15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.
This has become the escape clause for many Christian remarriages. But I want to offer my humble opinion as someone who has not gone through a divorce and who has not struggled with remarriage. I admit not living through the devastation and pain. My heart breaks as I consider those who struggle. But what does this Scripture say? First, it says that if an unbelieving spouse wants to divorce you, you are allowed to let them leave. You can’t prevent them from leaving. You might be able to delay it through legal proceedings, but you can’t prevent it. You have not failed if they chose to leave. They are making a choice, and you can’t choose for them. Second, it says is that the believer is not bound, in other words they don’t have to remain married. This is a reemphasis of the previous statement. It is surprising how those who want to use this verse to say they can remarry ignore the previous verses that say the choices are to stay unmarried or to get remarried to their original spouse. And just because a spouse is not a believer, that is no reason to divorce them. Finally, we can be at peace, knowing we have not caused the unbeliever to leave, hopefully. Now the difficulty happens in the aftermath. The reality is that the wife will get the short end of the stick; she will suffer the negative economic repercussions of this action. She usually gets the kids, and the alimony and child support payments will probably not be enforced as they would in a perfect world. That places a greater burden on the Body as a whole to reach out to those families who are struggling through this tragedy.
The Arnold Journey 