Marriage and Divorce

 

 

 

 

One of the verses misguided or self-seeking people quote to justify divorce is Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 7:27-28, where we read:

 

27.  Are you bound to a wife?  Do not seek to be released.  Are you released from a wife?  Do not seek a wife. 

 

28.  But if you marry, you have not sinned ….

 

Yet in closer examination, to conclude that Paul is justifying divorce and remarriage here requires that he contradict and annul everything he clearly stated just prior to this, as well as what Yahshua clearly taught and Paul cited.  In the immediately preceding verses in 1 Corinthians 7:10-15, Paul clearly stated:

 

10.  But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband

 

11.  (but if she is separated, she must remain unmarried , or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not send away or leave his wife.

 

12.  But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not send away or leave her.

 

13.  And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send away or leave her husband.

 

14.  For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.

 

15.  Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him separate; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.

 

So then what was Paul saying when shortly afterwards he stated, “But if you marry, you have not sinned”?

 

Paul had just confirmed Yahshua’s clear commands in Matthew 19, and elaborated on and implemented them.  So, if one wants to take the statement, “But if you marry, you have not sinned,” and apply it to anyone who has divorced or wishes to divorce their spouse, they thereby DIRECTLY conflict with everything Paul had just stated!  So what was he saying?

 

First, what was the issue at hand when Paul made this confusing statement?  Verse 20 summarizes it, though there are in fact eighteen related verses here:

 

20.  Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.

 

By verse 28, Paul had moved along in his letter after clearly stating what he said regarding marriage and divorce, and was now urging people to remain in the state in which they had come to Yahshua, including not marrying at all.  But here is where Paul mixes his P’s and Q’s and throws the careless or self-serving reader.  Frankly, there is only ONE way this can be read without having to abort everything he just said in verses 10-15.  We will pick up in verse 25.

 

25.  Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.

 

26.  I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

 

27.  Are you bound to a wife?  Do not seek to be released.  Are you released from a wife?  Do not seek a wife.

 

28.  But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.  Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

 

So then what was Paul saying?  Clearly, verse 27 was a parenthetical statement that related directly to verse 20, as we see them laid out here together.  He was relating back to his immediately preceding matters.

 

20.  Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.

 

27.  Are you bound to a wife?  Do not seek to be released.  Are you released from a wife?  Do not seek a wife.

 

Based on Paul’s teachings in verses 10-15, including Yahshua’s teachings as well, which Paul affirmed, this passage is then best punctuated:

 

25.  Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.

 

26.  I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

 

27.  (Are you bound to a wife?  Do not seek to be released.  Are you released from a wife?  Do not seek a wife.)

 

28.  But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.  Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

 

Removing this parenthetical statement then gives one a completely consistent flow with everything Paul was saying in this chapter.

 

25.  Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.

 

26.  I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

 

28.  But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.  Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

 

Clearly, verse 27 is indeed parenthetical and relates back to what Paul was addressing just before this, and does not justify the sin of divorce.  The disciples knew well what Yahshua had said about divorce, as they replied:  "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry" (Matthew 19:10).  In like manner, the Corinthians certainly would have known what Paul was consistently saying here.  But the problem today is that people who want to justify this error and sin pick and choose and emphasize passages like this, taking them out of context, in order to make them speak what they desire.  They fail to look at the whole and see what is consistently being presented by Paul and Yahshua—that divorce and remarriage is not an option, except in infidelity.  Otherwise, it is adultery.