And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
It is a serious matter to part a man and his wife, for the command is that the wife must not depart from her husband. A wife who has knowingly and willingly entered marriage with consent is held by marriage vows as binding obligations she cannot disannul, and to break them would be wrong. The command does not require a wife who loves her husband to depart, for there is nothing requiring separation when love is present, so she may remain with her husband.
Love between husband and wife confirms the duty to remain, and remaining together can bring a richer Christian experience as each builds up where the other is deficient. The only lawful ground for a husband and wife to separate is adultery. A wife's divorce does not make her husband free to marry again because marriage remains binding, so he must guard his conduct and avoid sexual temptation.
Where the husband had abandoned his lawful wife before their divorce and his relationship with another woman began while he was still married, the wife's later divorce gives neither him nor the other woman a moral right to marry, because his own conduct helped bring about the separation. Where the wife leaves her husband, obtains a divorce and marries another man, while the husband did not leave her and did not marry again until after she had obtained the divorce and married another, there is no Scriptural ground to break up the husband's second union and it should not be disturbed.
It is a serious matter to part a man and his wife, for the command is that the wife must not depart from her husband. A wife who has knowingly and willingly entered marriage with consent is held by marriage vows as binding obligations she cannot disannul, and to break them would be wrong. The command does not require a wife who loves her husband to depart, for there is nothing requiring separation when love is present, so she may remain with her husband.
Love between husband and wife confirms the duty to remain, and remaining together can bring a richer Christian experience as each builds up where the other is deficient. The only lawful ground for a husband and wife to separate is adultery. A wife's divorce does not make her husband free to marry again because marriage remains binding, so he must guard his conduct and avoid sexual temptation.
Where the husband had abandoned his lawful wife before their divorce and his relationship with another woman began while he was still married, the wife's later divorce gives neither him nor the other woman a moral right to marry, because his own conduct helped bring about the separation. Where the wife leaves her husband, obtains a divorce and marries another man, while the husband did not leave her and did not marry again until after she had obtained the divorce and married another, there is no Scriptural ground to break up the husband's second union and it should not be disturbed.