And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
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Clement Of Alexandria
AD 215
Rursus dicit Dominus: "Qui uxorem duxit, ne expellat; et qui non duxit, ne ducat; ".
Et adhuc apertius, dicens: "Iis, qui sunt juncti matrimonio, praecipio, inquit, non ego, sed Dominus, uxorem a viro non sepamri; sin autem separata fuerit, man eat innupta, vel viro reconcilietur; et virum uxorem non dimittere. Reliquis autem dico ego, non Dominus: Si quis frater"
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "But to them that are married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not be separated from her husband; but if she should depart, that she remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and that the husband should not put away his wife."
But to them that are married He tells these persons, that they ought not to part, or if a separation for weighty reasons can be allowed, neither party can marry another. (Witham)
That the wife. Jesus Christ has expressly declared, that in one case only a divorce may be allowable, and that is in the case of adultery. (Estius)
4. But to the married I give charge, yet not I, but the Lord.
Because it is a law expressly appointed by Christ which he is about to read to them about the not putting away a wife without fornication; Matthew 5:32, 19:9; Mark 10:11; Luke 16:18 therefore he says, Not I. True it is what was before spoken though it were not expressly stated, yet it also is His decree. But this, you see, He had delivered in express words. So that the words I and not I have this difference of meaning. For that you might not imagine even his own words to be human, therefore he added, For I think that I also have the Spirit of God.
Now what is that which to the married the Lord commanded? That the wife depart not from her husband: 1 Corinthians 7:11 but if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled unto her husband. Here, seeing that both on the score of continence and other pretexts, and because of infirmities of temper, (μικροψυχίας.) it fell out that separations took place: it were better...
About his catechumens), and when he prescribes repudiation of all engagements before marriage, whose teaching does he follow, that of Moses or of Christ? Even Christ.
however, when He here commands "the wife not to depart from her husband, or if she depart, to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband"
