Lessons #211 and 212
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Instructions about Divorce (1 Cor 7:10-16)
... 12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
Recall, the message of 1 Corinthians 7:10-16 that we are considering is that believers should do everything possible to avoid divorce. In our last study, we considered the instruction given to believers in mixed marriages not to divorce their spouses who are willing to remain married to them. We began our consideration of the reasons the Holy Spirit gave through Apostle Paul to justify the instruction that believers in mixed marriages should not divorce their unbelieving spouses who are willing to remain married to them. We considered the first two of the three reasons for the instruction. A first reason a believing spouse should not divorce an unbelieving spouse that is willing to remain married to the believer is that the unbelieving spouse has been separated from the rest of unbelievers and placed in a position of association with a believer and subsequently with the community of believers thus exposing such an individual to the teaching of the word of God because of marriage to the believing spouse. A second reason a believing spouse should not divorce an unbelieving spouse that is willing to remain married to the believer is because their children would then lose Christian influence first from the believing parent and the influence of the Christian community. It is this that is implied in the clause of 1 Corinthians 7:14 Otherwise your children would be unclean with which we ended our last study.
Our interpretation that the description of the children of those in mixed marriages after divorce in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 7:14 your children would be unclean is to be understood as meaning that such children would lose the influence of the community of believers is supported by the last clause of the verse but as it is, they are holy. The children of mixed marriage are described as “holy” so what does the apostle mean? To answer this question, we need to consider the word “holy” that is related to the Greek word translated “sanctified” in the same verse. The word “holy” is translated from a Greek adjective (hagios) that pertains to being dedicated or consecrated to the service of God. So, the Greek adjective is used to describe, for example, prophets as those dedicated to God’s service that spoke of God’s future restoration in Acts 3:21:
He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.
The phrase holy prophets is concerned not with the quality of the prophets but with their relationship with God so that the phrase should be understood as those dedicated to God or those who serve Him. The word is used to describe the place Moses stood when the Lord appeared to him, as narrated in Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7:33:
“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground.
The phrase holy ground means a ground that is dedicated to God. Another meaning of the Greek adjective translated “holy” pertains to superior moral qualities and so means “pure, worthy of God.” It is in moral sense the word is used to state lifestyle expected of believers in 2 Peter 3:11:
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
When the word is used in the plural, in most cases, it refers to God’s people and so it is translated “saints,” as Ananias used it to describe believers that Paul as unbeliever was the ringleader of their persecutors as recorded in Acts 9:13:
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.
Apostle Paul also used it in that sense to describe believers in Jerusalem who were the recipients of the generosity of fellow Gentile believers, according to Romans 15:26:
For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 7:14, the sense is that of being dedicated to God with qualification. Children who are not saved could not be dedicated to God in the same sense as their believing parents since only those who are believers that are considered dedicated to God. Therefore, the sense in which children are dedicated to God is that they have been physically joined to the community of believers and so are under the influence of the church contrary to the influence of the world. Thus, when the apostle indicated that children were already holy, he meant that they, in a physical sense, are dedicated to God because they accompany their parents as members of the physical congregation of believers.
Be that as it may, the apostle was concerned with what many husbands and wives who go through divorce are not concerned in our time, that is, the impact of such action on their children. You see, we are in a time where most people are selfish and self-centered that they rarely think about others. If many husbands and wives truly are concerned about the impact of divorce on children, they would do their best to work out their differences to continue to be married to each other. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Holy Spirit wants believers in mixed marriages to think of the impact of their decision to divorce each other on their children. If they realized that such action would adversely affect their children, then they would consider not divorcing their spouses as far as it depends on them. In any event, a second reason believers in mixed marriages should not divorce each other if the unbelieving spouse wants to remain married, is to ensure the children do not lose Christian influence first from the believing parent and then from the Christian community or local church. What if the couples have no children? The first and third reasons apply.
A third reason a believing spouse should not divorce an unbelieving spouse that is willing to remain married to the believer is because the believing spouse might be God’s chosen instrument in the eternal salvation of the unbelieving spouse. The concept of a human being serving as God’s agent of eternal salvation is one that we find throughout the NT Scripture. The apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ served as chosen instruments of God in the eternal salvation of people. In the salvation of the several thousands of Jews that were saved on the day of Pentecost, Apostle Peter was God’s chosen instrument. He was also God’s chosen instrument in the salvation of the many Gentiles gathered in the house of Cornelius. Evangelist Philip was God’s instrument in the salvation of the Ethiopian eunuch since God sent him to the eunuch, as we read in Acts 8:26–29:
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Following the leading of the Holy Spirit, Philip presented the gospel message to the Ethiopian eunuch that led to his conversion, as implied in Acts 8:35:
Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
Apostle Paul was God’s chosen instrument to bring about the eternal salvation of many Gentiles. He made specific reference to his being God’s instrument to bring salvation to the elect of God in that he was willing to suffer for that reason, as we read in 2 Timothy 2:10:
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
Anyway, the point we are stressing is that God uses believers as His instrument of eternal salvation for unbelievers.
It is our assertion that a third reason a believing spouse should not divorce an unbelieving spouse that is willing to remain married to the believer is because the believing spouse might be God’s chosen instrument in the eternal salvation of the unbelieving spouse. It is this reason that is given in the questions addressed to the believing husband and the believing wife in 1 Corinthians 7:16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? Before we continue with our consideration of this verse, let me state that there are two ways in which this verse is interpreted by scholars. One interpretation takes an optimistic view that there is likelihood that a believing spouse may save the unbelieving spouse and so it is an encouragement to stay married to the unbelieving spouse in a mixed marriage. Another interpretation takes a pessimistic view where there is doubt that a believing spouse could save the unbelieving spouse and so leads to discouragement of remaining married with the unbelieving spouse. In effect, this view indicates that it is needless to put up with an unbelieving spouse or suffer through an unhappy marriage when there is doubt that such relationship would result in the believing spouse saving the unbelieving spouse. I favor the optimistic view because the apostle provided positive justifications in verse 14. The apostle was aware that God could use what appears to be a bad situation to bring about salvation of another as in his communication to Philemon regarding his slave, Onesimus, in Philemon 15–16:
15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.
Why have I taken verse 16 as a third reason for a believer spouse not to divorce an unbelieving spouse as that involves skipping verse 15 for the moment in the exposition of the passage, you may ask? There are two reasons for it. Verse 15 may be interpreted either as parenthetical or a completion of the instruction began in verses 12 and 13. If verse 15 is considered as a completion of the instruction began in verse 12 then verse 14 would be considered parenthetical in order to maintain a flow in the apostle’s thought. However, it makes better sense if verse 14 is taken as the apostle’s justification for instructing against a believing spouse divorcing an unbelieving spouse that is willing to remain married to the believer. This being the case, what the apostle stated in verse 15 although related to verses 12 and 13 should be considered parenthetical so that verse 16 is the apostle’s further justification for the instruction he gave in verses 12 and 13. Another reason for this interpretation that verse 16 provides a third reason for not divorcing of unbelieving spouse is that verse 16 begins with a Greek conjunction (gar) that has several usages. For example, it can be used as a marker of explanation of a preceding clause so that it may be translated “you see, for” or it can be used as a marker of inference with the meaning “so, then, by all means.” But in our context, it is used as a marker of reason. In other words, it is used to supply another reason for the instruction regarding believing spouses not divorcing their unbelieving spouses that are willing to remain married to them. Of course, there are those who probably because they have a pessimistic view of verse 16 take this conjunction as a reason for accepting divorce initiated by an unbelieving spouse. That aside, it makes better sense that the apostle used the Greek conjunction that means “for” not translated in the NIV of verse 16 to provide a third reason for believing spouses not to divorce their unbelieving spouses that are willing to remain married to them.
Anyway, what does the apostle mean by saving a husband or a wife in the two related question of verse 16? To answer this question, we first need to understand what the apostle meant in the word “save” since it is translated from a Greek word with several meanings. The word “save” is translated from a Greek word (sōzō) that is used in a physical or a spiritual sense. In a physical sense, it may mean to preserve or rescue from natural dangers and afflictions, hence “to save, keep from harm, preserve, rescue.” To save in the physical sense may mean “to heal”, that is, to rescue from torment of diseases or to be restored to health, as the word is used in Luke 8:48:
Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
The sentence your faith has healed you is literally your faith has saved you. The literal translation may imply that there is a physical healing as well as a spiritual healing. To save may mean to keep from dying as in the instruction of Paul to the centurion taking him to Rome about not allowing the sailors to abandon ship, as we read in Acts 27:31:
Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”
To save may mean “to deliver”, that is, to bring out safely from a situation fraught with mortal danger, so the word is used to describe Israel’s deliverance from Egypt in Jude 5:
Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
The sentence the Lord delivered his people is literally having saved the people. In a spiritual sense, the word may mean to save or preserve from transcendent danger or destruction hence “to save/preserve from eternal death” with the implication of being preserved from judgment and from all that might lead to eternal death, for example, sin. It is in this sense that the word is used when Apostle Paul offered eternal salvation to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31:
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
It is, of course, in the spiritual sense of being saved from eternal death that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 7:16.
The understanding that the word “saved” used in the apostle’s question to the believing husband or wife in a spiritual sense makes it even difficult to understand what the apostle meant by saying a believing husband or wife could save the unbelieving spouse. This is because, eternal salvation is God’s work as the Holy Spirit asserted through Apostle Paul. In writing to Timothy, the apostle makes the assertion that it is God who saved believers in 2 Timothy 1:9:
who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
The same truth that God saves is given in Titus 3:5:
he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Because only God can save a person from eternal death then the apostle could not mean that a believing husband or a believing wife would save the unbelieving spouse. Instead, as we have already stated in our third reason for instructing a believing spouse not to divorce an unbelieving spouse that wants to continue the marriage, the apostle meant that a believing spouse could be the agent of God’s salvation. In other words, that it is possible in God’s plan that the believing spouse is His agent of bringing eternal salvation to the unbelieving spouse. This is not the only place the apostle made similar statement. In his doctrine of election, he makes the point that he wished that through his ministry that some of the Israelites would become saved, as in Romans 11:14:
in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.
The apostle made similar declaration in 1 Corinthians 9:22:
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,
In any event, a third reason a believing spouse should not divorce an unbelieving spouse that is willing to remain married to the believer is because the believing spouse might be God’s chosen instrument in the eternal salvation of the unbelieving spouse.
The Holy Spirit knows that we live in a world of reality and so directed the apostle to write in a realistic manner regarding the possibility that the unbeliever in a mixed marriage may not want to remain married to the believing spouse. The reality is that a believing spouse could do his/her best to remain married to the unbelieving spouse but meets with resistance or receives in return constant hatred from the unbelieving spouse. In effect, the unbelieving spouse is so uncomfortable in the mixed marriage and so wants out of it. Hence, the apostle states what should then take place when that is the case. The believing spouse should not contest the divorce as we read in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 7:15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. The word “leaves” is translated from the same Greek word (chōrizō) translated “separate” in 1 Corinthians 7:10 that we argued has the sense of “to divorce.” This being the case, the literal translation of the clause is But if the unbeliever separates, let him separate. The use of the pronoun him in the translation of the Greek sentence is grammatical since the word “unbeliever” is translated from a masculine form of the Greek adjective (apistos) used that means “unbelieving.” This notwithstanding, the word is used in the sense that it could refer either to the unbelieving husband or the unbelieving wife. This fact is supported by the phrase of 1 Corinthians 7:15 believing man or woman or literally the brother or the sister. This is because of the Greek words used. The word “man” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (adelphos) that literally means “brother” in the sense of a male sibling, that is, a male having the same father and mother as the reference person, but it is here used to describe a male believer in Christ. The word “woman” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (adelphē) that literally means “sister” in the sense of a female sibling, that is, a female having the same father and mother as the reference person but in the phrase under consideration it is used to describe a female believer in Christ. Anyway, the apostle indicates that the unbelieving spouse may divorce the believing spouse in which case the believing spouse has an assigned response. But before we get to the response assigned to the believer, we should note that the conditional clause But if the unbeliever leaves implies that it is the unbelieving spouse that initiates the divorce. This being the case, it is incumbent on believing spouse not to be the initiator of divorce. This means that the believing spouse is expected to endure whatever the unbeliever puts on the believer because of the third reason we considered for a believer not to divorce an unbelieving spouse. In effect, the implied requirement is that a believer should be willing to suffer, even in marriage, in order to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. A believing spouse may be put through hardship by the unbelieving spouse but when the believing spouse recognizes that the soul of the unbelieving spouse is important then the believing spouse would put up with the unbelieving spouse with the hope that the unbelieving spouse may be saved. Remember what Apostle Paul said in a passage we cited previously (2 Timothy 2:10) about suffering hardship in order to bring the gospel to the elect. Thus, a believing spouse should do everything within God’s given ability not to be the initiator of a divorce.
Be that as it may, when an unbelieving spouse initiates a divorce, the response of the believing spouse is not to contest it but to grant it. It is this response that is given in 1 Corinthians 7:15 let him do so or literally let him separate. Since we have argued that the Greek word translated “separate” has the sense of “to divorce” in our context, then the response of the believing spouse is to allow the divorce to take place, that is, that the believing spouse should not contest the divorce initiated by the unbelieving spouse.
In the situation that the unbelieving spouse initiates divorce, the Holy Spirit through the apostle states next in 1 Corinthians 7:15 A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances or literally in such cases, the brother or the sister is not bound. To say the least, this clause is one that has caused great difficulties regarding what the apostle meant. Anyway, the use of the plural “circumstances” conveys that the apostle is concerned with divorce situation that involves mixed marriages and in the event in which the unbelieving spouse initiates the divorce. However, what the apostle says next presents interpretation difficulties regarding the subject of divorce and remarriage since the apostle use the verbal phrase is not bound.
The word “bound” is translated from a Greek word (douloō) with the basic meaning of “to make a slave,” “to enslave.” It may be used in a literal sense of denoting absolute subjection or the loss of autonomy. Hence, it is used literally to describe the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt in Stephen’s sermon as stated in Acts 7:6:
God spoke to him in this way: ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
Except for this usage in the NT where it is quoted from the Septuagint of Genesis 15:13, all its seven occurrences in the NT are in a figurative sense. It is in the sense of a believer’s obligation or commitment to God that Apostle Paul use it when he indicates that believers are slaves of God having been set free from sin in Romans 6:22:
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Of course, it is in the sense of being committed to righteousness that the apostle used the word in the declaration of Romans 6:18:
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
It is in the sense of “to make one subservient to another person’s interests” that the word is used by Apostle Paul to describe himself as a slave for benefit of others in 1 Corinthians 9:19:
Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
It is in the sense of being dependent on the basic principles of the world that the Greek word is used in Galatians 4:3:
So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.
The sense of being dependent on wine or being addicted to wine for the word is used in Titus 2:3:
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.
The phrase addicted to much wine is literally enslaved to much wine. Apostle Peter helps us to understand a meaning of our Greek word as “being defeated by or succumbing to something” in 2 Peter 2:19:
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
The clause for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him is literally For to whatever someone succumbs, by this he is also enslaved, according to the LEB. The word may mean “to be under obligation” or “to be bound” as that is the sense that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 7:15 although some maintain it should be translated “enslaved” in keeping with the basic meaning of the word. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that in four usages of the Greek word that implies commitment or devotion to something or someone (Romans 6:18, 22; 1 Corinthians 9:19, 2 Peter 2:19) there is the sense of freedom from something implied. That aside, the problem is to understand what the apostle meant when he conveyed that the believing spouse is no longer bound or obligated to the unbelieving spouse. In other words, does that mean that the believing spouse is free to remarry or is he merely free from being married without any remarriage? Our interpretation is that the word has the sense of being free to remarry. We will defer future treatment of this interpretation until we treat the issue of divorce and remarriage at the end of this section of 1 Corinthians 7:10-16 that we are considering.
In any case, the reason a believing spouse should not contest the divorce initiated by an unbelieving spouse is that believers are a special kind of people who are to operate in a peaceful manner as in the last sentence of 1 Corinthians 7:15 God has called us to live in peace or literally but God has called you to peace. The NIV did not translate a Greek particle (de) that we translated literally as “but.” Although the Greek particle in question is routinely translated “but” to reflect a contrast between clauses but when a simple connective is desired, without contrast being clearly implied, it may be translated “and,” and in certain occurrences the particle may be left untranslated. In our clause, it is used in the sense of resuming a discourse that has been interrupted or after a parenthetical sentence. It is our interpretation that it is used after a parenthetical sentence within a parenthetical verse firstly because the particle is used twice in verse 15, at its beginning, and in the clause under consideration. Secondly, because the apostle gave the instruction that the believing spouse should not contest the divorce initiated by an unbelieving spouse. We would expect him to provide the reason for such an instruction which he did but only after he had made a statement that the believing spouse is not be bound. Thus, such statement is to be considered parenthetical because the apostle then returns to the reason the believing spouse is not to contest the divorce. To indicate that the apostle after a parenthetical statement has returned to the first clause of verse 15, he used the Greek particle we indicated is here used as a marker of parenthesis.
Again, the reason not to contest the divorce initiated by an unbelieving spouse is that believers are to be special kind of individuals as conveyed in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 7:15 God has called us to live in peace or literally God has called you to peace as reflected in the ESV and the NASB. The question is how to understand the literal translation God has called you to peace that the NIV and the NCV have translated God has called us to live in peace. To understand what the literal sentence means we need to understand the key words “called” and “peace.”
The word “called” is translated from a Greek word (kaleō) that may mean to identify by name or attribute hence “to name, to call by name” as it is used to identify the sister of Martha that entertained the Lord Jesus and His disciples, as stated in Luke 10:39:
She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.
The Greek word may mean to request the presence of someone at a social gathering, that is, “to invite” as the word is used in 1 Corinthians 10:27:
If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.
The word may be used in a legal sense of “to summon before a court” or “to call in”, as in Acts 24:2:
When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation.
From the meanings “to summon” and “to invite” developed the meaning “to call” in the sense of “to choose for receipt of a special benefit or experience.” Thus, it is this sense that it is used for the choice of persons for salvation in terms of having eternal life, as stated in 1 Timothy 6:12:
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
It is with this special meaning of choosing someone for salvation that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 7:15. In effect, to be called in this specific passage is the same as “to be saved.” The apostle used the perfect tense in the Greek so that the implication here is that believers have been saved in the past and the impact of that salvation continues so that it is appropriate for peace to characterize them.
The word “peace” is translated from a Greek word (eirēnē) with the basic meaning of “peace.” However, there are several nuances to the meaning of peace depending on the context. There is the peace in the sense of freedom from worry. This is a possible meaning of peace in the list of the various facets of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
If we take peace to mean freedom from worry, this will be in keeping with what Jesus taught while on this planet. For in the Sermon on the Mount, He taught that believers should live a worry-free life in Matthew 6:25:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Peace can refer to a state of concord or harmony in personal relationships. Jesus indicated that His mission on earth guaranteed the absence of this kind of peace among people of different responses to Him. It is for this reason that He declared what is recorded in Matthew 10:34:
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
This notwithstanding, believers should endeavor to maintain a state of harmony between them and others as we are instructed in Romans 14:19:
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
However, we should recognize that in accordance with the declaration of Jesus Christ that we are not to pursue peace at the expense of compromising the truth. We are to pursue peace, but we should not compromise the truth in order to obtain it. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Holy Spirit through the apostle has this to say to us in Romans 12:18:
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Believers are to strive to maintain peace but should remain conscious of the fact that it is not always possible because there are people who hate truth and so hate everything believers stand for. Nevertheless, we are to ensure that we are not the ones disrupting peace because we do something that is sinful.
Peace can refer to a state of wellbeing with respect to health and so it is used as a farewell greeting formula, as it is used by Jesus after healing a woman with bleeding in Mark 5:34:
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Under this concept of peace referring to a state of wellbeing, is its use in the sense of messianic salvation since the word “peace” is used by the prophets to state essential characteristic of the messianic kingdom. That peace is associated with messianic kingdom is evident in the fact that the Greek word rendered “peace” in our passage is used in the Septuagint of Isaiah 52:7:
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Proclaiming peace in this passage in Isaiah is the same as proclaiming salvation indicating that peace essentially has the connotation of salvation. It is because peace has the sense of messianic salvation that the gospel Apostle Peter preached to Cornelius and those assembled with him is described in terms of gospel of peace in Acts 10:36:
You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
The word may mean “good order in contrast to disorder” as it is used in 1 Corinthians 14:33:
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints,
We have noted that the Greek word translated “peace” has several nuances. The question is in what sense is it used in our passage? The context, of course, indicates that the peace in 1 Corinthians 7:15 has the sense of “good order” that creates harmonious relations and freedom from disputes.
Having considered the key words in the literal phrase of 1 Corinthians 7:15 God has called you to peace, we can now understand the reason the Holy Spirit gave through Apostle Paul for believing spouse not contesting divorce initiated by the unbelieving spouse. It is because believers are the ones who have received God’s salvation. Because they are children of God, they are to maintain order that creates harmonious relationship with others that is free of conflicts and disputes. The implication is that believers are not only supposed to promote harmony among people, but they are to promote the message of peace between man and God. We cannot do this if we in any form or shape promote discord. Thus, if an unbelieving spouse wants to fight over divorce, the believing spouse should do everything possible to avoid such conflicts. We put it this way to recognize the fact that a believing spouse may strive to be orderly, avoiding conflicts but the unbelieving spouse may not. It is for this reason that the believer should go the extra mile to avoid conflict. Of course, we should recognize that we cannot control what others do; we can in a sense only control what we do. It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit encourages believers in general to live in peace with others but recognizing that it may not always be possible because of the actions of unbelievers. Although some unbelieving spouses or people in general may not opt for peace, we are still commanded to make being in a harmonious relationship with others our goal as stated in Hebrews 12:14:
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
This instruction is a general one applied to all believers, but we are concerned with the specific issue of divorce. Thus, a believing spouse should do everything to avoid the kind of ugliness we see among those who go through divorce, where there is bitterness and hatred. A believer who faces this unfortunate situation of life should endeavor to make the best of it by seeking to be conciliatory to avoid hate not only because of children but more importantly because of the believer’s testimony that should be witnessed to those around, watching the believer involved in such situation, and to the divorcing partner.
04/10/20