Married here certainly means “those who have been married and remain in the married state.” Married in certain languages will be translated as “those who have a family.”
I give charge (Good News Bible‘s “I have a command”) is stronger than I say in verses 8 and 12. There is nothing in the verb give charge itself that would make it necessary to think that Paul is referring to a saying of Jesus, but the context strongly suggests that here Paul is quoting a teaching that is attributed to Jesus—in fact it is similar to that found in Mark 10.9, 12. In this case and in verse 12, the Lord is Jesus during his earthly life.
The phrase not I but the Lord is emphatic, even though it is an aside. The first half of the verse may be restructured as “This following command to the married comes from the Lord, not from me: ‘The wife should not separate from her husband.’ ”
Should not separate is literally “let (her) not leave” (see comments on 1 Cor. 7.2 for ways to translate third person imperatives). “Let” does not mean “allow,” but represents a third person command in English, “she must not leave.” Some scholars distinguish between: (1) temporary sexual abstinence, mentioned in verse 5; (2) separation, mentioned here, in verse 11a and in verse 15; and (3) divorce, mentioned in verses 11-13. In many modern societies divorce always involves a legal decision, and separation may require one too. However, in Jewish tradition and elsewhere in the Mediterranean world, this was not the case, so the distinction between (2) and (3) is not absolute. Even in the case of (1), it is mainly the phrase “for a season” that distinguishes it from (2) and (3). Separate and “divorce” (verse 11) are two different words in Greek. If these verses stood alone, they would suggest that Paul accepted the Jewish rule that a man could divorce (literally “let go,” “send away”) his wife, but a wife could not divorce her husband (this is still the case in Islamic countries). However, the following verses show that Paul, no doubt under the influence of Jesus’ teaching, does not make this distinction. Perhaps a translator could express the phrase should not separate from in an idiomatic way; for example, “must not take a different road from.”
Her husband is literally “a man” or “a husband,” but her is required in English both here and in the following verses (see the introduction to this section).
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .