Preserving Marriage | 1 Corinthians 7:10-16
1. Marriage can be preserved through lifelong commitment (v.10-11)
10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
Matthew 5:32: But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
1. Marriage is a lifelong covenant
Matthew 19:6: So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
2. Staying unmarried prevents adultery through remarriage
3. Staying unmarried prioritizes reconciliation
2 Corinthians 5:18: All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation
2. Marriage can be preserved through patient endurance (v.12-13)
12 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. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.
2 Corinthians 6:14: Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
14 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.
3. Marriage can be preserved by willing release
15 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. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
