To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband)—and that the husband should not divorce his wife” (1 Cor. 7:10-11).
There’s really no need to twist and manipulate verses, dig back to the Old Testament days of Moses and bring up the issue of multiple wives and property rights, etc. We have verses in the NEW TESTAMENT and actual quotes by JESUS on the matter.
Again, y’all can get upset with me and get emotional about the topic, but the Bible is very clear. Divorce is sinful, but in the event a divorce occurs, remarriage is forbidden (possibly with the “exception clause” mentioned earlier). Anything else is adultery. Marriages sometimes fail. Follow the example of Dr. Charles Stanley and stay unmarried. Anything else is living in sin. Don’t like that? Get mad at God.
In
2 Peter 3:16 Peter warns about unlearned men who
twist the scriptures to their own destruction and that includes
taking scripture out of context. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7 Paul goes on and expounds on things Jesus never addressed in the flesh.
In
Verse 12, Paul boldly supercedes a command given by God through Ezra to the Jews (Ezra 10:11). The Christian is commanded
not to divorce a non-Christian spouse, as long as the latter is willing to remain in the marriage.
To the rest. Those things not covered by the instruction of v. 10-11 are what Paul is addressing. Paul received his apostleship
not from men (as Matthias did) but directly from Jesus Christ (Gal 1:1). He was saved too late to be an “eyewitness” of the resurrection so Christ revealed himself to Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-5), so he is speaking here as an apostle with authority.
In
verses 13-15 Paul talks about a believing woman who is abandoned by an unbelieving husband, and states clearly that such a woman is not under bondage or enslaved in that situation. Physical abuse would also be covered when he says, “if he be pleased to dwell with her.” Any man who abuses his wife obviously isn’t pleased to dwell with her.
Verse 8. Unmarried...widows. “Unmarried” is a term used four times in the NT, and only in 1 Corinthians (cf. v. 11, 32, 34). This verse makes it clear that the unmarried and widows are distinct.
Verse 11 identifies the
divorced as the
“unmarried” to be distinguished from
“widows (v. 39-40; single by death) and
“virgins” (v. 25, 28; never married). Each use of
“unmarried,” then, refers to those
formerly married,
presently single, but not widowed. They are the
divorced. It is likely these people who were formerly married wanted to know if they, as Christians, could or should remarry.
Even as I. Paul was possibly a widower, and could here affirm his former marriage by identifying with the unmarried and widows. His first suggestion is that they stay single because of its freedoms in serving the Lord ( v. 25-27, 32-34). Cf. Anna in Luke 2:36-37.