Whatever your marriage history, the starting point is to listen honestly to God and seek the faithfulness he asks of you. Genesis 2:18–25 explains marriage’s companionship and union; Matthew 19:3–9 gives Jesus’ reasoning about its permanence; and 1 Corinthians 7:10–16, 39–40 distinguishes several different circumstances. The responsibilities of an ongoing marriage, the departure of a spouse, and the death of a spouse must each receive the attention these passages give them.
Honor your spouse and the union God has given
Give your spouse faithful love and a dependable place in your life. Genesis 2:18–25 begins with the man’s need for a companion suited to him. The animals do not meet that need; when God brings the woman, the man recognizes her as his own flesh and bone. Verse 24 then describes leaving father and mother, cleaving to one’s wife, and becoming one flesh. Cleaving means holding fast. Marriage forms a new family bond in which bodily union, companionship, and lasting loyalty belong together.
Jesus receives this creation account as instruction for marriage. In Matthew 19:4–6, he joins the creation of male and female in Genesis 1:27 to the one-flesh union in Genesis 2:24. His conclusion is that God has joined the couple and people must not separate them. The obligation arises from God’s action and purpose. Enter and sustain marriage with an intention to remain faithful to the person to whom you are joined.
Malachi 2:13–16 shows how seriously God regards that faithfulness. People weep at the altar because their offerings are not accepted, and the prophet explains why: the LORD has witnessed their betrayal of the wife of their youth, their companion and covenant partner. Their worship and their treatment of their wives belong before the same God. Verse 16 condemns putting away and violence; translations differ over the precise wording about hatred and divorce, but the repeated charge is clear: guard your spirit and act faithfully toward your spouse.
Give the covenant the care it calls for. Ephesians 5:25–33 directs husbands to love as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, then explains loving a wife as one’s own body through nourishing and cherishing her. Verse 33 also calls the wife to respect her husband. Hebrews 13:4 honors marriage and its sexual faithfulness under God’s judgment. A lasting bond is to be lived through devoted care, respect, and fidelity.
Further study: Biblical Studies Press
Understand why Jesus returns to the beginning
Read Moses’ legislation as a whole before drawing a rule from it. Deuteronomy 24:1–4 describes a man dismissing his wife with a written certificate, her becoming another man’s wife, and the ending of that second marriage by divorce or death. The first husband is then forbidden to take her back. The passage recognizes an existing practice and places a serious limit on it. Its second husband’s death does not make return to the first husband permissible.
The KJV’s wording in Deuteronomy 24:1, “then let him write her a bill of divorcement,” can sound like an instruction to divorce. Yet the full case culminates in the prohibition in verse 4; it is not a command that husbands end their marriages. In Matthew 19:7–8, the Pharisees speak of what Moses commanded, and Jesus answers in terms of what Moses permitted because of hard hearts. His distinction matters: legal provision for broken relationships is different from the Creator’s purpose for the relationship.
The question in Matthew 19:3 asks whether a man may dismiss his wife for every cause. Jesus answers first from creation, then explains Moses’ permission, and finally gives his judgment about divorce and another marriage in verse 9. Mark 10:2–9 follows the same movement from Moses to the beginning. Jesus calls hearers to receive marriage as God’s joining and live accordingly. A certificate by itself cannot establish that a person’s treatment of a spouse is faithful before God.
Further study: William A. Heth
Take Jesus’ words about fidelity and remarriage seriously
Faithfulness includes your desires and intentions. Matthew 5:27–30 moves from the command against adultery to the deliberate lustful look, then uses the severe images of removing an offending eye or hand to demand decisive action against sin. The aim is purity of heart and conduct; bodily injury cannot cleanse the heart Jesus has just addressed. The teaching on divorce follows in verses 31–32, within this searching account of fidelity.
In Matthew 5:31–32, Jesus contrasts the giving of a divorce certificate with the consequences of sending a wife away. Except for the stated cause of fornication, the husband makes her commit adultery; the man who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery. A common explanation is that the dismissed wife enters another marriage while the first union still has a claim upon her. On that reading, Jesus holds the dismissing husband responsible for placing her in that situation. The statement does not say that merely being abandoned is itself an adulterous act by the abandoned person.
Mark 10:10–12 makes the responsibility of both spouses plain. In private instruction to the disciples, Jesus says that a man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and that a woman who divorces her husband and marries another commits adultery. The words give the wife a claim to her husband’s faithfulness as surely as he has a claim to hers. This teaching addresses the combined actions of divorce and another marriage, not only a husband’s outward observance of a legal procedure.
Luke 16:14–18 places Jesus’ saying after his rebuke of people who justify themselves before others while God knows their hearts. Verse 17 affirms the seriousness of the law; verse 18 names remarriage after divorce, including marriage to a dismissed wife, as adultery. Luke and Mark give no exception clause here. Their unqualified warnings must be heard alongside Matthew’s actual exception wording, with neither set of passages removed. Together they require much more than assuming that every legally completed divorce makes another marriage right.
Further study: Gordon Wenham
Understand the exception Matthew records
Matthew 19:9 includes “except it be for fornication”; Matthew 5:32 says “saving for the cause of fornication”. The Greek word behind fornication is porneia, a term for sexual immorality whose precise application depends on the context. It should not be restricted to sex before marriage merely because that is how an English reader understands fornication. Here Jesus is discussing a husband, a wife, and faithfulness within marriage, which gives substantial support to understanding sexual unfaithfulness as the cause in view.
Christians differ about how this qualification affects remarriage. One substantial reading takes the exception with the whole sequence in Matthew 19:9: divorce for sexual unfaithfulness followed by another marriage is excluded from the condemnation. It reads the qualification as governing a single sentence that contains both actions. On this understanding, the wronged spouse may be free to remarry after a justified divorce. Permission would still not be a command to divorce; the text does not order a husband to end the marriage.
Another substantial reading permits separation or divorce for sexual unfaithfulness but understands the marriage bond to continue while both spouses live. It reads Matthew alongside Mark 10:11–12 and Luke 16:18 and takes the exception to qualify the divorce, without granting a new marriage. In Matthew 5:32, it also reasons that a husband who dismisses an already unfaithful wife has not caused her prior adultery. The central question is therefore whether Matthew’s qualification permits another marriage or removes blame for the divorce alone.
Two narrower readings understand the exception as addressing a union that is not an ordinary lawful marriage: sexual unfaithfulness during betrothal, or a prohibited relationship such as incest. Matthew 1:18–25 shows Joseph contemplating putting Mary away during betrothal; Leviticus 18:6–18 and 1 Corinthians 5:1 supply actual examples of forbidden kinship relations. Those are meaningful comparisons. Matthew 19:3–9, however, does not expressly name betrothal or forbidden kinship, so restricting its exception to either requires an additional interpretive argument.
The difference affects serious decisions and deserves honest attention. The passages clearly establish the goodness of marriage, the wrong of sexual betrayal, and the gravity of dismissing a spouse in order to marry another. The exact permission conveyed by Matthew’s exception is disputed. A faithful decision about another marriage should work through the evidence for that permission, including the Gospel parallels, instead of treating a favored definition of one word as a complete answer.
Further study: William A. Heth · Gordon Wenham · John Piper · NABRE translators and editors; USCCB
Give faithful care within the marriage you have
Paul begins his answer to the Corinthians by affirming responsibilities already owed to a spouse. In 1 Corinthians 7:1–5, husband and wife are to give one another marital intimacy; each has a corresponding claim on the other. A temporary period of abstinence for fasting and prayer is to be by agreement, followed by coming together again. His instruction requires mutual care. Seeking spiritual devotion does not make unilateral neglect of one’s spouse holy.
In 1 Corinthians 7:10–11, Paul gives the married the Lord’s command: the wife is not to depart, and the husband is not to put away his wife. If she does depart, she is to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. These are explicit alternatives for the situation he addresses. The parallel command to the husband places him under the same duty to preserve the union. Because verses 12–16 turn to marriages with an unbeliever, verses 10–11 are naturally understood as addressing married believers.
The departure Paul discusses can be an actual ending of married life, not simply a short period spent in another place. The separated wife is called unmarried in 1 Corinthians 7:11, yet reconciliation remains an obligation to consider rather than freedom to form any new union. Evidence from ancient marriage documents shows why separation and divorce cannot always be treated as two neatly separate legal categories in this chapter. Paul’s stated directions, rather than a modern label alone, tell the reader what follows.
Paul then addresses a believer whose spouse does not share the faith. In 1 Corinthians 7:12–13, if the unbelieving spouse is willing to live together, the believer must not end the marriage. His distinction between the Lord’s command in verse 10 and his own instruction in verse 12 identifies whether he is drawing on Jesus’ marriage teaching or addressing this further circumstance. It does not invite readers to dismiss the apostolic instruction as optional. Paul places his directions within the life God has assigned in verse 17 and affirms the Spirit’s presence in his judgment in verse 40.
First Corinthians 7:14 explains why the marriage may continue: the unbelieving spouse is sanctified in relation to the believer, and the children are holy. Paul does not treat this household as a source of defilement that must be dissolved. He still calls the spouse unbelieving, and verse 16 treats the spouse’s salvation as something not known in advance. Household holiness therefore does not mean automatic salvation. First Peter 3:1–7 likewise gives wives with disobedient husbands a path of faithful conduct and then requires husbands to honor their wives.
Ezra 9:1–15 and 10:1–17 describe Israel’s returned community confronting marriages connected to the peoples’ abominations and its covenant obligations. Deuteronomy 7:1–6 explains the danger of turning Israel toward other gods. These passages deserve their own historical and covenant setting. They cannot cancel Paul’s direct instruction in 1 Corinthians 7:12–13 that a Christian should preserve an existing marriage with an unbeliever who is willing to remain.
Further study: David Instone-Brewer · David Instone-Brewer
Receive Paul’s direction when an unbelieving spouse leaves
When an unbelieving spouse departs, 1 Corinthians 7:15 says to let that person depart. Paul addresses both a brother and a sister, says they are “not under bondage in such cases”, and recalls God’s call to peace. The believer is not commanded to compel an unwilling spouse to stay. This recognizes the limit of one person’s control over a marriage and distinguishes being deserted from choosing to discard a willing spouse.
One reading understands not under bondage as release from the marriage bond, including freedom to remarry. It points to the contrast between remaining unmarried in 1 Corinthians 7:11 and freedom in verse 15, and to the freedom associated with divorce in the ancient setting. Another understands it as freedom from having to prevent the departure, while the restriction on another marriage remains. It points to verses 10–11 and to the fact that verse 15 does not expressly say that the believer may marry someone else.
The Greek wording helps define the question without answering it by itself. In 1 Corinthians 7:15, Paul uses a verb meaning to enslave; in verse 39 and Romans 7:2 he uses a different verb meaning to bind. That difference does not prove that release in verse 15 has nothing to do with the marriage bond, nor does the English word bound prove that it grants exactly the permission found in verse 39. The meaning must be tested through Paul’s whole argument and the particular situation he names.
First Corinthians 7:16 asks whether the wife or husband knows that the other will be saved. Some read this as encouragement to continue a willing marriage in hope; others emphasize uncertainty as a reason not to fight an unavoidable departure. In either case, conversion is not something the believer can guarantee. Continue in faithfulness to Christ, receive support from his people, and recognize that the other person answers for his or her own response.
Paul specifically names departure by an unbeliever. Some Christians extend this to a spouse who persistently repudiates the marriage or drives the other spouse away through dangerous conduct, reasoning that such behavior is itself abandonment. Others limit the remarriage inference to the departure Paul expressly names, while recognizing that other serious wrongs may require protective separation. Applying the passage to a professing believer’s persistent desertion likewise requires an argument about that person’s conduct and standing. These further judgments should be explained from Scripture, with the distinction between protection and freedom to remarry kept clear.
Further study: Biblical Studies Press · David Instone-Brewer · John Piper
Pursue reconciliation with truth and loving accountability
Where reconciliation is possible and faithful, work toward it with the concern Paul names in 1 Corinthians 7:11. Ephesians 4:25–5:2 explains the conduct that can serve such restoration: truthful speech, an end to destructive behavior, useful words, kindness, and forgiveness grounded in God’s forgiveness through Christ. The passage gives wrongdoing a practical answer: the thief stops stealing and begins working and sharing. In marriage too, repentance should take recognizable form in changed conduct.
The call to peace has a real qualification. Romans 12:18 says, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” A person can pursue peace faithfully without being able to secure another person’s cooperation. The following verses forbid personal vengeance and call for doing good. They do not make someone responsible for producing another person’s repentance or for pretending that continuing harm has stopped.
When violence or serious danger is present, seek protection and truthful help. Colossians 3:19 requires a husband’s love and rejects bitterness toward his wife; Romans 13:3–4 describes public authority as serving the good by confronting wrongdoing. Seeking safety and asking appropriate authorities to address wrong are consistent with that concern for good. They do not require a prior decision about permission to remarry. Reconciliation must address the conduct that broke peace, and protection must not depend on a promise that the person causing harm will change.
Let the church’s help combine gentleness with responsibility. Galatians 6:1–5 calls believers to restore someone caught in wrongdoing with meekness, examine themselves, and bear one another’s burdens while recognizing personal accountability. First Timothy 5:3–8, 16 also treats care for dependent relatives as a serious responsibility. The uncertainty or ending of a marital relationship does not make the needs of dependent family members unimportant. Seek counsel that attends to the people involved and the truth of what has happened.
Further study: William A. Heth
Distinguish a spouse’s death from separation or divorce
A spouse’s death receives an express answer. In 1 Corinthians 7:39, a wife is bound while her husband lives, but after his death she is free to marry whom she wishes, only in the Lord. Paul gives her a real choice and places it within allegiance to Christ, naturally understood as marriage to a fellow believer. Verse 40 commends remaining unmarried without withdrawing that permission. Applying death’s release to a surviving husband follows from the corresponding obligations of husband and wife in verses 2–5; the immediate wording of verse 39 addresses a widow.
Romans 7:1–6 makes a related argument for a different purpose. Paul explains that law has authority over a person while that person lives. He uses a married woman as an example: another union while her husband lives is adultery, but his death releases her from that marriage’s binding law. He then applies the principle of release through death to believers who have died to the law through Christ and now belong to the risen Christ, to bear fruit for God. The marriage example is a real premise; the passage’s main subject is the believer’s relationship to the law. Divorce is not named as a form of death.
Paul’s other counsel helps a person use freedom wisely. First Corinthians 7:25–35 speaks of the present distress, the passing form of this world, and the opportunities of unmarried devotion, while acknowledging the real responsibilities of pleasing a spouse. In verses 29–31, even marriage is placed beneath the greater claim of God’s coming purposes; those words do not cancel the mutual care already commanded in verses 2–5. Verses 27–28 tell a person bound to a wife not to seek release, then say that marrying is not sin. Because the section begins with virgins and the chapter has already addressed separated spouses, these verses cannot simply be made an unrestricted permission for every divorced person to remarry. The precise meaning of being loosed here needs consideration within that setting.
Remaining unmarried can be faithful, and a permitted marriage can also be faithful. Jesus’ words about eunuchs for the kingdom in Matthew 19:10–12 honor foregoing marriage for the kingdom’s sake. First Timothy 5:11–15, within the care of widows, urges younger widows toward marriage and household responsibilities in response to the idleness and unfaithfulness described. The different directions retain their different audiences and reasons. They do not make remarriage compulsory for every bereaved person or treat sexual desire as permission to disregard an existing obligation.
Marriage’s earthly seriousness belongs within resurrection hope. In Matthew 22:23–33, the Sadducees challenge resurrection by describing successive marriages after brothers’ deaths. Jesus answers that people do not marry in the resurrection and that God is the God of the living. His answer defends resurrection and corrects their assumption about the life to come. It does not turn an earthly divorce into the release that Paul expressly connects with death.
Further study: William A. Heth
Bring your history into the light and seek faithful obedience
Receive God’s call to truth with the hope of his mercy. First Corinthians 6:9–11 names adultery and other serious sins, then tells believers that some of them had lived in those ways but have been washed, sanctified, and justified in Christ by God’s Spirit. First John 1:5–2:2 calls for walking in the light and confessing sin, and identifies Jesus Christ as the advocate for sinners. His forgiveness gives a real beginning for obedient life. A painful history is not a reason to hide from him.
Take responsibility for your own wrongdoing without assuming responsibility for everything another person has done. Confession should be truthful, and repentance should turn toward the conduct God commands. First Corinthians 7:17–24 teaches believers to live with God in the circumstances of their calling, keeping his commandments. Conversion does not require discarding an existing spouse, and it cannot simply be assumed to erase every obligation arising from an earlier marriage.
An existing remarriage can raise a further question: what does repentance require now? Some Christians understand a continuing second sexual union, while a valid first bond remains, as continuing adultery. Others distinguish the sin of entering an unjustified remarriage from the responsibilities now created by that union and counsel fidelity within it. These conclusions differ even among people who reject remarriage after divorce. Mark 6:17–18 records John telling Herod that his marriage to his brother’s wife was unlawful; the existence of a later union cannot by itself settle its moral standing. Deuteronomy 24:1–4 also prevents assuming that return to the first spouse after an intervening marriage is always the remedy.
Bring the actual history, the relevant passages, and the reasons for a proposed next step to mature believers responsible for pastoral care. Galatians 6:1–5 calls that help to be gentle, truthful, and directed toward restoration. A guide cannot establish which disputed ruling applies merely from the words separated, divorced, or remarried. The faithful work before you is concrete: tell the truth, turn from wrongdoing, care for those entrusted to you, and seek a course of obedience that takes both Christ’s commands and his mercy seriously.
Further study: John Piper · Catholic Church
Read the passages
Scripture in context
36 contextual selections for this subject, including the passages cited above and further related reading. Every selected range is reproduced in full from the KJV. Context notes identify the setting and kind of evidence.
CREATION 2 selections
Genesis 1:26–31 KJV · In this guide
Context: Creation of humanity and God’s blessing within the completed creation account.
1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 2:18–25 KJV · In this guide
Context: The corresponding companion, recognition, marriage union and unashamed life.
2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
COVENANT_LAW 4 selections
Exodus 21:7–11 KJV
Context: Case law about a daughter sold as a servant, betrothal, maintenance obligations and release.
21:7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.
21:8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
21:9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
21:10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
21:11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.
Leviticus 18:1–18 KJV · In this guide
Context: Israel’s distinctive holiness introduces the prohibited close-kin sexual relations.
18:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
18:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
18:3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
18:4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
18:6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.
18:7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
18:8 The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.
18:9 The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
18:10 The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.
18:11 The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
18:12 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.
18:13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman.
18:14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.
18:15 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
18:16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.
18:17 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.
18:18 Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.
Deuteronomy 7:1–6 KJV · In this guide
Context: Israel’s entry into the land and separation from the named peoples because of other gods.
7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
7:3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
7:4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.
7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy 24:1–4 KJV · In this guide
Context: Israelite case law follows a first dismissal, a second marriage and its ending to prohibit return to the first husband.
24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
24:2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
24:3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
24:4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
HISTORICAL_NARRATIVE 2 selections
Ezra 9:1–15 KJV · In this guide
Context: Reports of intermarriage and abominations prompt Ezra’s confession in the returned remnant.
9:1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
9:2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.
9:3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.
9:4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
9:5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,
9:6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
9:7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
9:8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
9:9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
9:10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
9:11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
9:12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
9:13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;
9:14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?
9:15 O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.
Ezra 10:1–17 KJV · In this guide
Context: The assembly’s covenant, Ezra’s summons and the examination of the marriages.
10:1 Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.
10:2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
10:3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
10:4 Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.
10:5 Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.
10:6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.
10:7 And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;
10:8 And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.
10:9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.
10:10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
10:11 Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.
10:12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.
10:13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
10:14 Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.
10:15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.
10:16 And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
10:17 And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.
PROPHETIC_METAPHOR 1 selections
Jeremiah 3:1–25 KJV
Context: The prophet applies marital betrayal, divorce and return language to Israel and Judah’s idolatry.
3:1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
3:2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
3:4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
3:5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
3:6 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
3:7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
3:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
3:11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
3:19 But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
3:20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
3:21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
3:23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
3:24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
3:25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
PROPHETIC_REBUKE 1 selections
Malachi 2:10–16 KJV · In this guide
Context: A rebuke of covenant treachery moves from Judah’s unfaithfulness to betrayal of the wife of one’s youth.
2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
2:11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
2:12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
2:13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
2:14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
2:15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
2:16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
GOSPEL_NARRATIVE 2 selections
Matthew 1:18–25 KJV · In this guide
Context: The origin of Jesus’ birth, Joseph’s contemplated dismissal, the angelic explanation and his obedience.
1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
1:24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
1:25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
Mark 6:14–29 KJV · In this guide
Context: Herod hears of Jesus, and Mark recounts John’s rebuke concerning Herodias and the events leading to John’s death.
6:14 And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
6:15 Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.
6:16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
6:17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her.
6:18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.
6:19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not:
6:20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
6:21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
6:22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.
6:23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
6:24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
6:25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
6:26 And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.
6:27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
6:28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.
6:29 And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.
GOSPEL_TEACHING 4 selections
Matthew 5:27–32 KJV · In this guide
Context: The Sermon’s teaching on adultery moves from intention to decisive resistance to sin and then to divorce.
5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Matthew 15:10–20 KJV · In this guide
Context: Jesus explains defilement from the heart to the crowd and disciples.
15:10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
15:12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
15:13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
15:15 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
15:16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
15:17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
15:20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Matthew 19:1–12 KJV · In this guide
Context: Jesus’ journey, the test about divorce, creation, Moses, the exception, and the disciples’ response about celibacy.
19:1 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan;
19:2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.
19:3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
19:8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
19:10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
19:11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
19:12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Matthew 22:23–33 KJV · In this guide
Context: The Sadducees’ successive-widowhood question and Jesus’ defense of resurrection.
22:23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,
22:24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
22:25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:
22:26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.
22:27 And last of all the woman died also.
22:28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
22:33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.
GOSPEL_PARALLEL 2 selections
Mark 10:1–12 KJV · In this guide
Context: Public controversy about Moses and creation followed by private instruction to disciples.
10:1 And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judæa by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.
10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
10:3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
10:4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
10:8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
10:9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
10:10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.
10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
10:12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Luke 16:14–18 KJV · In this guide
Context: Jesus confronts self-justification and affirms the law before the concise divorce saying.
16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
16:18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
APOSTOLIC_COUNCIL 1 selections
Acts 15:13–29 KJV
Context: James’ judgment and the council’s letter concerning Gentile believers.
15:13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
15:14 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
15:15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
15:16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
15:17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
15:19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
15:22 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
15:23 And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
15:24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
15:25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
15:26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
15:29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
APOSTOLIC_ANALOGY 1 selections
Romans 7:1–6 KJV · In this guide
Context: The marriage-law illustration serves the argument about dying to the law through Christ.
7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
APOSTOLIC_EXHORTATION 6 selections
Romans 12:9–21 KJV · In this guide
Context: Sincere love and peace, qualified by what depends on the believer, with rejection of personal vengeance.
12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
12:13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
1 Corinthians 6:9–20 KJV · In this guide
Context: Warning and cleansing in verses 9–11 lead into the body’s belonging to Christ in verses 12–20.
6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
6:13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
6:14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Galatians 6:1–5 KJV · In this guide
Context: Gentle restoration, mutual burden-bearing, self-examination and personal accountability.
6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
6:4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
6:5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
Ephesians 4:25–5:2 KJV · In this guide
Context: Putting on the new life expressed in truth, constructive speech, practical restitution, forgiveness and love.
4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Hebrews 13:1–6 KJV · In this guide
Context: Closing exhortations connect brotherly love, hospitality, care, marriage, contentment and trust.
13:1 Let brotherly love continue.
13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
13:3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
1 John 1:5–2:2 KJV · In this guide
Context: Walking in the light, admitting sin, cleansing and Christ’s advocacy.
1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
APOSTOLIC_INSTRUCTION 4 selections
Romans 13:1–7 KJV · In this guide
Context: Public authorities are described as servants for good who address wrongdoing, with corresponding civic duties.
13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
13:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
13:3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
13:4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
13:5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
13:6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
1 Corinthians 7:1–16 KJV · In this guide
Context: Response to the Corinthians’ letter: mutual marital duties, different gifts, married believers and mixed marriages.
7:1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
7:2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
7:3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
7:4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
7:6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
7:7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
7:10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
7:11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
7:12 But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
7:13 And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
7:15 But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
7:16 For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
1 Corinthians 7:17–24 KJV · In this guide
Context: Paul’s principle of living with God in one’s calling, illustrated by circumcision and slavery.
7:17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.
7:18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.
7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
7:20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
7:21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.
7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
1 Corinthians 7:39–40 KJV · In this guide
Context: A wife’s bond during her husband’s life, freedom after his death, and Paul’s counsel.
APOSTOLIC_CORRECTION 1 selections
1 Corinthians 5:1–13 KJV · In this guide
Context: An illicit relationship with a father’s wife leads to instruction about church discipline and insiders/outsiders.
5:1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
5:2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
5:3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
5:13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
APOSTOLIC_COUNSEL 1 selections
1 Corinthians 7:25–38 KJV · In this guide
Context: Counsel concerning virgins, present distress, marriage, and undistracted devotion; includes disputed betrothal/guardian wording.
7:25 Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
7:27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
7:28 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.
7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
7:30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
7:32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
7:33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
7:34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
7:35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
7:36 But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
7:37 Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.
7:38 So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.
HOUSEHOLD_INSTRUCTION 3 selections
Ephesians 5:21–33 KJV · In this guide
Context: Household instructions under reverence for Christ, culminating in the one-flesh text and Christ/church comparison.
5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Colossians 3:12–19 KJV · In this guide
Context: Christian compassion, forgiveness and peace give the setting for directions to wives and husbands.
3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
3:17 And what soever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
3:18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
1 Peter 3:1–7 KJV · In this guide
Context: Wives’ faithful conduct, including where husbands disobey the word, followed by husbands’ understanding and honor.
3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
3:2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
3:5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
3:6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
PASTORAL_INSTRUCTION 1 selections
1 Timothy 5:1–16 KJV · In this guide
Context: Family-like treatment, widow support and enrollment, the danger facing younger widows and household responsibilities.
5:1 Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;
5:2 The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.
5:3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.
5:4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.
5:5 Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
5:6 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.
5:7 And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless.
5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
5:10 Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.
5:11 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
5:12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.
5:13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
5:14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
5:15 For some are already turned aside after Satan.
5:16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
Go deeper
Sources & interpretation
The teaching starts with the cited Scripture. These consulted works inform wording, context, and interpretive questions. No qualified human review has been recorded for this guide.
What does Matthew’s exception permit, and what does porneia identify?
Matthew 19:9 places the qualification between divorcing and marrying another. Matthew 5:32 attaches it to the husband’s responsibility for the dismissed wife’s adultery. Neither Mark 10:11–12 nor Luke 16:18 includes it. Matthew 15:19 names adulteries and fornications together; that distinction alone does not establish that all uses of the latter exclude adultery.
- Heth defends permission for remarriage following justified divorce. The whole conditional sentence and the expected consequence of valid divorce support this; the unqualified parallels still require explanation.
- Wenham understands the exception as permitting separation alone. The parallel prohibitions and Matthew 5:32’s focus on causing adultery support this; it must explain why Matthew 19:9’s qualification does not affect the remarriage judgment.
- Piper’s betrothal reading appeals to Joseph in Matthew 1:18–25. That narrative does use marital language during betrothal, but it does not use porneia, and it explicitly declares Mary’s pregnancy to be from the Holy Ghost.
- The NABRE notes take the exception as prohibited kinship unions, comparing Leviticus 18:6–18, 1 Corinthians 5:1 and Acts 15:20, 29. These connections are real; the restriction to that precise kind of union is not stated in Matthew 19.
PROBABLE: sexual unfaithfulness within marriage is the most immediate contextual sense, without claiming the term means only adultery. UNCERTAIN: whether the exception also authorizes remarriage. The KJV includes a final remarriage warning in Matthew 19:9 that the inspected NET omits; the warning also occurs in Matthew 5:32 and Luke 16:18. This textual difference does not resolve the full debate.
Further study: William A. Heth · Gordon Wenham · John Piper · NABRE translators and editors; USCCB · Biblical Studies Press
Further examination: What does each interpretation explain well in Matthew’s own sentence, and what additional argument does it require when read with Mark, Luke, and Paul?
Does not under bondage include freedom to remarry?
First Corinthians 7:15 names a departing unbeliever and releases a brother or sister from bondage in those circumstances. It does not explicitly add marry whom you wish as 7:39 does. Verse 11 has already stated remaining unmarried or reconciliation for a separated wife.
- Release from the marital bond: the contrast with verse 11 and ordinary divorce consequences support permission for another marriage. Instone-Brewer appeals to freedom language in divorce documents.
- Release from preventing departure: the immediate command is let the unbeliever depart; this can relieve responsibility for preserving cohabitation without granting another marriage. The continuing-bond reading emphasizes verses 11 and 39.
- The verbs in verses 15 and 39 differ, but related words can overlap in application. Neither an English equivalence nor a different Greek root can settle the question independently of the argument.
VERY_STRONG: permit the unwilling unbeliever’s departure; the command applies to brother and sister. UNCERTAIN: the implied permission for a subsequent marriage. Ancient documents illuminate likely expectations, while Paul’s explicit restrictions also show that he can challenge those expectations.
Further study: Biblical Studies Press · David Instone-Brewer · John Piper
Further examination: Which obligation is removed in verse 15, and how does the proposed answer account for both verse 11 and the explicit widow permission in verse 39?
How far may departure language be applied to abandonment, neglect, or abuse?
First Corinthians 7:15 directly names an unbelieving spouse’s departure. Exodus 21:7–11 protects a female servant in a marriage/betrothal setting, preserving food, clothing and marital duty and providing release. Paul commands mutual marital care, but does not expressly cite Exodus 21 as divorce grounds.
- A narrower application limits the remarriage inference, if accepted, to the stated unbeliever’s abandonment. Other serious wrongs may require protection and separation without automatically establishing release to marry.
- A broader application treats severe, persistent repudiation of marital duties as abandonment, even when the harmed spouse must physically leave. The inference is that causing the departure can constitute desertion; the precise extension is not stated in verse 15.
- Instone-Brewer connects neglected obligations with Exodus 21, while explicitly reconstructing Paul’s unstated reasoning. The special servant-wife setting and the absence of an explicit New Testament extension remain substantial questions.
- First Corinthians 5 addresses discipline of a person called a brother who persists in grave sin. Treating an unrepentant professing believer as an outsider may inform a desertion argument, but the chapter itself does not pronounce the person’s spouse free to remarry.
STRONG: love, provision, truthful accountability and protection remain obligations; a victim’s safety must not wait on a remarriage ruling. PLAUSIBLE, not established as a universal rule: the extensions of desertion. Heth’s qualified-remarriage position itself does not equate every failure of marital duty with grounds for divorce.
Further study: David Instone-Brewer · William A. Heth
Further examination: What step moves from the text’s named case to the proposed additional case, and what evidence supports that step? Have safety, marital status and a future marriage been distinguished?
How do Moses, Malachi and prophetic marriage imagery fit together?
Deuteronomy 24:1–4 prohibits return after an intervening marriage. Malachi 2:14 names covenant betrayal, and 2:15–16 repeats the charge to faithfulness. Jeremiah 3:1–25 uses divorce, idolatry and return together; Ezra 9–10 concerns covenant restoration after exile. First Corinthians 6:16 also applies one-flesh language to intercourse with a prostitute, so the expression cannot be used by itself as a complete definition of a lawful marriage.
- The KJV presents God as hating putting away in Malachi 2:16. Another translation construes the man who hates and divorces as committing violence. The NET note describes a textual proposal behind its first-person rendering. Both readings must be interpreted within the rebuke of betrayal.
- Covenant language can emphasize enduring obligation even after betrayal; another argument emphasizes that a covenant can be violated and dissolved. Calling marriage a covenant by itself does not settle the meaning of every exception text.
- Prophetic marriage imagery reveals God’s judgment and mercy toward his people. Treating each image as a literal marriage procedure would flatten Jeremiah’s deliberate combination of divorce and renewed invitation.
- Ezra’s separation is sometimes proposed as a pattern for all religiously mixed marriages. Paul’s explicit command to preserve a willing mixed marriage prevents that direct transfer.
STRONG: these passages require covenant faithfulness, and Deuteronomy 24 prohibits return to the first spouse after an intervening marriage in its stated setting. Restoring the first union is therefore not a universal remedy. PROBABLE: the alternative wordings in Malachi retain the same central rebuke; its difficult wording should not bear a complete policy by itself. Malachi 2:15’s concern for godly offspring does not by itself require every marriage to produce children.
Further study: Biblical Studies Press · William A. Heth · Gordon Wenham
Further examination: What is law, prophetic accusation, metaphor, or historical action in each passage? What would be lost by treating them all as one kind of rule?
Who is free to marry in 1 Corinthians 7:27–28, and how does death differ?
The section beginning at 1 Corinthians 7:25 concerns virgins and the present distress. Verses 27–28 use bound/loosed language and permit marriage. Verses 36–38 are read either as a father/guardian’s decision or an engaged man’s decision. Verse 39 expressly names the husband’s death as the occasion of freedom.
- Betrothal reading: bound and loosed refer to an engagement or its absence. This fits the virgins setting but needs to explain why the same binding vocabulary can elsewhere describe an existing marriage.
- Marital-status reading: Paul addresses married and presently unmarried people more generally, potentially including people formerly married. Even so, a general permission must be read with the restrictions in verses 10–16.
- An unrestricted divorce-remarriage reading treats loosed as divorced and verse 28 as universal authorization. This conflicts with the explicit remain-unmarried direction unless the different recipients and qualifications are accounted for.
- Matthew 19:10–12 can be read as voluntary kingdom celibacy or as encouragement to accept the continuing obligation after separation. In either reading, difficulty does not cancel the duty to hear Jesus carefully.
VERY_STRONG: death’s release and widow remarriage in the Lord are explicit. STRONG: Romans 7 uses marriage to explain the believer’s relationship to the law and Christ. UNCERTAIN: the full range of loosed in 7:27; it cannot erase the chapter’s other instructions. Divorce and death receive distinct treatment.
Further study: William A. Heth · David Instone-Brewer · John Piper · NABRE translators and editors; USCCB
Further examination: Who is being addressed at each transition in the chapter, and which permission is expressly stated rather than inferred?
What does repentance require within an existing remarriage?
Jesus calls the remarriage he describes adultery. The texts do not give a comprehensive case-by-case direction for every later household. Deuteronomy 24:1–4 forbids one proposed remedy, return after an intervening marriage, in its stated setting. Forgiveness and obedience belong together in 1 John 1:5–2:2. Mark 6:17–18 expressly calls Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife unlawful, so an appeal to later vows alone cannot validate every union.
- The continuing-bond position in Catechism paragraphs 1649–1651 rejects a second union while a first valid marriage remains and calls for continence. This is the Catholic Church’s doctrinal application; other Christian interpretations reach different conclusions about repentance within an existing second union.
- Piper’s concluding application distinguishes entering a wrongful second marriage from obligations within it and opposes breaking that union. His position illustrates that opposing future remarriage and deciding what repentance now requires are distinct questions.
- Where a tradition recognizes a first divorce as releasing the bond on biblical grounds, it may regard the later marriage as legitimate from its beginning. That verdict depends on the underlying exception argument and the actual history.
STRONG: confess actual sin, receive Christ’s cleansing, stop wrongdoing and seek accountable care. UNCERTAIN: a single rule for every existing second union. The passages do not establish automatic approval of all later unions or a general command to end them. Assessing a particular union requires attention to both the relevant biblical arguments and the actual history.
Further study: John Piper · Catholic Church
Further examination: Is the conclusion about a proposed future marriage or an existing union, and which biblical and factual premises justify the next step?
- NET Bible, Malachi 2:16: textual, study and translator notes
Biblical Studies Press · NET Bible, classic online edition
Identifies the disputed subject of the hatred clause and the treachery context.
What was reviewed
All notes attached to 2:16, numbered 1–2, with displayed translations. Accessed 2026-09-26.
The suggested textual restoration is a proposal; the guide does not silently replace the pinned KJV. Shields’s article cited there was not separately read.
- Jesus on Divorce: How My Mind Has Changed
William A. Heth · The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 6/1, pp. 4–29 · 2002
Defends qualified remarriage; cautions against making 1 Corinthians 7:27–28 universal permission.
What was reviewed
Introduction and comparison chart pp. 4–12; argument and application pp. 17–22, read through PDF text extraction. The two columns were checked by their repeated issue headings; the attempted screenshot check did not provide dependable visual verification. Accessed 2026-09-26 · Read in part.
Selected pages, not the entire article or books it cites. Historical and covenant reconstructions remain arguments; pastoral extensions are not automatically adopted.
- Does the New Testament Approve Remarriage after Divorce?
Gordon Wenham · The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 6/1, pp. 30–45 · 2002
Argues that Matthew permits separation but not remarriage; tests the reading through Gospel context.
What was reviewed
Printed pp. 31–43: New Testament context, Matthew, Judaism, and Final Reflections; opening and remaining endnotes not fully read. Accessed 2026-09-26 · Read in part.
His broad patristic claims are not independently verified here. His closing distinction between biblical judgment and tolerated practice is retained as his own.
- Divorce & Remarriage: A Position Paper
John Piper · Desiring God · 1986-07-21
Represents betrothal and continuing-bond readings, while distinguishing how to treat an existing second marriage.
What was reviewed
Introductory status note; reasons 1–2 and 7.2–11.2; Conclusions and Applications. Accessed 2026-09-26 · Read in part.
Personal position paper, expressly not the church’s official policy. Isaksson and other books quoted within it were not independently read.
- Matthew 5 and 19: translation and notes
NABRE translators and editors; USCCB · United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Sets out the prohibited-kinship interpretation of the exception and its Leviticus/Acts connections.
What was reviewed
Matthew 5 notes on 5:27–32, particularly 5:31–32; Matthew 19 text 19:1–12 and notes 19:3–12 at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/19. Accessed 2026-09-26 · Read in part.
A particular editorial interpretation. Its proposed Matthean community setting and source-critical reconstruction are not established by the Gospel itself.
- 1 Corinthians 7 in the Light of the Graeco-Roman Marriage and Divorce Papyri
David Instone-Brewer · Tyndale Bulletin 52/1 · 2001
Documents why separation could itself function as divorce in the ancient setting.
What was reviewed
Printed pp. 102–104: documentary corpus, contract structure, AD 66 contract and discussion of separation. Accessed 2026-09-26 · Read in part.
Papyri are accessed through his editions/translations; original manuscripts and all regional practices were not independently checked. The article’s famine reconstruction is not used.
- 1 Corinthians 7 in the Light of the Jewish Greek and Aramaic Marriage and Divorce Papyri
David Instone-Brewer · Tyndale Bulletin 52/2, pp. 225–243 · 2001
Argues from documentary release language for remarriage after abandonment and relates neglected marital duties to Exodus 21.
What was reviewed
Printed pp. 236–243 fully inspected; p. 232 partially inspected. Includes the AD 72 divorce deed, freedom language, widowhood, and conclusion. Accessed 2026-09-26 · Read in part.
The proposed unspoken rationale for Paul on p. 242 is expressly conjectural. Later rabbinic evidence cannot simply establish every first-century assumption.
- NET Bible, 1 Corinthians 7:15: study note 1
Biblical Studies Press · NET Bible, classic online edition
Clearly identifies both release readings and the different Greek verb in 7:39.
What was reviewed
Complete study note 1 and displayed Greek/English wording. Accessed 2026-09-26.
A compact comparison, not a resolution of the disagreement or independent lexical corpus study.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church: The Goods and Requirements of Conjugal Love
Catholic Church · Holy See
A primary confessional example distinguishing physical separation from a new union while the first valid marriage persists.
What was reviewed
Paragraphs 1649–1651, with 1643–1648 read for immediate setting. Accessed 2026-09-26 · Read in part.
A defined Catholic doctrinal position, not an ecumenical consensus or full treatment of current canon law and pastoral practice.
- NET Bible, Matthew 19:9: translation comparison
Biblical Studies Press · NET Bible, classic online edition
Verifies that the displayed NET lacks the KJV’s closing remarriage warning in this verse.
What was reviewed
Displayed KJV, NET and Greek verse; the Notes field supplied no substantive note. Accessed 2026-09-26.
No manuscript collation or textual-critical explanation is claimed from this page.