If
a “wife” departed
from her husband in the church in Corinth, Paul the apostle told the
church members to “let her remain
unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband”.
Paul also told the “husband”
not to “put away his wife”,
and in chapter seven and verse twelve of
First Corinthians, Paul told the “unmarried
and widows” among the church members
“If any brother has a wife that
believes not, … let him not put her away”
where we read:
But to
the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother has a wife that
believes not,
and
she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
The
verse begins, “But
to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother has a wife that
believes not,” Paul
began with the word, “But” which
is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about be written
takes precedence over what is about to be stated “to
the rest” which
means “those who remain of any number or class under consideration”
“speak I”
or “Paul utters, declares and proclaims”, “not
the Lord”
or “not he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has
power of deciding; master and the title given to God the Messiah”:
“If any brother”
which means “whoever or whatsoever fellow believer who is united to
another by the bond of affection” “has
a wife”
which refers to one who “holds and possesses a woman who is married
to him” “that believes not”
which means “who is faithless and incredulous”. Paul spoke his
own mind concerning those in the church who had “unbelieving
wives”.
The
verse continues, “... and
she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.”
Paul added
the words, “and she be pleased”
which means
“and the wife consents and agrees to continue” “to
dwell” or
“occupy a house, reside, inhabit, live or cohabit”“with
him” which
means “with her husband”, “let
him not”
or “ the husband should not allow or permit”
“put her away”
which means “send her away, depart from or divorce the wife”. If
a “husband”
in the church had an “unbelieving wife”, he was not to “send
her away or divorce” her.
When
we meditate upon these words from Paul, we discover the importance of
keeping the “marriage” relationship together. Even if the
“wife”
is an unbeliever, she was not to be “divorced or put
away” as
long as she was content to remain married to her husband. Jesus
considers the “marriage relationship” as “sacred”, and even
when one does not believe, the “husband
and wife”
are to stay together. Paul continues to discuss this subject in the
next few verses, but for now, let us allow the Lord to fix this idea
within our minds.
Next
time Paul tells the church members that husbands and wives, “do
not have power over” their
“own
bodies”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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