Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 53:1 (NA 2002)
Article: The Exception Phrases: Except Πορνεία, Including Πορνεία Or Excluding Πορνεία? (Matthew 5:32; 19:9)
Author: Allen R. Guenther

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The Exception Phrases:
Except Πορνεία, Including Πορνεία
Or Excluding Πορνεία? (Matthew 5:32; 19:9)

Allen R. Guenther

Summary

This paper examines the Matthean ‘exception clauses’ to determine whether they should be interpreted inclusively (‘if a man divorces his wife even though she has not been unfaithful’), exceptively (‘if a man divorces his wife, except if she has been unfaithful’), or exclusively (‘if a man divorces his wife—πορνεία is a separate issue’). In this grammatical study the author draws on a broad sample of classical and Koine texts from which he concludes that παρεκτός in Matthew 5:32 should, on syntactic grounds, be read as marking an exception, whereas in the later account (μὴ ἐπὶ, Mt.19:9) Matthew presents Jesus as excluding the matter of πορνεία. The enigma of the meaning of πορνεία, however will not go away. The author then summarises his reasons for interpreting πορνεία as incestuous relationships and marriages.

I. Introduction

A. The Current Consensus

The Matthean divorce ‘exception’ saying has over the years attracted considerable scholarly attention. Nearly every discussion of these texts and of the ethical issues of divorce and remarriage focuses on the phrases παρεκτὸς λόγου πορνείας (Mt. 5:32) and μὴ ἐπὶ πορνείᾳ (Mt. 19:9), with the virtually unexplored assumption being that the phrase introducers παρεκτὸς and μὴ ἐπί are identical in meaning and both introduce genuine exceptions.1 This paper calls that consensus

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into question by introducing philological and syntactic data from fifteen centuries of Greek, both classical and Koine.2 In order to prejudice the results as little as possible, I have limited myself, with few exceptions, to those texts which have been translated into English. We will proceed, then, to examine the translation habits of classicists for these exception phrases.

Recent English versions reflect the major scholarly points of view. The exceptive interpretation (‘anyone who divorces his wife

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