Matthew 19:11

11 Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept the idea of staying single. Only those who have been helped to live without getting married can accept it.

Matthew 19:11 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 19:11

But he said unto them
With respect to the inference or conclusion, the disciples formed from what he had asserted:

all men cannot receive this saying;
of their's, that it is not good to marry, but it is more proper and expedient to live a single life! every man, as the Syriac version renders it, is not (hl qpo) , "sufficient", or "fit", for this thing; everyone has not the gift of continency, and indeed very few; and therefore it is expedient for such to marry; for what the disciples said, though it might be true in part, yet not in the whole; and though the saying might be proper and pertinent enough to some persons, yet not to all, and indeed to none,

save they to whom it is given;
to receive such a saying, to live unmarried with content, having the gift of chastity; for this is not of nature, but of grace: it is the gift of God.

Matthew 19:11 In-Context

9 Here is what I tell you. Anyone who divorces his wife and gets married to another woman commits adultery. A man may divorce his wife only if she has not been faithful to him."

10 The disciples said to him, "If that's the way it is between a husband and wife, it is better not to get married."

11 Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept the idea of staying single. Only those who have been helped to live without getting married can accept it.

12 Some men are not able to have children because they were born that way. Some have been made that way by other people. Others have made themselves that way in order to serve the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept living that way should do it."

13 Some people brought little children to Jesus. They wanted him to place his hands on the children and pray for them. But the disciples told the people to stop.