One In Jesus

10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

Now Paul repeats the admonition of Christ found in several places that divorce is sin. “Separate” does not mean a legal separation in the American legal sense. Rather, in First Century practice, when couples separated, they were no longer married at all. This is made entirely clear in verse 11 which states that a separated wife should remain “unmarried.” Clearly, Paul sees a separation as ending the marriage. Continue reading →

With these concepts in mind, we now need to take up the New Testament’s central passage on marriage and divorce, 1 Corinthians 7.

Oddly, most discussions of these doctrines begin with Jesus’ statements in Matthew 5 or Matthew 19. I say “oddly” because Jesus in these passages was specifically commenting on Deuteronomy 24 — the Law of Moses. Jesus, of course, was speaking to Jews who at the time were subject to the Law of Moses. Much of what Jesus said is important for Christians — but we make a serious mistake if we try to start with a commentary on the Law of Moses.

We’ll come back to these (and other passages) after we’ve considered the one passage that most directly addresses divorce of Christians. Continue reading →