According to the Bible, God’s design for marriage does not include divorce. It is only allowed in the following two situations: adultery and abandonment. Regarding the first scenario, Christians cannot agree upon precisely what God permits or forbids. In the second scenario, one of the spouses is a non-Christian and has left or abandoned the marriage. In this instance, accepting the circumstance and getting a divorce does not constitute sin for the Christian spouse.
The main passage in Scripture that addresses the question of a marriage between a Christian and non-Christian is 1 Corinthians 7:12-16: “To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?”
Paul discusses a variety of topics related to marriage, singledom, divorce, and remarriage in 1 Corinthians 7. He discusses the subject of Christian-Non-Christian marriages in verses 12–16 (19). Verses 12–13 outline Paul’s core stance, which is that Christians who are married to non-Christians shouldn’t get divorced. A brief note regarding verse 12’s opening: “To the rest I say (I, not the Lord)” — this is most likely Paul speaking, not Jesus repeating what He taught, since Jesus did not address this matter throughout His career. Paul’s remarks, however, have the same authority as Scripture and, thus, as Jesus Himself because he is an apostle (cf. 2 Peter 3:15-16).
Paul’s justification for a Christian not divorcing a non-Christian is apparently based on Jesus’ own teaching that in marriage that the two have become one flesh, and so shouldn’t be separated (Matthew 19:5-6). Furthermore, the Christian in such a marriage has no idea what will transpire; perhaps their non-believing spouse will eventually convert (v. 16).
