1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 7
Instructions with Regard to Marriage. 1 Cor. 7, 1—40.
Concerning mixed marriages: V. 12. But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. V. 13. And the woman which hath an husband that be-lieveth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. V. 14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
In the previous section the apostle had addressed himself to the wedded couples in the congregation, where both husband and wife were Christians. He now speaks to such Christian men and women where the wife or the husband were not members of the Christian community. And he here again makes the application of the principle of Scriptures to a special circumstance. Jesus had had no occasion to deliver His opinion with regard to such cases, and therefore Paul brings his sentence. The fundamental matter was clear, his inspired judgment applied it to the point in question.
The husband and the wife are placed on an equal footing. The Christian brother having an unbelieving wife, who is well pleased to dwell with him in marriage, should not dismiss her. And a Christian woman having an unbelieving husband under the same conditions, should not think of deserting him. So far as the Christian part of any married couple was concerned, the rule of the Lord, made at the institution of holy wedlock, holds good. The Christians should never take. the first steps, nor in any way be guilty of inciting a separation in marnriage.
The existence of mixed marriages is to be deplored deeply, and in many cases they result in trials and temptations which make the term "marriage-yoke" altogether fitting; but so log as the unbelieving party recognizes the validity of the marriage-tie and lives in harmony with this belief, the believing party cannot repudiate the spouse.
The apostle now meets an objection which Christians might be apt to make as to the dangers of such a continued union with an unbeliever: For sanctified is the unbelieving husband in the wife, and sanctified is the unbelieving wife in the brother, in the Christian. Although not consecrated by the sanctifying power of faith, the unbelieving party, by virtue of the intimate, vital union which is the essence of marriage, participates in the consecration of the believing party in this way, that he or she is linked to the Church of God through the believing spouse; the sanctity of the marriage-tie includes both husband and wife.
"The believing wife is a sanctuary to her husband, even though he be an unbeliever, for he is her husband; and the believing husband is a sanctuary to his wife, even though she be an unbeliever, for she is his wife" (Besser, Bibelstunden, 8, 356; compare Concordia Triglotta, 371).
This is made more evident by the case of their children: Else, then, your children are unclean, but now they are holy. If the state of matrimony, even where the marriage has been entered upon with an unbeliever, were not a holy state, then the children would be unclean. But now the children are considered holy, therefore also the state of marriage, even if it is a mixed marriage; the children are to be considered members of the Christian community on account of the Christian parent.
"They are not holy in their own persons, for St. Paul does not speak here of that holiness; but they are holy unto you, that your holiness can be engaged in their care and can educate them, that you will not become desecrated in them as though they were an unholy thing" (Luther, 8, 1061).