But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so.  In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved.  God has called you to peace.

1 Corinthians 7:15

Paul continues his directives about marriage and divorce by writing, “To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.  If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him” (7:12-13).

The parenthetical “I, not the Lord” does not mean that these commands come from Paul and not from Jesus.  He had made clear that he was writing under divine inspiration (2:6-16; 14:37; cf. Eph. 3:3-5; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:19-21).  However, the gospel accounts of Jesus’ teaching during his ministry on earth do not contain any directives about whether Christians should stay in a marriage with a non-Christian.  Thus, these commands from Paul were something that the Lord had not already covered years earlier during his time on earth.  Paul’s clarifying “I, not the Lord” acknowledges that.

It’s possible that the Jewish Christians in Corinth wondered if marriage to non-Christians was permitted by God, considering that Jews marrying Gentiles was condemned under the Old Law (Deut. 7:1-4).  Paul answers their question by saying that Christians with unbelieving spouses were not to divorce them (7:12-13), a directive different than God’s dictate to remedy unscriptural Jewish marriages with Gentiles by divorcing them (Ezra 9-10; Neh. 13:23ff).  He even gives his hope that the Christian would convert their unbelieving spouse to Christ (7:16).  This shows that his command for widows to remarry “only in the Lord” (7:39) and his later teaching to “not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14ff) does not mean that marriages between Christians and non-Christians are inherently sinful.

His next statement also emphasizes the inherent legitimacy of marriages between Christians and non-Christians:  “For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband.  Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy” (7:14).  “Holy” carries with it the idea of being set apart or sanctified.  In this context, he is not talking about the unbelieving spouse being made holy in the sight of God in the sense of being saved and cleansed from their sins.  Rather, since God is the one who joins couples in marriage (Matt. 19:6) and thus “sets them apart” from all others in marital union, Paul is saying that God recognizes the marriage between a Christian and non-Christian as legitimate.  If he did not, then the children born from this union would be illegitimate (“unclean”).  Since the marriage is legitimate, those children are also set apart as legitimate (“they are holy”).

Verse 15 (quoted above) does not provide, as some erroneously believe, an additional reason besides fornication for divorce and remarriage which would be permitted by God (cf. Matt. 19:9).  The reason some believe this is because various translations render the verse as “…the brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases…” (NASB, emphasis mine) and automatically conclude “bondage” to refer to the marriage bond.  Thus, they have Paul saying that one is permitted to sever the marriage bond (i.e., divorce) if “the unbelieving partner separates.”  This view is mistaken because the word Paul uses later in the chapter in reference to the marriage bond (deo, 7:27) is not the word he uses here for “enslaved” or “bondage” (douloo, 7:15).  Deo carries with it the idea of being tied up, but douloo carries with it the concept of being someone’s slave (cf. Rom. 6:18, 22).  Thus, if a non-Christian spouse gives their Christian spouse an ultimatum to choose between themselves or Jesus (which would be likely due to the threat of persecution – 7:26ff), Paul is directing the Christian spouse to let the non-Christian spouse leave and reminds the Christian that they are God’s slave, not the slave of their unbelieving mate.

There are dangers if Christians marry non-Christians, and it may not be the wisest course of action.  However, this passage shows that such marriages are not inherently sinful.

— Jon