1 Corinthians 7:10-16

Mutual obligations of Married Persons

10. yet not I, but the Lord The Apostle is quoting our Lord's words in St Mark 10:11-12. No distinction is intended between what he, as a private individual enjoined, and what God commanded. "He never wrote of himself, being a vessel of the Holy Ghost, Who ever spoke by him to the Church." Dean Alford.

Let not the wife depart from her husband Literally, be separated, but not implying that the separation took place without her consent. The Apostle would seem here to be speaking of voluntary separations, not of such violations of the fundamental principle of marriage (see ch. 1 Corinthians 6:15-18) as are glanced at in St Matthew 19:9. So St Chrysostom on 1 Corinthians 7:12: "Here there is hope that the lost member may be saved through the marriage, but in the other case the marriage is already dissolved." Such voluntary separations were contrary to the command of Christ, and could only be allowed (see 1 Corinthians 7:15) under very exceptional circumstances.