§ 21. PROHIBITION OF DIVORCE. Pagan sentiment and law, while condoning fornication, were exceedingly lax in permitting divorce (see Hermann-Stark, Griech. Privat-alterthümer, §§ 30. 15, 17), as Jewish practice was on the side of the husband (Matthew 5:31 f., Matthew 19:7 ff.); and marriages were often contracted without affection. Unfit unions became irksome in the extreme, with the stricter ethics and high ideal of the new faith; in many cases one of the partners remained a heathen (1 Corinthians 7:12 f.). It was asked whether Christians were really “bound” (δεδουλωμένοι, 1 Corinthians 7:15) by the ties of the old life formed under unholy conditions, and whether it was right for man and wife to live together while one was in the kingdom of God and the other in that of Satan. These questions, propounded in the letter from Cor [1030], Paul has now to answer (a) as respects Christian couples (1 Corinthians 7:10 f.), (b) as respects married pairs divided in religion (1 Corinthians 7:12-16).

[1030] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

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Old Testament