C. The married (7:10–11)
C. The married (7:10–11)
10. To the married Paul gives an authoritative command (parangellō; see notes in TNTC on 1 Thess. 4:2, 11). He stresses that this is not a personal direction; it is the Lord who commands (Mark 10:2–12). Paul is here speaking of marriages where both partners are Christians. He directs the wife not to separate (the verb is passive, ‘not to be separated’; MM say that in the papyri it ‘has almost become a technical term in connexion with divorce’).
11. But if she does envisages the possibility that she will disobey the injunction. Or, as Conzelmann thinks, the aorist may refer to an already existing situation. The separated wife must then remain as she is or else be reconciled to her husband. Similarly, the husband is not to divorce his wife. The verb is different from that used of the wife, but the result is the same. Paul does not mention the exception Jesus allowed on the grounds of fornication (Matt. 5:32; 19:9). But he is not writing a systematic treatise on divorce. He is answering specific questions.