Paul explains some of the implications of his teaching for Christian marriage.
Of all human relationships the association of man and woman in marriage is the closest and most personal. It is not surprising that first Paul should go on from his earlier discussion (6:15-16) to explain some of the deeper implications of Christian marriage, and secondly that the Corinthians themselves should have raised these fundamental questions in a letter of inquiry to him (7:1). The replies he gives fall into well-defined sections.
7:1-7. It makes much better sense if we read the quotation at the end of 7:1 as a statement quoted from the Corinthians’ letter; then 7:2 is Paul’s comment. The apostle who wrote Ephesians 5:21-33 is not likely to have expressed a stark condemnation of conjugal union, implied in 7:1. The rest of the paragraph covers the same ground as the Ephesians passage, with mutual regard and responsibility in sexual relations spelled out in some detail. 1 Peter 3:7 completes the full Christian picture of God’s intention for the married state.
It is important to try to read between the lines here. Evidently some Corinthians had taken the (Gnostic) view—later expressed in 1 Timothy 4:3—that marriage and marital unions were inherently evil and were abandoning all conjugal connections. Paul goes to the root of the matter by his assertion that marriage is part of God’s will for the human race, and like all his creation pronounced “very good” (Genesis 1:31).
7:8-9 consider the case of those who do not or cannot marry. Celibacy is approved, whether for those who were unmarried or for those who had been married and had lost their partner by death. If, however, the celibate state imposes too great a mental and psychological strain, and marriage is possible, the latter course is preferable.
7:10-11 contemplate a situation in which one partner is faced with the problem of a disagreement within Christian marriage. Jesus’ teaching on the indissolubility of marriage (Mark 10:9-12) is appealed to as a directive. Divorce, on this ground, is not permitted.
7:12-16 give apostolic commentary on the Lord’s teaching, by way of application to specific instances of situations which Jesus’ words never envisaged, ie one partner who becomes converted has to face the prospect of life with an unbelieving partner. Again, divorce is only contemplated if the non-Christian spouse desires it. Otherwise let the marriage continue, with the prospect of conversion always in view and a wholesome inheritance into which the children may enter (7:14). “Holy” is “brought within the sphere of God’s grace.”
