Regards of the particular circumstances in Corinth, Paul “articulates a general norm in vv. 10-11”: A wife must not separate from her husband...And a husband must not divorce his wife. Contrary to how they are used today, the verbs “to separate” and “to divorce” here refer to the same thing, namely, the disavowing of the marriage. Mark 10:9 uses “separate” in the sense of divorce: “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” And in 1 Corinthians 7:15 and 13 respectively they describe the same action. In the Greco-Roman world men and women could divorce their partners by enacting what has been called a “divorce by separation,”108 that is, simply telling their partner to leave or by leaving themselves. Divorce was very common, and probably most marriages ended before the death of a partner.109 Instone-Brewer observes that “Graeco-Roman marriage certificates were worded as though they expected the marriage to end in divorce, not death.”110 One funeral inscription from the first century B.C. comment on an exception: “Uncommon are marriages which last so long, brought to an end by death, not broken apart by divorce; for it was our happy lot that it should be prolonged to the 41st year without estrangement.”111 In this context, Paul’s decree, on the authority of the Lord Jesus, that Christian married couples who were former Gentiles should stay married is highly countercultural...
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: Roy E. Ciampa
Keywords: Marriage, Divorce, Bill of divorcement, Certificate of divorce, Certificate of divorcement, Bill of divorce, any cause, Every cause, Divorce for any cause, Divorce of every cause, Rabbinic debate, Commits adultery, Continues to commit adultery, Remarriage, Divorcement, Exception clause, Except for fornication, Except for adultery, Matter of indecency, Any matter, Shammaite, Shammai, No fault divorce
Bible reference(s): Deuteronomy 24:1-3, Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 12:39, Matthew 19:3-9, Mark 8:12, Mark 10:2, Mark 10:4, Mark 10:11-12, Luke 16:18, Romans 7:1-3, 1 Corinthians 7:10-11
Source: The First Letter to the Corinthians (Pillar New Testament Commentary) (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010), pp. 292-3.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.