It is not really a mess at all when it is understood how the New Testament supersedes the Old, and the Old can only exist within a relativistic historical context. Revelation was progressive.
It is also the case that we Orthodox view much of the content of the OT to be highly symbolic, each passage having a variety of meanings, some of which are only historical in nature with the moral truth disclosed more discretely.
I don’t interpret this new passage the same as you, it clearly says the believers can’t leave their partner, only the unbelievers can, that’s not liberty.
This is about religious practice, though - it has nothing to do with liberty as it concerns the non-believer.
Being a believer means acknowledging a higher truth than oneself and shaping one’s life after it.
It is not really a mess at all when it is understood how the New Testament supersedes the Old, and the Old can only exist within a relativistic historical context. Revelation was progressive.
It is also the case that we Orthodox view much of the content of the OT to be highly symbolic, each passage having a variety of meanings, some of which are only historical in nature with the moral truth disclosed more discretely.
This is about religious practice, though - it has nothing to do with liberty as it concerns the non-believer.
Being a believer means acknowledging a higher truth than oneself and shaping one’s life after it.