries a divorced woman commits adultery. egw de legw (5719) umin oti pav o apoluwn (5723) thn gunaika autou parektov logou porneiav poiei (5719) authn moixeuqhnai, (5683) kai ov ean apolelumenhn (5772) gamhsh| (5661) moixatai. Matthew 5:32 [Greek Font Size: -/+] [View in: BYZ/NA26] (Byzantine text 1991) but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever * marries a divorced woman commits adultery. egw de legw umin oti ov an apolush| thn gunaika autou parektov logou porneiav poiei authn moicasyai kai ov ean apolelumenhn gamhsh| moixatai Matthew 19:9 [Greek Font Size: -/+] [View in: TR/NA26] "And I say to you, whoever * divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery." legw de umin oti ov an apolush| thn gunaika autou Mh epi porneia| kai gamhsh| allhn moixatai kai o apolelumenhn gamhsav moixatai _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail