Note 14 at Mk. 10:8: What was the purpose of Jesus' comments on divorce? Was it to legislate the acceptable grounds for divorce? No, but they were to call men back to God's original desire and design for marriage. God intended marriage to be sacred, precious, pure, and permanent. In marriage, two separate identities become one (Gen. 2:24; Mal. 2:15; Mt. 19:5; this verse). Through marriage, a covenant relationship is established (Mal. 2:14).

This relationship had two dimensions--horizontal and vertical. Horizontally, it related Adam with Eve. Vertically, it related the two of them to God (Gen. 5:2). The marriage covenant represented a final, irrevocable commitment in which the parties renounced the right to live for themselves and became "heirs together of the grace of life" (1 Pet. 3:7). "Heirs together" indicates a joint inheritance, not to be shared apart from the other. This is more than a partnership; it is a merger. "And they two shall be one flesh" (Eph. 5:31).