Sermon Video: Divorce a non-Christian spouse? 1 Corinthians 7:12-16

As Paul continues to answer questions from the church in Corinth regarding sex and marriage, a new wrinkle in the long-established teaching from the Scriptures about divorce is addressed: Should a believer divorce his/her non-Christian spouse?  This is not a question answered by Jesus in the Gospels where he taught against divorce with a very limited exception, but now that the Gospel has gone out beyond the Jewish community to include many formerly pagan gentiles, there are a number of new believers whose spouse has not accepted the Gospel.  In his next letter to Corinth, Paul will warn against entering into are marriage with an unbeliever lest you be "unequally yoked", but what should a Christian do about an already existing marriage?

The answer from Paul is unequivocal, if possible, the marriage should be preserved.  If the faith of the one who has become a Christian, whether it be husband or wife, is to be the cause of a split/divorce, it should not come from the Christian him/herself.  It may be that the non-believers wants to leave, that their rejection of God's work in their spouse is forceful enough to split the marriage, but that is the choice of the non-believers.  The Christian should stay, if possible, but why?  Paul outlines two important potential benefits of staying: the godly influence upon both the non-believing spouse, and the godly influence upon the children.  For the sake of the soul of the non-believing spouse, and for the sake of the religious upbringing of the children, remaining in the marriage is to be the default for Christians.  The hope, in the end, is that both spouse and children will also come to know the grace of God that is in Christ Jesus.

To watch the video, click on the link below: