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8. Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in 1 Corinthians

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1 Corinthians 7:1-16

1 Corinthians 7:1-2

  • v1 Paul had received a letter from the Corinthians. From 1 Cor 16:17, we learn the letter carriers were Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achiacus.
  • Paul responded to their specific inquiries in 7:1, 25; 8:1; 12:1; and 16:1.
  • Their question (or statement) here was, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” Paul responds to this throughout the chapter.

    • Asceticism

    • Cynics discouraged any marriage or having children.
    • Stoics encouraged marriage but discouraged sex beyond procreation.
    • Musonius Rufus: “Men who are neither licentious nor wicked must consider only those sexual acts which occur in marriage and which are carried out for the creation of children to be right, since these acts are also lawful, but they must consider acts that chase after mere pleasure, even if they occur in marriage as wrong and unlawful.”1 (Musonius Rufus, Lecture 1)
    • Philosophers going back to Plato and Aristotle saw bodily desires as inconveniences that needed to be restrained and put under control. They did not practice strict abstinence, but they prioritized pursuing philosophy over such mundane matters.
    • Doctors like Hippocrates (460–370 bc) and Galen (129–200 ad) believed too much sex weakened men and depleted his vitality.

      • The Pater Familias in the Roman World

      • The oldest father of the household was the pater familias who held patria potestas: authority over the family, including his wife, the slaves, his children, their wives, etc. This power included whether or not to receive a newborn into the family.
      • Hilarion: “I beg and entreat you, take care of the little one, and as soon as we receive our pay I will send it up to you. If by chance you bear a child, if it is a boy, let it be, if it is a girl, cast it out.”2 (Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 744)
      • Apuleius: “Her husband’s father, having to be away on a journey, left instructions with his wife, her mother-in-law, who was pregnant, that if the child turned out to be a member of the weaker sex, it should be put to death at birth. While he was away, a girl was born; but mother-love was too strong for her, and disobeying her husband’s orders she entrusted the child to neighbours to bring up. On his return she told him that it was a daughter and had been duly put to death.”3 (Apuleius, The Golden Ass23)

        • Roman Marriage

        • Girls married in their mid to late teens. The youngest marriageable age for them was twelve. Boys married in their mid to late twenties. The fathers of bride and groom agreed upon a betrothal and a dowry. The father of the bride gave her a dowry that her husband could use so long as they were married. If divorce occurred, the husband had to return the complete dowry to his ex-wife.
        • Plutarch: “Marriages ought not to be made by trusting the eyes only, or the fingers either, as is the case with some who take a wife after counting up how much she brings with her, but without deciding what kind of helpmate she will be.”4 (Plutarch Moralia 141, Advice to Bride and Groom 24)
        • Marriage contract from 2nd c. bc: “Apollonia shall remain with Philiscus, obeying him as a wife should her husband, owning their property in common with him. Philiscus shall supply to Apollonia all necessaries and clothing and whatever is proper for a wedded wife, whether he is at home or abroad, so far as their property shall admit. It shall not be lawful for Philiscus to bring in any other wife but Apollonia, nor to keep a concubine or lover, nor to beget children by another woman in Apollonia’s lifetime, nor to live in another house over which Apollonia is not mistress, nor to eject or insult or ill-treat her, nor to alienate any of their property to Apollonia’s disadvantage. If he is shown to be doing any of these things or does not supply her with necessaries and clothing and the rest as has been said, Philiscus shall forfeit forthwith to Apollonia the dowry of 2 talents 4,000 drachmae of copper. In the same way it shall not be lawful for Apollonia to spend the night or day away from the house of Philiscus without Philiscus’ consent or to have intercourse with another man or to ruin the common household or to bring shame upon Philiscus in anything that causes a husband shame. If Apollonia wishes of her own will to separate from Philiscus, Philiscus shall repay her the bare dowry within ten days from the day it is demanded back.”5 (Tebtunis Papyrus 104)

          • Love in Roman Marriages

          • Epitaph for Claudia (100-76 bc): “Stranger, what I ask is but a little thing: stand close and read carefully. This is the not so beautiful sepulcher of a beautiful woman. The name her parents gave her was Claudia. Her husband she cherished from the depths of her heart. She gave birth to two sons: one of these she left on the earth, the other she placed beneath the earth. She was possessed of charming speech, and moreover a pleasing gait. She maintained the household. She made wool. I have spoken. Go forward.”6 (CIL I2 1211)
          • Double funerary stele of Aurelius Hermia and Aurelia Philematium (80 bc):
            • “Left side: Lucius Aurelius Hermia, freedman of Lucius, a butcher from the Viminal Hill. She who has gone before me by reason of fate, with chaste body, a unique spouse, loving, she was possessed of my heart, she lived faithful to a faithful husband with equal application, when in no bitterness, she departed from her duty.
            Right side: Aurelia, freedwoman of Lucius. Aurelia Philematio, freedwoman of Lucius. While I lived, I was named Aurelia Philematium, chaste, modest, ignorant of the crowd, faithful to my husband. A husband, whom I am without, alas, who was a fellow-freedman. He was to me in fact and in truth more than and beyond a parent. He took me to his bosom at the age of seven years, at the age of forty years I am in the hands of death. He prospered in the eyes of all due to my constant dutifulness.7 (CIL 12.1221; British Museum 1867: 0508.55)
          • Musonius Rufus (54-68 ad): “In marriage there must be, above all, companionship and care of husband and wife for each other, both in sickness and in health and on every occasion. … Such a marriage is admirable and deserves emulation; such a partnership is beautiful.”8 (Musonius Rufus, Lecture1-2)
          • Plutarch’s advice (90-100 ad): “[I]t is a lovely thing for the wife to sympathize with her husband’s concerns and the husband with the wife’s, so that, as ropes, by being intertwined, get strength from each other, thus, by the due contribution of goodwill in corresponding measure by each member, the copartnership may be preserved through the joint action of both. … Such a copartnership in property as well is especially befitting married people, who should pour all their resources into a common fund, and combine them, and each should not regard one part as his own and another part as the other’s.”9 (Plutarch, Moralia 140, Advice to Bride and Groom 20)

            • Adultery in the Roman Empire

            • Plutarch: “The lawful wives of the Persian kings sit beside them at dinner, and eat with them. But when the kings wish to be merry and get drunk, they send their wives away, and send for their music-girls and concubines. In so far as they are right in what they do, because they do not concede any share in their licentiousness and debauchery to their wedded wives. If therefore a man in private life, who is incontinent and dissolute in regard to his pleasures, commit some peccadillo with a paramour or a maidservant, his wedded wife ought not to be indignant or angry, but she should reason that it is respect for her which leads him to share his debauchery, licentiousness, and wantonness with another woman.”10 (Plutarch, Moralia 140, Advice to Bride and Groom 16)
            • Plutarch (writing 90-100 ad): “They say that the cat is excited to frenzy by the odour of perfumes. … Now inasmuch as women are affected in this way, not by their husbands’ using perfume, but by their having connexion with other women, it is unfair to pain and disturb them so much for the sake of a trivial pleasure, and…to be pure and clean from all connexion with others when they approach their wives.”11 (Plutarch, Moralia 144, Advice to Bride and Groom 44)
            • Martial (writing in 90ad in Rome): talks about a guy whose wife had 7 children, all from other men: “You have been made, Cinna, by Marulla the father of seven—not children, for there is no son of yours, nor son of a friend or neighbour; but creatures conceived on truckle-beds and mats betray by their features their mother’s adulteries. This one who struts with curly hair, a Moor, confesses he is the offspring of Santra the cook; but that other with flat nostrils, blubber lips is the very image of Pannichus the wrestler. Who is not aware, if he has known and seen blear-eyed Dama, that the third is the baker’s son?”12 (Martial, Epigrams 39)
            • Juvenal (writing in 120 ad from Rome): “Marry a wife, and she’ll make some smart guitarist or flute-player a father, not you. Or, when you…hang your front-door with outsize laurel wreaths, it’ll all be to welcome an infant whose face, in the tortoiseshell cradle, under its canopy, recalls some armoured thug, some idol of the arena.”13 (Juvenal, Satire 76-81; cp. 6.597-601)

              • Augustus Legislated against Adultery and Unchastity (18 bc)

              • He instituted penalties for not marrying, incentives for those with large families, and punishments for adultery.
              • Suetonius: “When he discovered that bachelors were getting betrothed to little girls, which meant postponing the responsibilities of fatherhood, and that married men were frequently changing their wives, he dealt with these evasions of the law by shortening the permissible period between betrothal and marriage and by limiting the number of lawful divorces.”14 (Suetonius, Augustus 34)
              • Cassius Dio: “Since the free-born population contained far more males than females, he allowed all those who so desired—with the exception of senators—to marry freedwomen, and directed that their offspring should be regarded as legitimate. … At this time, too, some men were becoming betrothed to infant girls …Augustus made an order that no betrothal should be valid unless the man married within two years of giving his word. In other words, the girl must be at least ten years old at the time of the betrothal.”15 (Cassius Dio, The Roman History 16)

                • The New Roman Woman

                • Bruce Winter: “Ancient historians have observed that around 44 b.c. evidence of a ‘new’ type of woman emerged in certain circles in Rome…a woman in high position, who nevertheless claims for herself the indulgence in sexuality of a woman of pleasure.” … [F]irst-century women, unlike their Greek sisters in Hellenistic and Classical Greek times, appeared in the public domain. The imperial wives appear to have set a precedent for wives of senatorial rank and others in the social hierarchy. …’[N]ew’ women had emerged and they were supported by those who were themselves avant-garde, including some male literary figures of the early Roman Empire who were influential in promoting this lifestyle. These ‘new’ women had an unsettling influence on the status quo.”16
                • Martial: “The way you’re marrying your toy-boy, and making your former adulterer your husband, so the Julian Law can’t make an example of you—Proculina, you’re not getting married; you’re signing your confession.”17 (Martial, Epigrams 22)
                • Seneca the Younger: “Surely no woman is embarrassed by divorce anymore, now that certain famous and highborn ladies keep track of the years not by counting consuls but by counting husbands; they leave home to get married but get married to get divorced. Divorce was feared only as long as it was unusual. But it is in the news all the time now; so they have learned to emulate what they hear about so often. And surely there is no scandal in adultery anymore either, now that we are at the point where a woman only takes a husband to make her lover jealous. … Any woman who does not see that marriage is just a name for having only one lover must be simpleminded and behind the times. The shame for these misdeeds has long since evaporated as the practice has become more widespread.”18 (Seneca, Benefits 16.2-4)

                  • 1 Corinthians 7:3-6

                  • Sex for Christians is about mutuality. The wife is faithful to her husband and the husband is faithful to his wife. The husband has authority over his wife’s body and the wife has authority over her husband’s body. Such vulnerability requires trust.
                  • Nancy Pearcey: “In this historical context, the Christian view of marriage was nothing short of revolutionary. At its core was a new form of sexual equality. To the shock of the ancient world, both sexes were held to the same moral standard. Christianity condemned promiscuity among men as well as women. It stood out as radically different because it taught that a husband actually wrongs his wife by committing adultery. Jesus said, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her” (Mark 10:11). Such even-handed treatment was genuinely novel.”19
                  • Unlike the new woman of Roman society or the sexual revolution of the 1960s, Christian marriage limits extramarital sex for both spouses. Domestic abuse is particularly sinful and heinous because it violates the mutuality and trust necessary for a healthy Christian marriage.

                    • 1 Corinthians 7:7-11

                    • Paul tells the unmarried and widows to stay single, if possible, but if not to get married. To the separated, he tells them to remain single or be reconciled to their spouses. For this command, he actually cites Jesus!

                      • 1 Corinthians 7:12-16

                      • Now we encounter the new scenario of a mixed marriage between a Christian and a pagan. In such cases, Paul tells the Christian to stay in it if possible.
                      • Household gods were a regular aspect of home piety for which the wife was responsible. Vesta, lares, penates, the family genius, deceased ancestors, and other more popular gods were part of the house.
                        • Bibliography

                        The Tebtunis Papyri. Edited by Arthur Hunt Bernard Grenfell, Gilbart Smyly. Vol. 1. London, England: Oxford University Press, 1902.

                        Apuleius. The Golden Ass. Translated by E. J. Kenney. London, England: Penguin, 2004.

                        Dio, Cassius. The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert. Penguin Classics. London, England: Penguin, 1987.

                        Hubbard, Moyer V. Christianity in the Greco-Roman World. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010.

                        Johnson, Marguerite. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature: A Sourcebook. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2022.

                        Juvenal. The Sixteen Satires. Translated by Peter Green. 3rd ed. London, England: Penguin, 2004.

                        Martial. Epigrams. Translated by Walter C. A. Ker. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1961.

                        Martial. Epigrams. Translated by Gideon Nisbet. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford, England: Oxford University, 2015.

                        Pearcey, Nancy. The Toxic War on Masculinity. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2023.

                        Plutarch. Moralia. Vol. 2. Loeb Classical Library, vol. 222. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1928.

                        Rufus, Musonius. Lectures & Sayings: Revised Edition. Edited by William B. Irvine. Translated by Cynthia King. Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace, 2011.

                        Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. On Benefits. Translated by Miriam Griffin and Brad Inwood. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2011.

                        Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars. Translated by Robert Graves. London, England: Penguin, 2007.

                        Winter, Bruce. Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.

                        1. Musonius Rufus, Lectures & Sayings: Revised Edition, ed. William B. Irvine, trans. Cynthia King (Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace, 2011), 55.
                        2. P. Oxy 744 in Moyer V. Hubbard, Christianity in the Greco-Roman World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 180. The original had “wife,” which I replaced with “sister,” owing to the original Greek, which reads “ἀδελφῇ.”
                        3. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, trans. E. J. Kenney (London, England: Penguin, 2004), 293.
                        4. Plutarch, Moralia, vol. 2, Loeb Classical Library, vol. 222 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1928), 317.
                        5. The Tebtunis Papyri, ed. Arthur Hunt Bernard Grenfell, Gilbart Smyly, vol. 1 (London, England: Oxford University Press, 1902), 452.
                        6. Marguerite Johnson, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed. (New York, NY: Routledge, 2022), 126.
                        7. Johnson, 127.
                        8. Rufus, 57.
                        9. Plutarch, 313.
                        10. Plutarch, 309.
                        11. Plutarch, 333-5.
                        12. Martial, Epigrams, trans. Walter C. A. Ker, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1961), 381.
                        13. Juvenal, The Sixteen Satires, trans. Peter Green, 3rd ed. (London, England: Penguin, 2004), 37.
                        14. Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, trans. Robert Graves (London, England: Penguin, 2007), 63.
                        15. Cassius Dio, The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus, trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin Classics (London, England: Penguin, 1987), 169-70.
                        16. Bruce Winter, Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003), 21, 37-8.
                        17. Martial, Epigrams, trans. Gideon Nisbet, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford, England: Oxford University, 2015), 113.
                        18. Lucius Annaeus Seneca, On Benefits, trans. Miriam Griffin and Brad Inwood (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2011), 68-9.
                        19. Nancy Pearcey, The Toxic War on Masculinity (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2023), 52.
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