1st Corinthians Chapter 7 verse 15 Holy Bible
Yet if the unbelieving departeth, let him depart: the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such `cases': but God hath called us in peace.
read chapter 7 in ASV
But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.
read chapter 7 in BBE
But if the unbeliever go away, let them go away; a brother or a sister is not bound in such [cases], but God has called us in peace.
read chapter 7 in DARBY
But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
read chapter 7 in KJV
read chapter 7 in WBT
Yet if the unbeliever departs, let there be separation. The brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace.
read chapter 7 in WEB
And, if the unbelieving doth separate himself -- let him separate himself: the brother or the sister is not under servitude in such `cases', and in peace hath God called us;
read chapter 7 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 15. - If the unbelieving depart. The sense of the word rendered "depart" is rather "wishes to be separated." Is not under bondage; literally, has not been enslaved. Our Lord assumes one cause alone - unfaithfulness - as adequate for the disruption of the marriage tie; but he was not contemplating, as St. Paul is, the case of mixed marriages. To peace; rather, in peace. Peace is to be the sphere in which the calling comes, and in which it issues. Milton, in his 'Tetrachordon,' quotes Maimonides to the effect that "divorce was permitted by Moses to preserve peace in marriage and quiet in the family." Similarly, a voluntary separation might be the only possible means of preserving moral peace where the union was between souls separated from each other by so vast a gulf as those of a pagan and a Christian.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(15) But if the unbelieving depart.--Supposing, however, the desire for separation arises from the unbelieving partner, how is the Christian partner to act? If the married life, for example, be made intolerable by the unbeliever urging the believer to join in such religious acts as conscience cannot approve, the Apostle's previous commands for continued union do not hold good: a brother or a sister, in such cases, is not bound to insist upon the continuation of the union. "Let the unbeliever, if he so desire, depart."This permission is in no way contrary to our Lord's permission of divorce on only one ground, for the Apostle has carefully reminded his readers that our Lord's command does not apply to the case of a marriage between a believer and a heathen. In ouch cases we have no command from Him.A brother or a sister.--That is, a Christian. In such cases, when the unbelieving partner wishes to depart, let him or her do so. The Christian partner is not, under such circumstances, bound by the marriage to continue together. Their doing so might destroy that very peace in which (not "to peace" as in the English) God has called us.
