Two Become One

"Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord..."
– 1 Corinthians 7:10

The Corinthian church had no New Testament; it was being written right before their eyes. Jews and Gentiles were accepting Christ. Many married couples found themselves unequally yoked. When one spouse was saved and the other was not, they did not know how to deal with it. Because of this, they asked Paul for his counsel. Paul was the best man to answer these questions because he was a man who knew the Scriptures and applied grace. Qualities any believer should look for when seeking godly advice.

Many of the Jews who received Christ still held on to the Old Testament commands. God’s Word instructed the people of Israel to separate from ungodly wives (Ezra 10:2-3; Nehemiah 13:23-25). Now they were wondering what to do because they were no longer under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14). Yet Jesus had already given this instruction during His earthly ministry. He said, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning, it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery” (Matthew 19:8-9). Our own Savior provided specific commands, yet they were not being followed. In the Corinthian church, divorce was rampant for many invalid reasons.

God truly hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). As Christians, when we think about ourselves as the Bride of Christ, the Lord does not divorce us when we are His. He is not selfish but longsuffering (2 Peter 3:9). Those of us who are married must be the same. The two have become one flesh, never to be ripped apart. This is how an approved marriage, in God’s eyes, should be viewed. What God has brought together, let no man separate (Mark 10:9).

"Marriage is an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person."
– Unknown