1 CORINTHIANS 7:11 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.”
But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. — The conditional 'if she does separate' acknowledges that believers may nevertheless disobey, addressing pastoral reality. The consequence is either perpetual singleness or reconciliation—not freedom to remarry. The parallel command to husbands reiterates mutuality: neither party can unilaterally dissolve the bond. This absolute prohibition stands without the exception clause found in Matthew 5:32, intensifying the finality of marital commitment.
Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 7:11
“But to the married I give charge, yet not I, but the Lord.” Because it is a law expressly appointed by Christ which he is about to read to them about the not putting away a wife without fornication; Matthew 5:32, 19:9; Mark 10:11; Luke 16:18 therefore he says, “Not I.” True it is what was before spoken though it were not expressly stated, yet it also is His decree. But this, you see, He had delivered in express words. So that the words “I and not I” have this difference of…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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