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Marriage And Remarriage

The second longest of Paul’s letters, 1 Corinthians is written to the church at Corinth to offer solutions to problems that he had heard about through oral reports and to answer questions that people from the church had written to him about. The church was a young congregation that had been started by Paul during his second missionary journey. The city was the capital of the Roman province Achaia, and located on the isthmus at the southern part of the country. Because of the vast diversity in the city it was a morally decadent city due to the pagan influences which were prevalent in that day. The book is subdivided into two sections: Chapters 1-6 and 7-16. The first major division Paul offer solutions to problems the church was facing, the second section answers questions the church had asked in a letter he had received. 1 Corinthians 7:10-16 is the passage that will be discussed. The purpose for writing is to show that Paul gives permission to marry, divorce, and remarry but only under certain circumstances.
The first sentence of the passage begins with a direct charge or order from Paul to the married. He is instructing those who are married Christians and a part of the church not to divorce from one another. Paul’s strict instruction may suggest that the church at Corinth was in favor of divorce and was having difficulty understanding what the basis for divorce was . Paul gives them clear instruction that it is not him giving this charge but the Lord. The statement “Not I but the Lord” is giving Jesus the credit for His teachings while on the earth. Paul was aware of Christ’s teachings and instruction, so he was informing the church at Corinth that these were the principles established by Christ during His earthly ministry. Another possible alternative is that the next few sentences are of inspired revelation to the apostle. When one looks at the context of the passage, the order of male and female are reversed in this section from his other mentioning of...