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32
CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE
there are eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are eunuchs, which were made eunuchs by men: and there are eunuchs, which made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."[1]
In the Gospel according to St. Mark this narrative is somewhat differently rendered. Our Lord's condemnation of divorce is represented as an answer to the questioning of His disciples "in the house", and the exception in the case of adultery is omitted. The Evangelist appears to have added an explanatory extension of our Lord's words for the benefit of Roman readers, among whom it was permitted for the wife to divorce the husband, a franchise which the Jews did not allow.
"He saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her: and if she herself shall put away her husband, and marry another, she committeth adultery."[2]
In St. Luke's Gospel we have the same absolute prohibition of divorce repeated, but in
