Seneca: ‘No woman need blush to break up her marriage since the most distinguished ladies have adopted the practice of reckoning the year not by the names of the consuls but by the names of their husbands. They divorce in order to remarry. They remarry in order to divorce.’ A funeral inscription: ‘Uncommon are marriages which last so long, brought to an end by death, not broken apart by divorce; for it is our happy lot that it should be prolonged to the 41st year without estrangement.’
- God’s first choice is no divorce.
- 7:10-11; Mark 10:6-9. Jesus does provide an exceptive clause – Matt.19:9. The starting point has to be that the ‘lock’ is in wedlock.
- What if a Christian is married to an unbeliever?
- Seek to maintain the marriage.
- 7:12-13. A Christian ought not to marry an unbeliever (7:39). At one stage in Israel’s history, after the exile, divorce was regarded as better than the alternative – Ezra 10:1-3, 9-12.
- 1 Pet.3:1-2. Plutarch (A.D.46-c.122) said that in a mixed marriage, the wife ought to adopt the gods of her husband. Not so the Bible.
- Seek peace if the unbeliever deserts.
- 7:15. This is really about a Christian accepting reality. Divorce is not the preferred option, but it is accepted.
- Seek peace if the unbeliever deserts.
- 7:16. One incentive for staying in the marriage is the possible salvation of your spouse. There are difficult cases – John 4:16-18. What did she do? Sometimes you simply have to go from where you are, not where you should be.
- Seek to maintain the marriage.