Matthew 19:11

11 Who said to them: All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given.

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 And I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery.
10 His disciples say unto him: If the case of a man with his wife be so, it is not expedient to marry.
11 Who said to them: All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given.
12 For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mothers womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.
13 Then were little children presented to him, that he should impose hands upon them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them.
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