1 Corinthians 7:13

Let her not leave him. — Better, let her not put him away; the Greek being the same as is applied to the husband in 1 Corinthians 7:12. Under Roman law — and St. Paul was writing to those who were under such law — the wife, as well as the husband, was permitted to obtain a divorce. It is therefore probable that St. Paul uses the stronger term here in reference to the woman’s action in the matter, instead of repeating the same word as in 1 Corinthians 7:10. Some have suggested that the reason St. Paul applies this word to the action of the woman in the matter is that, in the case under consideration, the fact of the wife being a Christian inverts, in St. Paul’s opinion, the natural order, and makes her the superior. This is wholly inadmissible, and quite contrary to St. Paul’s view of the absolute superiority of the | husband. (See 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:22; 1 Timothy 2:11.)