What is the meaning of Mark 10:11? So He told them – Jesus is responding to the Pharisees’ test about divorce (Mark 10:2). – By introducing His reply with “So He told them,” Mark underscores the Lord’s authority; what follows is not an opinion but divine decree, echoing Matthew 7:29. – The statement flows from His earlier appeal to creation (“From the beginning God made them male and female,” Mark 10:6; cf. Genesis 2:24). The sequence shows He roots marriage ethics in God’s original design, not in human custom. Whoever divorces his wife – “Whoever” makes the principle universal, cutting across culture, status, or circumstance; Jesus applies it to every husband, just as He applies the companion verse in Matthew 19:9 to every spouse. – Divorce here refers to a man unilaterally ending the covenant without the Scriptural ground of sexual immorality (Matthew 19:9). – Scripture consistently treats marriage as a lifelong covenant: • Genesis 2:24—“the two shall become one flesh.” • Malachi 2:16—God says, “I hate divorce.” • 1 Corinthians 7:10-11—Paul, echoing the Lord, commands that a wife not separate from her husband, and a husband must not divorce his wife. – By highlighting “his wife,” Jesus affirms the dignity and protection owed to the woman, contradicting the easy-divorce culture of Deuteronomy 24 misapplied by the Pharisees. and marries another woman – The second action clarifies the first: the wrongness is not only in breaking the prior bond but in creating a new union as though the first were null. – Luke 16:18 mirrors the wording: “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery.” – Scripture allows remarriage only when death ends the first covenant (Romans 7:2-3) or, by Jesus’ exception, when the spouse’s sexual immorality has already shattered it (Matthew 19:9). – The link between wrongful divorce and remarriage underscores that covenant faithfulness matters even when civil paperwork says otherwise. commits adultery against her – Adultery is not merely an offense against abstract law but “against her”—the first wife is the injured party. Jesus protects the one society often left vulnerable. – Exodus 20:14 forbids adultery; Hebrews 13:4 declares, “Marriage must be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled.” – By labeling the remarriage “adultery,” Jesus teaches that God still sees the first covenant as intact. The man’s new union does not erase his obligation; it multiplies his guilt. – The verb “commits” is present tense: ongoing sin until repentance. Grace is available (1 John 1:9), yet the seriousness remains. summary Jesus’ declaration in Mark 10:11 cuts through cultural loopholes and reasserts God’s original plan: marriage is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman. To divorce a faithful spouse and enter a new union is to violate that covenant and sin against both God and the abandoned partner. The verse calls believers to honor marriage with lifelong fidelity, reflecting Christ’s unwavering commitment to His bride, the church. |
    |