Matthew 19:12

The disciples show what is in their own hearts. "If such is the case of a man with his wife," they say, "it is better not to marry." And the Lord replies: "Not all have capacity for this, but those to whom it has been given." The word of God said from the beginning that "it is not good that the man should be alone." That is the very passage our Lord has been pointing us back to. So we cannot expect the gift to remain alone to be anything but exceptional.

The Lord distinguished three classes of eunuchs: those who were born that way; those made so by men; and those who have made themselves so for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Matt. 19:12. It is the second class that is otherwise mentioned in Scripture. They often became men of influence in the eastern courts, and had charge of the harems.

The last of the three classes in the verse is expressed figuratively: it plainly means living unmarried for God's glory. But note, it is a gift, not a law, much less a caste. It is put as a privilege.

This does not mean mutilation. It is not a law, not an obligation, nor a "sacrament." … "Let the one who is able to receive this receive it." It is then something to be received, a gift from above.

Another power has come in. It is not nature but divine, working in the power of the Spirit of God. It came because nature is all ruined and the power of evil is in the world. Nature is no answer to that, because nature is the very thing that is ruined. So a power comes in which is above nature, being of God, but which for that reason owns nature as He made it, and owns His institutions. To break them is sin; to live above them is the gift of God.

Notice, it is "made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" — that order of things which depends on Christ now in heaven. So, strong in the grace that shines in Him at the right hand of God, those to whom it is given walk above the natural ties of life. They do not despise those ties. They honour them, while each one gives himself up to that good portion which shall not be taken from them.

We have looked at marriage as the richest blessing in nature. Here is a power brought in by grace, and it carries someone above nature altogether. There is nothing here of law, of grim self-denial, or of church rule. It may be best explained by the well-known phrase: "the expulsive power of a new affection." It is the blessed power of the grace of heaven working in the heart. It shapes the life so that a person is so controlled by the interests of Christ that he gives up what is his proper portion as a man here on earth.

The apostle Paul was acting in the spirit of this verse when he gives his own judgment as one who "by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy" (1 Cor. 7:25). No doubt he was called to a remarkable work that would have made proper attention to family relationships very difficult. … With a wife or family to care for, the Lord's work could not have been done so thoroughly. Hence the wise and gracious judgment of the apostle, not given as a command, but left to weigh on the spiritual mind.

The unmarried state has its advantages where grace gives the right inward condition. But this is not given to all, and it is not of man's will but of divine grace. Make it a law, and the grace is destroyed. Sin, shame, and misery quickly follow, and they show how wise God's ways are and how foolish Christendom's are.

Origen was a greater scholar than any man who ever wrote on figures of speech, and could explain the simile, metaphor, and every other figure better than most; yet he fell victim to a glaring misunderstanding of our Lord's words in Matt. 19:12.