Emmanuel are , therefore , intrinsically evil . Let ’ s explore that notion .
First , as noted in the dubia , an intrinsic evil has no exceptions . But in the very scriptural passage cited in the dubia , the Lord mentions two exceptions . First , Moses allowed divorce because of the stubbornness of his people ( Mt 19:8 ). Second , Jesus himself grants the exception of “ porneia ” ( Mt 19:9 ). Most likely , porneia refers to null marriages , which should never have been contracted in the first place . But here the issue becomes murky . Null marriages are not really marriages . Well , then , what are they ? No one would say that such couples lived in sin before the annulment . Those marriages certainly looked valid at the beginning . They are certainly treated as marriages until a final declaration of nullity is issued . Oddly , the canonical validity of a marriage can coincide with its existential nullity .
Joseph Fitzmyer claimed that most biblical scholars would say that the more primitive form of Matthew 19:8-9 is found in Mark 10:11- 12 where the Lord ’ s prohibition against divorce takes an absolute form (“ Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery ”). Matthew reformulates the question in a way that looks for an exception , “ Is it lawful to divorce one ’ s wife for any cause ?” ( Mt 19:3 ). When Matthew reports the Lord ’ s reply , he feels free to add the porneia exception . 3 While the change leaves the prohibition against divorce intact , it renders it more complex and nuanced . Are such changes legitimate ?
It is not as if this sort of solution were without precedent . Paul did the same sort of thing approximately 30 years before Matthew even wrote his Gospel ( see 1 Corinthians 7:12-15 ). The Pauline privilege allows the dissolution of valid non-sacramental marriages , and it constitutes another exception to the rule against divorce and remarriage . If a married man wishes to convert to Christianity and his non-Christian wife wishes to separate from him or will not let him practice the faith in peace , the Pauline privilege permits the man to divorce and enter a second marriage to a Christian woman ( see Canon 1143 ). The privilege has long been recognized as an exception to the ban against second marriages .
Fitzmyer raises an important point : “ If Matthew under inspiration could have been moved to add an exceptive phrase to the saying of Jesus about divorce that he found in an absolute form in . . . his Marcan source . . . , or if Paul likewise under inspiration could introduce into his writing
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