Unbelievers & God's Marriage Law

Two days ago, I wrote an article on The Bondage of 1 Corinthians 7:15. Some have the belief that if you're married to a non-Christian and they divorce you, that you're free to remarry. After all, Paul says that when the unbeliever leaves, you're "not under bondage" anymore. I do not hold to that belief. It is my understanding that marriage is for life (Mt. 19:6; 1 Cor. 7:10), and that the only exception is divorce for the cause of adultery (Mt. 5:32; 19:9). If one is divorced for any other reason and then remarries, the result, according to our Lord, is an adulterous relationship. There is no second exception found in 1 Corinthians 7:15. A person does not have the right to remarry on the grounds that their unbelieving spouse left them.

As is often the case, when I study a subject, or write an article on a difficult topic such as this, I often think of other points later on that I wish I had thought of before. After I wrote the aforementioned article two days ago, I started thinking about how this false interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:15 assumes that unbelievers are not bound to God's marriage law. In other words, if Paul is saying that you are free to remarry if and when your unbelieving spouse leaves you, then is he not saying that God's marriage laws do not hold the same power over unbelievers, and that somehow a marriage where at least one spouse is an unbeliever is not viewed as stringently by God. There are, of course, those who do take this position, but I would contend that those who falsely interpret 1 Corinthians 7:15 (to mean that a Christian can remarry if their non-Christian spouse divorces them) must necessarily take this position as well.

Now, much could probably be said about this issue, but the other day, as these thoughts and realizations came to me, I immediately thought of King Herod.

"For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her. Because John had said to Jerod, 'It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife" (Mark 6:17-18).

And then just a few minutes ago, I thought of the woman at the well in John 4:

"Jesus said to her, 'Go, call your husband, and come here.' The woman answered and said, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband" (John 4:16-18).

What these two passages prove is that unbelievers ARE bound to God's marriage laws. Herod was a wicked man, and yet John told him that he had no right to his brother's wife. The woman at the well was a Samaritan, and the Samaritans were not obedient to God, and yet Jesus criticized her (albeit subtly) for her marriage situation. Unbelievers and apostates, even when they are ignorant of God's marriage laws, are still bound to them. Remember the words of Paul in Acts 17:30: "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent."

So if unbelievers and believers are equally bound to God's marriage laws, then a marriage is just as legitimate and just as complete whether the two partners are both Christians, both unbelievers...or one of each. If this is the case - and I believe it is - then I think this will help us to properly interpret 1 Corinthians 7:15. Paul cannot be saying that if your unbelieving spouse leaves or divorces you that you are free to remarry. As I pointed out in that last article, Paul is simply saying that you are not obligated to fulfill your marriage responsibilities anymore, and that the burden of "sanctifying them" is no longer yours. In such a situation, you must remain unmarried or be reconciled to your spouse.