Proclamation:
“For
the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the
unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but
as it is, they are holy.” 1 Corinthians
7:14 (NIV)
Explanation:
These
words were written by the apostle Paul, under the influence of The Holy Spirit
of God, to the believers in the church at Corinth. In this chapter Paul tells them about
marriage. He is responding to a matter
which was presented to him in a letter.
They said, “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a
woman.” (1 Corinthians 7:1) Paul told
them that each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and that each
woman should do so with her own husband. (1 Corinthians 7:2-5) He said that those individuals who were
unmarried should stay unmarried.
However, if they cannot control themselves, then they should marry,
because it is better for them to marry than to be consumed with passion and
lust. (1 Corinthians 7:8-9) He also told
them that the married believer provides some covering for their unbelieving
spouse. Then he told them that whatever
status they were in when they came to Christ, that they should remain in that
status. (1 Corinthians 7:17-24) Paul
spends the remainder of the chapter addressing his concerns with marriage.
Application:
Here
the word “sanctified” means “lawfully espoused together” and it implies the
provision of a type of “protective covering” for the spouse but it does not
give them salvation. With respect to
marriage, it is much better for a believer not to be “unequally yoked” and
married to a non-believer. (2 Corinthians 6:14)
However, if a believer is married to a non-believer, it is better for
them to stay married and not to divorce their spouse just because he or she is
a non-believer. (1 Corinthians 7:12-14)
Marriage is a Divine institution. (Matthew 19:5-6 and Mark 10:6-9) Hopefully, the believer can lead their non-believing
spouse to Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment