1 Corinthians 7:12-13

“But to the rest, speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away; 13. and the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not put away her husband.”

Those whom the apostle calls the rest, in contrast to the spouses of 1 Corinthians 7:11, can only be the married who do not both belong to the Church, and only one of whom was present at the reading of this letter. The sequel will leave no doubt of this interpretation. It is clear that neither the apostle nor the Church would have authorized a marriage between a member of the Church and a Jew or heathen; but one of two spouses might have been converted after marriage; hence the possibility of mixed marriages. Jesus could not have thought of giving a direction for such cases; so the apostle declares that he has no command to transmit from the Lord on this subject. It is therefore himself, Paul, who must regulate the case, drawing its solution, by way of deduction, from the essence of the gospel. It seems to me even that the expression, I, not the Lord, excludes not only any positive ordinance uttered by the Lord during His life, but even any special revelation proceeding from Him on the subject. It does not follow, however, that he puts himself in this respect on the same footing as any other Christian. How, if it were so, could he say with authority in 1 Corinthians 7:17: “So ordain I in all the Churches”? He knew himself to be enlightened, as an apostle, with a wisdom superior to ordinary Christian wisdom, and that even in cases in which he had neither an external revelation (1 Corinthians 7:10), nor an inward revelation properly so called (1 Corinthians 11:23) to direct him.

Two cases might present themselves in mixed marriages: Either the heathen spouse consented to remain with the Christian spouse; this is the case treated 1 Corinthians 7:12-14. Or he refused; this is the case treated 1 Corinthians 7:15-16.

On the first supposition, the Christian spouse, whether husband or wife, ought to remain united to the Jewish or heathen spouse; for the consent of the latter implies that he will not annoy the Christian in the discharge of her religious obligations.

The term ἀφιέναι, put away, is here applied to the wife as well as to the husband, perhaps because, as Bengel finely observes, in the eyes of the Church the Christian wife is, despite her sex, the nobler of the two; or, more simply, because, in case of the heathen desiring to remain with his wife, it is she who would speak the leave-taking (give the congé) if she refused. This direction given for the first case, the apostle is careful to justify it, precisely because this is his ordinance, and not the Lord's.