1 Corinthians 7:12-13

“But to the rest” as distinguished from Christian couples (1 Corinthians 7:10) “say I, not the Lord”: this is my word, not His. On the problem of mixed marriages, which Jesus had no occasion to regulate, the Ap. delivers his own sentence. Not that he exhorts, whereas the Lord commands (Cm [1039]) λέγω is a word of authority (virtually repeating παραγγέλλω, 1 Corinthians 7:10), as in 1 Corinthians 14:34; 1Co 14:37, 1 Corinthians 15:51; 2 Corinthians 6:13; Romans 12:3; much less, that he disclaims inspiration upon this point (Or [1040], Tert [1041], Milton), or betrays a doubt of his competence (Baur): he quoted the dictum of Jesus where it was available, and on the fundamental matter, and indicates frankly that in this further case he is proceeding on his personal judgment. The Christian spouse is forbidden to cast off the non-Christian in terms identical for husband and wife, only γυνὴ ἣτις (or εἴ τις : 1 Corinthians 7:13) standing over against εἴ τις ἀδελφός (1 Corinthians 7:12). Ἀφίημι, used of the ἀνὴρ specifically in 1 Corinthians 7:11, is now applied to both parties: cl [1042] Gr [1043] uses ἀποπέμπειν or ἀπολύειν (Matthew 5:31) of the husband as dismissing the wife, ἀπολείπειν of the wife as the deserting husband; “in the structure of the two verses, with their solemn repetition, the equal footing of man and wife is indicated” (Hn [1044]; cf. notes on 1 Corinthians 7:2-4 above). συν - ευδοκεῖ, “is jointly well-pleased,” implying that the ἄπιστος agrees with the Christian spouse in deprecating separation, which the latter (after 1 Corinthians 7:10 f.) must needs desire to avoid; cf., for the force of συν -, Luke 11:48; Acts 8:1.

[1039] John Chrysostom's Homiliœ († 407).

[1040] Origen.

[1041]ert. Tertullian.

[1042] classical.

[1043] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[1044] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).