To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband.
I remark on occasion that it is a shame that the churches in America have lost sight of the covenant. As we see in these verses, the church in Corinth got an amazing head start on us, a mere 20 years or so after the New Covenant was established by Jesus at the Last Supper and on the cross. The mostly Gentile church had possibly never learned this simple truth from Malachi, that God hates divorce.
In our home, the “D” word was never allowed to be mentioned, even in jest because God hates divorce and so do we and we did not want our kids to see it as normal. Jesus spoke about it and gave one reason for it, the breaking of the covenant through adultery. Adultery is preemptive divorce because it destroys the covenant. Therefore, Paul says, stay in the covenant to preserve the potential that the unbelieving spouse would be saved through exposure to the gospel. That is the ultimate wish for those we love and the goal of the New Covenant, that the world would be saved through him.
Dear Lord, thank you that we are the bride of Christ and you will never sever that covenant. May we be serious about the covenant with you and with our spouse. In Jesus, name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church