Originally Posted by
Colonel
Regarding using scriptures legalistically, including Jesus comments on the law of Moses on divorce that the Pharisees used willy nilly to get rid of their wives whenever they wanted. Here is an example of Jesus going in the other direction :
Mark 2:23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
25 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”
27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
Here he circumvents the legalistic reading of two different scriptures in the OT, one pertaining to the showbread and one pertaining to the Sabbath. His point was that the God given institution of the Sabbath was given to be a blessing to man, not so that man could work hard at fulfilling the Sabbath. The same way, the God given institution of marriage was given to be a blessing to man, not so that man could work hard at keeping with that marriage under every circumstance imaginable.
Note that this is a very general principle and should not be applied indiscriminantly. One cannot simply tell people that "okay, if you want out then go ahead, marriage was made for you and not the other way around". This is still just one small part of the equation and Psalm 119:160 "the sum of your word is truth".
The sum.