<p>19:11&nbsp;<em>But he said to them: Not all men can receive this saying</em>- The saying is surely that of :9 which is prefaced by: &ldquo;I&nbsp;<em>say</em>&nbsp;unto you&rdquo;- the saying that putting away your wife and remarrying is adulterous. To the legalistic mind, this is so hard to accept that- that a statement that certain behaviour in a given context is adulterous can actually be ignored or broken on the basis that the strength to &lsquo;receive&rsquo; it was not given.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>But they to whom it is given</em>- The strength to obey is a gift, just as repentance (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25; 2 Pet. 3:9 Gk.) and other spiritual fruits are gifts; and in this case, it is not given to all. Again, this is hard for the legalist to accept. It is given to some to receive a saying of Jesus- and not to others. Our greatest obediences, therefore, can never be felt to be purely the triumph of our own strength of will. Even they are gifts of grace. Being &lsquo;given&rsquo; the ability to &lsquo;receive&rsquo; the Lord&rsquo;s word is expressed in terms of being &ldquo;able&rdquo; to receive it (:12). No other teacher apart from the Lord would have been so profound as to say that what He was teaching could only be obeyed if we are &lsquo;given&rsquo; the strength to do so. And yet the idea which follows of making ourselves eunuchs for the Kingdom indicates a huge amount of willpower and conscious effort, in order to live up to the potential made possible for us.</p>
