And he answered and said unto them,
Have you not read, that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female,
All Commentaries on Matthew 19:4 Go To Matthew 19
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Look carefully at the wisdom of the teacher. For being asked, “Is it allowed?” he does not immediately say, “It is not allowed,” lest they should be disturbed and break out in an uproar. Before Jesus made his own statement he made it clear through his opening remarks that what he had to say came from his Father’s commandment. In commanding this he was not in opposition to Moses but fully in agreement with him. Notice how he validates covenant sexuality not from the creation alone but from God’s commandment. For he did not say that God had made only one man and one woman but that God had also commanded that the one man should be joined to the one woman. If God had wanted Adam to dismiss this wife and marry another, when he made one man, he would have made many women. But as it is, he shows both by the manner of her creation and the form of the commandment that one man must dwell with one woman continually and never break off from her. And see how he says, “He who made them at the beginning made them male and female,” that is, they sprang from one root and came together as one body, “or the two shall be one flesh.” The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
