In these verses, God calls you and me to a practice of marriage consistent with the holiness of marriage. What Jesus is saying here is NOT that divorce is almost always allowed because of this one exception. On the contrary, what Jesus is saying here is that divorce is almost NEVER allowed as far as God is concerned. The -exception clause- is not a broad exception, but is actually a very narrow, very rare kind of exception. Just look at the reaction of the disciples in verse 10. They understood what Jesus was saying.

In these verses, God declares His design for marriage. Before we consider what Jesus says about divorce and remarriage, we must first consider what He says here about marriage.

God takes it very seriously when any one of us causes another person to stumble into sin, regardless of how it happens. God calls us to take great care in how we treat other believers.

God declares to us that true spiritual greatness looks like the humility of a little child.

There is too much at stake for believers to put our Christian liberty before the spiritual needs of others. We must be willing to sacrifice our liberty in Christ when necessary for the sake of the gospel, that we would not allow our behavior to hinder the gospel in any way. The gospel itself is offensive just as it is, but we are not to allow ourselves knowingly to cause offense to others in such a way that it would hinder us in presenting the gospel. The most important instruction of this passage is this- God cautions us never to allow our liberty in Christ to become a hindrance to the gospel.

One of the really interesting things about this passage is the response of the disciples. It tells us a great deal about their hearts and minds. It tells us a great deal about their lack of spiritual understanding. In fact, it tells us a great deal about every human being who is unregenerate and in bondage to sin. What we see in these two verses is this- God alone opens our understanding to the magnitude of the cross.

In these verses, God promises to overcome the impossible for those who trust in Him. This does not mean that He is going to answer every prayer just the way we want Him to or think He ought to. God is only going to respond in accordance with His perfect nature and will, and according to His word. But God declares in numerous passages throughout Scripture that He works through the prayers of His people.

In this passage, God expects every believer to forgive every other believer without limit. Because we have been forgiven by our heavenly Father of such sin the magnitude of which we cannot even begin to fathom, God also expects us to forgive one another as our sins against one another are infinitesimally small by comparison.