7:15,16
Paul then addresses the opposite extreme view, those saying that the believer must remain with the unbeliever at all costs. Paul says that if the unbeliever “leaves” (which implies divorce), then the believer is not bound. The believer does not know whether or not their unbelieving partner would be saved. Note that throughout this chapter Paul has not time for super spiritual nonsense, of whatever sort. Again the instruction is applied equally to the husband and wife. There is the question of whether the believer can remarry in such circumstances. The view most consistent with Paul’s teaching in this chapter would seem to be that it is better for them to remain single, but if they do remarry they have not sinned. Divorce in the Old Testament, and in the Graeco-Roman world implied the freedom to remarry.
What about the case, not addressed here, where both partners claim to be believers, but one of them divorces the other against their will (and there has been no adultery or abuse). Divorce is rarely simple, but I would suggest that in this case the partner insisting on divorce is like the unbeliever in Paul’s teaching here, and so the same “rules” apply.
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