Book of Common Prayer

⁹ What are we saying then? Are we better than they? No, not in any way. For we have already established that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, ¹⁰ as it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one. ¹¹ There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. ¹² They are all gone out of the way. They are all unprofitable. There is no one who does good: no, not one. ¹³ Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongues they have deceived. The poison of asps is under their lips. ¹⁴ Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. ¹⁵ Their feet are swift to shed blood. ¹⁶ Destruction and wretchedness are in their ways, ¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known. ¹⁸ There is no fear of God before their eyes.

¹⁹ Yea and we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that all mouths may be stopped, and all the world be subdued to God, ²⁰ because no flesh can be justified in the sight of God by the deeds of the law. For by the law comes the knowledge of sin.

Christ gives answer concerning marriage, accepts the young children, and teaches not to be full of cares, nor to love worldly riches.

19 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished those sayings, he left Galilee, and went into the region of Judea, beyond the Jordan. ² And crowds of people followed him, and he healed them there. ³ Then the Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying to him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for any reason at all? ⁴ He answered and said to them, Have you not read how it was that he who made man at the beginning made them man and woman, ⁵ and said, For this thing shall a man leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh? ⁶ So then, now they are not two, but one flesh. Let not man therefore put apart that which God has joined together.

⁷ Then they said to him, Why did Moses direct to give a testimonial of divorce and to put her away? ⁸ He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives. But from the beginning it was not so. ⁹ I say therefore to you, whoever puts away his wife (unless it be for fornication) and marries another, breaks wedlock. And whoever marries her who is divorced, commits adultery.

¹⁰ Then Jesus’ disciples said to him, If this is the case between man and wife, then it is not good to marry. ¹¹ He said to them, Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. ¹² Some are chaste who were so born from their mother’s womb. And others are chaste who were made so by men. And others are chaste who have made themselves chaste for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who can receive it, let him receive it.