Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 15:2 (Fall 2024)
Article: Biblical Grounds For Divorce: 1 Corinthians 7:10–16 In The Church’s Ethics Of Divorce And Remarriage
Author: Daniel Baker

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Biblical Grounds For Divorce: 1 Corinthians 7:10–16 In The Church’s Ethics Of Divorce And Remarriage

Daniel Baker

Cornerstone Fellowship Church, Apex, NC

Abstract: With marriage, divorce, and remarriage, the church has the burden of being neither stricter nor more lenient than the Bible itself. First Corinthians 7:10–16 speaks to these issues in unique and important ways, addressing three types of marriages and how each is to be handled. Christians in an unbiblical divorce are to “remain unmarried or else be reconciled” (7:10–11). Christians in a mixed marriage of a believer and unbeliever are encouraged about the spiritual impact they can have (7:12–14, 16). Christians divorced by an unbelieving spouse are freed to remarry (7:15), “only in the Lord” (7:39). This third category connects to recent scholarship on grounds for divorce beyond adultery. Paul does create a narrow and circumscribed path to divorce for Christians here provided his twofold criteria is met: one of the spouses is an unbeliever (unbeliever, apostate, or excommunicated) and the unbeliever divorces the spouse.

Key Words: 1 Corinthians 7, Church Discipline, Divorce, Marital Separation, Marriage, New Testament Ethics

Most ecclesiastical traditions and Christian theologians believe adultery gives grounds for divorce and remarriage to another person (Matt 5:31–32; 19:9; Rom 7:2–3).1 But are there any other grounds that would enable a spouse lawfully (i.e., biblically) to divorce and marry another? Recently, John Frame, Andrew Naselli, and Wayne Grudem have argued in the affirmative.2 They did so in a way somewhat similar to what older

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theologians called creating “intolerable conditions” for a spouse, “conditions” which free the innocent spouse to divorce and remarry another.3 When the discussion turns to these other grounds for divorce, 1 Corinthians 7:10–16 becomes central to the conversation. Such a move is correct since this paragraph adds a unique an...