15. After that the same Apostle adds, and says, |Thou art bound to a wife, seek not loosening: thou art loosed from a wife, seek not a wife.| Of these two, that, which be set first, pertains unto command, against which it is not lawful to do. For it is not lawful to put away a wife, save because of fornication, as the Lord Himself saith in the Gospel. But that, which he added, |Thou art loosed from a wife, seek not a wife,| is a sentence of counsel, not of command; therefore it is lawful to do, but it is better not to do. Lastly, he added straightway, |Both if thou shalt have taken a wife, thou hast not sinned; and, if a virgin shall have been married, she sinneth not.| But, after that former saying of his, |Thou art bound to a wife, seek not loosening,| he added not, did he, |And if thou shalt have loosed, thou hast not sinned?| For he had already said above, |But to these, who are in marriage, I command, not I, but the Lord, that the wife depart not from her husband: but, if she shall have departed, that she remain unmarried, or be reconciled unto her own husband;| for it may come to pass that she depart, not through any fault of her own, but of her husband. Then he saith, |And let not the man put away his wife,| which, nevertheless, he set down of command of the Lord: nor did he then add, And, if he shall have put her away, he sinneth not. For this is a command, not to obey which is sin: not a counsel, which if you shall be unwilling to use, you will obtain less good, not do any ill. On this account, after he had said, |Thou art loosed from a wife, seek not a wife;| because he was not giving command, in order that there be not evil done, but was giving counsel, in order that there be done what is better: straightway he added, |Both, if thou shall have taken a wife, thou hast not sinned; and, if a virgin shall have been married, she sinneth not.|
Footnotes:
1 Cor. vii.27 Matt. xix.9
1 Cor. vii.10, 11