269. Who Are the People to Whom Christ Referred as Being "Joined Together of God"?

We may understand the remark better by reading the whole passage (Matt 19:1-12). The Pharisees were trying to draw Christ into a controversy which, at the time, was raging between the schools of different Jewish teachers. One school contended that a man was justified in divorcing his wife for any cause as, for instance, if she burnt the food she was cooking for his dinner. Another school held that physical defects alone justified divorce. There were other schools holding other opinions. Christ refused to identify himself with any and lifted the question into the higher plane by showing the origin of marriage in divine institution.