Jumpstarter 4 of 10

Direct Answer The transcript indicates early Christians saw Jesus’ teaching as the governing standard for believers, even when it is stricter than Moses, because Moses’ permissions were tied to Israel’s “hardness of heart.” This challenges the instinct to flatten Scripture into equal covenantal authority, since Paul explicitly uses Jesus’ marriage law to make his point rather than Moses’ divorce allowance.

Support from Transcript:

• Bercot notes: “Paul bases his argument on the marriage laws given by Jesus, not on the laws given by Moses.”
• Under Moses, divorce and remarriage could be permitted, so the illustration would not work the same way: “under the law, it was not true that a woman would be called an adulteress.”
• Jesus’ standard is quoted as stricter: divorcing and remarrying leads to adultery (with the stated exception of sexual immorality in one citation).
• Theodoret explains Paul knew Moses’ permission existed but chose Jesus’ teaching, since Moses gave that law “on account of the hardness of the hearts of the Jews.”
• Theodoret ties Jesus’ view to creation: “God made one man and one woman,” so the “law concerning marriage” is rooted deeper than Mosaic concessions.