Christianity provoked. His ruling is thus expressed:
"But unto the married I give charge, yea not I, but the Lord, that the wife depart not from her husband (but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband); and that the husband leave not his wife. But to the rest say I, not the Lord: If any brother hath an unbelieving wife, and she is content to dwell with him, let him not leave her. And the woman which hath an unbelieving husband, and he is content to dwell with her, let her not leave her husband. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother; else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. Yet if the unbelieving departeth, let him depart: the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us in peace. For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, husband, whether thou shalt save thy wife? Only, as the Lord hath distributed to each man, as God hath called each, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all the churches."[1]
It is important to appreciate the broad principles on which the apostle rests his decision. The essence of the natural union is the free mutual consent of the parties; if that condition be not abolished by the conversion of one of them to Christianity, then he
- ↑ 1 Corinthians vii. 10-17.
