Dave Miller, Ph.D., Apologetics Press
• Daniel 3:6—“Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a
blazing furnace.” Was the decree of Nebuchadnezzar addressed only to those who were in
covenant relationship with God?
• Daniel 5:7—“The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and
said to these wise men of Babylon, ‘Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means
will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made
the third highest ruler in the kingdom.’” Was this offer by Nebuchadnezzar addressed to
those who were in a covenant relationship with God?
• Zechariah 2:8—“ For this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘…whoevertouches you touches
the apple of his eye. I will surely raise my hand against them.’” The “whoever” refers to
surrounding nations that God warned not to harm His people—pagan nations that were
alienated from God.
Many more instances of the term “whoever” could be cited. Notice the flawed rationale: Go to
passages that refer only to certain people, and then conclude that since “whoever” in those verses
refers to those people, “whoever” must always or generally refer to those people. The Hebrew
and Greek terms that underlie the English word “whoever” do not support this peculiar
contention. 4 Since the Bible reports primarily activities by those who were believers in God, most
occurrences of the word do pertain to them—even as the words “you” and “they” refer to them—
simply because they are the audience. But it absolutely does not follow that, therefore, “covenant
people,” or Jews, or Christians inhere in such words and do not apply to a universal audience.
Indeed, the Bible uses the word precisely in the same fashion as we use the English word
“whoever.” Ask yourself: Do you use “whoever” only when talking to or about Christians?
To summarize: Matthew 19:3-12 constitutes divine directives concerning the only grounds for
divorce in God’s sight for all people who have ever lived or will live. It is “human race” legislation
which God, Himself, articulated at the very beginning of the world, and Jesus reiterated in response
to His disciples’ question. God’s intention for all people is that they marry an eligible partner the
first time they marry and remain married to that spouse for life. The only exception to this all
encompassing directive is that if one of the marriage partners commits fornication, the innocent
partner has the scriptural right to divorce that unfaithful spouse and remarry a scripturally eligible
partner, while the fornicator must remain single for life. 5
Endnotes
1
Lonnie Ritchie (2024), Sunday Morning Bible Study, May 5th ; Recorded live Magnolia church of Christ,
Magnolia, TX, https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1188268528826915.
2
“BET
Two prominent Jewish rabbis in the first century whose influence resulted in the creation of two “schools”
of followers who tended to be antagonistic toward each other. See Marcus Jastrow and S. Mendelsohn
(1906),
HILLEL
AND
BET
SHAMMAI,” Jewish
Encyclopedia,
116, https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3190-bet-hillel-and-bet-shammai.
3
3:115
Dave Miller (2021), “Did Jesus Disagree With Moses on Divorce?” Reason & Revelation, 41[7]:74-77,
July, https://apologeticspress.org/did-jesus-disagree-with-moses-on-divorce-5975/.
4
Greek grammarian Robertson states that the clause in Matthew 5:32 “pictures any one in general without
a definite individual in mind”—A.T. Robertson and W. Hersey Davis (1931), A New Short Grammar of
the Greek Testament, for Students Familiar with the Elements of Greek (London: R.R. Smith), p. 323.
