Apostle Paul finishes the Corinthian congregation’s questions concerning the married, the young single -the virgins, those thinking about divorce, those thinking about marriage, and sex with advice concerning the covenant bond of marriage. Does the bond last beyond the grave? Can they marry another?
Paul states in verses 8 and 9 that it would be better if the unmarried and widows remain unmarried, but only if they can control sexual desire and passion (9). Here, he states that if a spouse dies, the ties that bind the married couple end. The remaining one is free to marry anyone they wish as long as the new spouse belongs to the Lord, that is, they believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Creator God, the Savior. Though the apostle says he believes she should remain a single widow, as he did in verse 8.
Apostle Paul’s statement that the union, that is, the binding of a man and woman when they marry is broken when one of them dies, that statement is taken from Christ Jesus’ teaching to the Sadducees. One day, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. They told a sad story about a woman who married consecutively seven men, who kept dying in turn. Then, they asked Jesus, “At the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” (Matthew 22:23-28; Mark 12:18-23; Luke 20:27-33)
Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.” (Luke 20:34-36)
Therefore, when a person who is married dies, God, who created the marriage union-bond through the power of the Holy Spirit, ends the marriage union-bond. They await the resurrection to come at the beginning of the age to come. Paul explains the resurrection to come in greater detail in chapter 15.
