The teaching of Malachi 2:10-16 contains some of the most forceful teaching in the Bible on divorce and remarriage. This is why so many contemporary books on marriage, which want to move the church to a more permissive attitude in this area, ignore the passage. But ignoring Malachi's teaching is part of the problem. In Malachi's day there were clearly many divorces - and mixed marriages of God’s people with unbelievers, which is a matter related to divorce.
If you are married, it is likely that the most solemn, official commitment you have made in your entire life was when you stood before a minister of the gospel and promised to take your spouse as husband or wife in plenty or in want, in joy or in sorrow, in sickness or in health as long you both shall live.
In this lesson on marriage, I think here of something C. S. Lewis said in one of his writings. He wrote that because we are eternal beings, created with eternal souls, in the ages to come each of us is going to be either some dazzlingly beautiful creature, one that would overwhelm us with awe if we were to see such a creature now, or else an everlasting horror, from which we would all recoil - depending upon our having entered into (or not having entered into) salvation through Jesus Christ. Here is realistic eschatology.
The second verb Paul used, gave, is also found in verse 25: Christ gave himself up for the church. The full measure of Christ’s love for the church was his dying for her. We are told in one of the Greek histories that the wife of one of the generals of Cyrus, the ruler of Persia, was accused of treachery and was condemned to die. At first, her husband did not know what was taking place. But as soon as he heard about it, he rushed to the palace and burst into the throne room. He threw himself on the floor before the king and cried out, "Oh, my Lord Cyrus, take my life instead of hers. Let me die in her place."
So far as marriage is concerned, Paul is saying that the wife is to assume a subordinate role in the home. This is not due to a lack of equality. The equality of male and female, child and parent, servant and master as to their being made in God's image and being valuable to God is absolute and unquestionable. Moreover, the subordination involved, particularly that of the wife and child, is voluntary. No woman need accept the proposal of any man.
