Thanks for the thoughtful responses to my previous posts. They were seriously considered. My present Lady, mother of 8, was battered and beaten into unconciousness, left bloodied on the floor, too many times during the 30 years she and her unbelieving common law husband were married. In 2013 when her exhusband tried to kill her with the blow of a sheathed Japanese samurai sword to her uncovered head, I helped her escape to safety and have continued to help her be safe ever since then. I firmly believe in the 1 Corinthians 7:11 principle of the wife having the option of separating for safety when her life is being threatened. But I am posting today because I was made aware of my error in misunderstanding 1 Corinthians 7:12 & 13.
I believe I made a serious mistake in my teaching about believers married to unbelievers. I believe God has forgiven me. I hope you also will forgive and pray for me. One who teaches what the Bible says is in a very dangerous situation because of the consequences of misrepresenting what God says.
My error and assumption was believing that if the unbeliever does not want to live with the believing wife, that was a “separation” and the believing wife was therefore no longer maritally bound to the unbelieving husband and was free to marry another in the Lord. The correct understanding is 1 Corinthians 7:12-15, that as long as the unbeliever wants to live with the believer, the believing wife should not separate unless she does it according to 1 Corinthians 7:11, I.e. “ she should remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her [unbelieving] husband”. On the other hand, whether or not the unbelieving wife wants to live with the believing husband, he should not leave her or separate from her (1 Corinthians 7:11,12), even if she wants him to leave.
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The King's command to the believing husband in 1 Corinthians 7:11 and Matthew 19:6 is that regarding his wife he should not “send away; a. to ask one to go away or depart: . . . forsake, lay aside, leave, let alone, let be, put or send away” (from Thayer's and Strong's Lexicons
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G863&t=NASB). Stated plainly the believing husband should not send away his wife, should not ask his wife to depart or go away, should not forsake, leave, let alone, put away or send away his wife, believing or unbelieving - - - PERIOD! NO BUTS, IFS, ANDS, EXCEPTIONS OR QUALIFICATIONS!
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JESUS' Spirit states the 1 Corinthians 7:11b command in Mark 10 and Matthew 19:6. The command to not separate the husband and wife joined together by God is not so stated in the Old Testament. King Jesus decrees the command while in His human body on earth. The believing husband who divorces his wife for sexual immorality in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 has sinned, disobeying the King's command in Matthew 19:6, Mark 10 and 1 Corinthians 7:11 to not separate from one's mate. As Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 state, the wife divorced for sexual immorality is still maritally bound to the husband who divorced her because Jesus says that whoever marries her commits adultery. Why? Because she is still maritally bound to her husband as Romans 7:2,3 and 1 Corinthians 7:39 indicate. The believing wife is bound to her believing husband as long as they both live.
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***Matthew 19:6 “So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, mankind must not separate.”
***1 Corinthians 7:10 “But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord—that the wife should not leave or separate from her husband. 11 (but if she departs, she should remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband [should] not leave his wife. 12 But to the rest I—not the Lord—say, if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, he should not leave her. 13 The woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is content to live with her, she should not leave her husband. . . . 15 Yet if the unbeliever departs, there should be separation. The brother or the sister is not bound or under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace. . . . 39 A [believing] wife is bound by [God's] Law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord.”
From verses 13& 15 we know that the believing wife is bound by God's Law to her unbelieving husband for as long as her unbelieving husband wants to live with her and does not separate from her, but if he does not want to live with her and separates himself from her, then “ The brother or the sister is not bound or under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace”.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+7:10-15,39&version=HCSB;CJB;ESV;NASB;WEB
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***Romans 7:7 Or don’t you know, brethren (for I speak to men who know the Law [of God]), that the Law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives? 2 For the woman that has a husband is bound by [God's] Law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is released from the Law of the husband. 3 So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the Law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
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If an unbelieving husband no longer wants to live with his saved wife and the woman separates from her unbelieving husband it must be according to 1 Corinthians 7:11 “(but if she departs, she should remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband)” according to the King's “mankind must not separate” rule. If the unbelieving husband leaves or separates from his believing wife “ there should be separation. The brother or the sister is not bound or under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace.” 1 Cor 7:15
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My error and assumption was believing that if the unbeliever does not want to live with the believing wife, that was a “separation” and the believing wife was therefore no longer maritally bound to the unbelieving husband and was free to marry another in the Lord. The correct understanding is that as long as the unbeliever wants to live with the believer, the believing wife should not separate unless she does it according to 1 Cor 7:11 “ she should remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her [unbelieving] husband”.
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If the unbelieving husband no longer wants to live with his believing wife and separates himself from her, then the Word is “ there should be separation. The brother or the sister is not bound or under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace.” See 1 Cor 7:15. It is the unbeliever's separation that ends the marital bond.
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The believing husband is maritally bound to his unbelieving wife as long as she wants to live with him, but if she no longer wants to live with him and she makes the separation “The brother or the sister is not bound or under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace.” See 1 Cor 7:15 It is the unbeliever's separation that ends the marital bond.
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How can I be sure that I am joined to the one God wants me to be joined with in marriage? If you were both free to marry Scripturally when you were joined, then you were joined by God, who works all things according to the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11), including your marriage. We are to remain in the marriage in which we were called and saved by Jesus, if we were both Scripturally free to marry when we married according to 1 Corinthians 7:17 “Only, as the Lord has distributed to each human, as God has called each, so he should walk. So I command in all the assemblies. . . 20 Each human should stay in that calling in which he was called. . . . 24 Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.”
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If Hank and Sugar were both single when they married and then were saved, Hank and Sugar should remain married. If Hank had been married 3 times before marrying Sugar and getting saved by Jesus, and if Sugar had been married 5 times before marrying Hank and getting saved by Jesus, then Hank and Sugar were called and saved after they were married and called by God in their marriage, and they should remain in the marriage in which they were called and saved. What if Sugar was still legally married to Beau with a divorce in process but was in a common law marriage living with Hank, all sponsored and recognized by the County Welfare Dept, and they are “called” and saved in that status? I believe that Hank and Sugar should remain in their government recognized common law relationship in which they were called/saved, finish the divorce with Beau and legally get married in the relationship in which they were called. That's the way I see it so now you get to do 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22 with the situation and my understanding.
If you find error, I hope you Love Jesus and me enough to do Galatians 6:1 and 2 Timothy 2:24-26 with and for me.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANY MISTAKES IN THIS.
tyler4153@yahoo.com - - -
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