Luke 16:18

Putteth away his wife. See on Matt. 5:27-32; cf. Matt. 19:9; 1 Cor. 7:10, 11. Adultery is still adultery even when men legalize it. Modern critics of the gospel record claim that in Luke 16:14-18 Luke has brought together a group unrelated sayings spoken by Jesus upon various occasions. But they fail to see the underlying thread of thought that makes of the entire chapter, in fact, a systematic and unified discourse. According to v. 15, the Pharisees and their teachings were held in abomination before God. This situation was not, however, because they had not had sufficient light; they had had “the law and the prophets” all the time (v. 16), and, more recently, the gospel. In v. 17 Jesus affirms the fundamental unity of His teachings with those of the OT, and in v. 18 He gives an illustration of the fact. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus had already used these same examples as evidence that His teachings did not cancel out those of the OT (see on Matt. 5:17-19,27-32).