1 Corinthians 7:39-40 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will… Let me — I. EXPLAIN AND JUSTIFY THE RULE LAID DOWN IN THE TEXT. 1. To be in the Lord is to be a believer in Christ, to be united to Him by a living faith, and to be interested by reason of that, in all the blessings of His great salvation. In short, believers in Christ should marry believers, and none other. Now, this law does not require — (1) Perfect unanimity in religious sentiment. Creeds may differ, but hearts may be the same. (2) That both should be members of the same religious society. This is, however, exceedingly desirable, for it is unseemly, indeed, when they who are together in all the most endearing intercourse of life, go as solitary individuals to the sanctuary. (3) That both or either of the parties should be in full communion with any Christian Church. Now, I believe that a man who lives in the neglect of such communion lives in the violation of a positive command, and in the abandonment of a precious privilege, and, by so doing, subjects his Christianity to suspicion by the Church, and to animadversion from the world. Yet still, there are some who, notwithstanding this serious drawback, we are compelled to believe love the Saviour. 2. Having thus ascertained the rule, we proceed to justify it by an appeal — (1) To the reasonings of Scripture (Joshua 23:11, &c.; Ezra 9:1, 2; Deuteronomy 7:1-4). Now, if such a principle as this was thus established under a dispensation comparatively lax and dim, how much more reasonable and binding must it appear as a law of Christianity (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). (2) To history, observation, and experience. With all the excuses persons have made, and all the disinterested motives they have assigned for their conduct, did you ever know any good come of it? Scripture and the Church are big with examples of domestic misery and spiritual ruin, the result of these monstrous and unnatural connections. What became of the daughters of Lot, who preferred the sons of Sodom to the sons of God? Was there ever a greater monster, a more fearful prodigy of vice than Ahab? (see also Nehemiah 13:23-27). 3. To analogy. If you wished for a commercial partner, would you choose a man utterly averse to, or totally ignorant of, trade? Would you choose for the companion of a long journey a man whose disposition and principles were opposite to your own? Would you, as a man of taste and of education, prefer being shut up for weeks in a carriage with a fool or a clown? 4. To acknowledged obligation (1 Corinthians 6:20). And how is such a marriage to promote the glory of God? 5. To conscience — whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Now, is this of faith, the union of a believer with an infidel? — of a friend of Jesus with an enemy? II. CONSIDER AND EXPOSE SOME OF THE MOST OBVIOUS TEMPTATIONS TO ITS VIOLATION AND THE MOST COMMON EXCUSES FOR IT. 1. Fortune. It is this which constitutes a good match. 2. Rank and station. 3. Parental advice. 4. An ill-directed but sincere attachment. 5. But some are ready to say, the object of my attachment has everything but real religion. Well, and wanting that, everything is wanting. III. SOME HINTS OF CAUTION AND ADVICE. 1. There may be marriages within the letter of the apostolic rule, which yet are neither lovely nor of good report. There may be piety in both parties, yet — (1) Such discrepancies of age as to render the union odious. (2) Such an evident impropriety in the connection as to render it a subject of grief to the Church, and animadversion to the world. (3) Such indecorous haste in the formation of a new alliance, immediately after the dissolution of an old one, as to excite the grievest censure. 2. There may be marriages in which the law of Scripture is observed with regard to piety, but the dictates of prudence utterly disregarded. There may be marriages where there is neither strength of affection, suitableness of character, adaptation of temper, or similarity of views, sufficient to ensure permanent happiness and domestic harmony. 3. There may be cases in which it is difficult to apply the rule of Scripture, and to determine in what way to act. There may be a most distressing ambiguity about a character. It is impossible to tell how far the influence of circumstances, so peculiarly interesting, may give a more favourable appearance than actual principle would warrant: the mind perpetually alternates between hope and fear, and dares not to decide. In such a case it were well to wait and watch, and, after all, if there should be error, to err on the side of conscience and of safety. Finally, let the husband and wife, who neither of them fear God, think how terrible a thing it is to walk hand in hand to hell. Let the pious husband who has an unbelieving wife, or the pious wife who has an unbelieving husband, strive by all means, by meekness, gentleness, and affection, to win the unbelieving party to the truth (ver. 16). (T. Raffles, LL. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. |
    |