Paul continues with advice to the unmarried, suggesting that they stay single if they can, but if they find it difficult to control themselves then they should get married. There is no virtue in resisting temptation when there is no need to face the temptation. As Paul will say later, there it is perfectly legitimate to get married, so if staying single puts someone under immense pressure there is no point in staying single. All that person will do is spend all their time battling with temptation, instead of doing something useful. Now we need to be clear here, Paul is talking about unnecessary temptation, there are of course many times when we face temptation of various sorts and we must resist temptation, but we do not need to subject ourselves to extra temptation!
A husband and wife are to stay together, this is the teaching of the Lord, but marriages do sometimes break up. In that case they must not remarry.
What if one of the partners is not a believer? Then, as long as it is possible, they should still stay together. There may have been some who said that because one of the partners is not a believer the marriage is somehow unholy. Paul says that this is not so, the believing partner sanctifies the marriage. However, it may be that the unbeliever makes it impossible for them to stay together, then it is permissible to separate. Doing otherwise will achieve nothing.
Paul will say more on this later in the chapter, and I will write more on this when I cover Jesus' words on the matter in Mark. Just to say here, getting divorced and remarrying cannot be viewed as a lifestyle choice.
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