Note 14 at Mr 10:8: What was the purpose of Jesus' comments on divorce? Was it to legislate the acceptable grounds for divorce? No, it was to call people 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 (Ge 2:24, Mal 2:15, Mt 19:5, and 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 (Ge 5:2). The marriage covenant represents a final, irrevocable commitment in which the parties renounce the right to live for themselves and become "heirs together of the grace of life" (1Pe 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).