The words of Paul need to be placed in proper context ... not just w/ dress standards espoused by the Holiness police ... but in other important areas such as divorce and re-marriage ... a proverbial NO-NO among some the more radical extrabiblical circles. Where did Paul stand on this?
One writer states:
Let's now look at what Paul said about remarriage. Paul uses the words of Jesus in explaining what a Christian should do if she should get a divorce: "But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife" (
1 Cor 7:11). Here Paul says that a divorced wife should remain unmarried. (It is interesting to note that Paul fails to give the same injunction to unmarried husbands, although I think it should be assumed he meant the same for the husband.)
Now, it is the word "remain" that we need to focus on, since he said "remain" unmarried. The Greek word remain is
meno1, and interestingly it is not used in the Bible to necessarily refer to permanency. In that same chapter he says, "Each one should
remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so" (
1 Cor 7:20-21). So even a slave is to "remain" a slave, but not necessarily for a lifetime. He is free to change his status and get freedom.
Paul also uses this word for married and unmarried people, "Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should
remain in the situation God called him to" (
1 Cor 7:24). Then he gives an example of what he meant, and in it he directly states that remarriage is not a sin. The passage is in
1 Corinthians 7:27-28:
Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned... (KJV, emphasis added)
Who has not sinned by getting married? Both the virgin and the person who was
loosed from a wife have not sinned. The virgin is the one who has never married; the one loosed from the wife is one who was married but got a divorced. The word "loosed" is the word for "divorced". Paul clearly says that none of them have sinned by getting married. This makes it abundantly clear that Paul never saw remarriage as a sin.
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