This brings us to an entirely different set of ideas. The father in those days controlled everything.
Some translate this verse as if this is about a man who has betrothed a wife, but has then decided it was better to stop at that point and not go ahead with marriage. He is somehow committed to her, but he thinks that it is better not to go ahead with the marriage and leaves her suspended in a state of betrothal, but unmarried. There is no indication that any such practice existed in the churches, nor that it was approved of, and Paul is certainly giving his approval to whatever is spoken of here, regardless of which way the parties involved choose to go. The word ‘giveth’ in verse 38 is the clue that this is about fathers, not about those are considering whether to go ahead with marriage themselves. It is the assumption of Christ and of the Bible that fathers had the right to decide whether their daughters should marry or not (Matthew 22:30; 24:38; Luke 20:34). Scripture assumes that fathers in the past had the authority to decide whether their daughters married or not (Genesis 29:18; 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3; Joshua 15:16; Judges 21:1; 1 Samuel 17:25; etc.)