PAUL AND DIVORCE
It has been suggested that the words of the Holy Spirit through Paul in 1 Cor 7:27-281 Cor 7:27-2827 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. 28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you. are in favour of divorce and remarriage. If they were it would be a clear contradiction of all the evidence we have considered so far, and we know that God does not contradict Himself, for God "cannot lie". Firstly we see from verse 26 that Paul is writing about "the present distress" of his own times. The early ecclesias recognized, from the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles, that the end of the Jewish Era was near, and that they were entering a difficult period, when persecution would arise. The enforced separation of husbands and fathers from their own families was a distinct possibility. Because of the imminent persecution Paul is saying, "Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But, and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she has not sinned".
We understand these verses in the following sense. If you are married, in spite of the difficulties which tribulation and persecution may bring to your marriage, you must not seek to end it. If you have no wife, (either a bachelor or widower), do not seek marriage. But if you are free to marry, then it is no sin to do so, though it may cause problems and difficulties in the coming persecution. This is the interpretation placed upon these verses by many, including Weymouth, Moffatt, and the R.S.V., and is in complete accord with the rest of Paul's teaching, and the teaching of Jesus. "Barnes Notes On The New Testament", vol 5, says,
"Art thou loosed from a wife? Art thou unmarried? It should have been rendered free from a wife; or art thou single? It does not imply of necessity that the person had been married, though it may have that meaning, and signify those who have been separated from a wife by her death. There is no necessity of supposing that Paul refers to persons who had divorced their wives. So Grotius, Schleusner, Doddridge, &c."
The Speaker's Commentary has "Bachelor or widower? Seek not a wife".