First Corinthians 7 Part 3 What About A Believer Married To An Unbeliever?

Marriage is a lifetime commitment between husband and wife. 

1 Corinthians 7:10-11  And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: 11)  But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. 

Paul is guided by the Spirit of God to tackle the marriage issues that were part of the Corinthians' culture. In this specific example, the apostles was given this command from the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Paul is not giving his own private opinion or judgment because the Lord Jesus commanded that man shall not put asunder them whom God hath joined (See Matthew 5:32; 19:6 and Genesis 2:24).

Thus, Paul tells wives not to leave their husbands because this was a frequent part of ancient marriages, as couples met, married, divorced and remarried often.

The Holy Spirit is using the apostle to teach the Corinthian church what God says about marriage, in order to restore the marriage covenant as God ordained it to be. 

If a wife does leave her husband, then Paul says she must not remarry. The preferred option is that the wife be reconciled to her husband.

Reconciliation is needed rather than divorce which undermines the institution of marriage. 

2 Corinthians 5:17-19  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18)  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19)  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 

The same restrictions apply to a husband who leaves his wife. 

The word "reconciled" is the same word used when Paul writes of sinners being reconciled to God through repentant faith in Christ. 

When a sinner hears the gospel of Christ and responds by faith, the spirit of God regenerates that person and indwells them. At this point the sinner is reconciled to God and the enmity has been removed. 

The Father will no longer impute our sins to us and hold us accountable for our sin debt, because His Son Jesus Christ paid for our sins totally. 

Divorce was permitted in the case of sexual sins of a spouse. Otherwise, reconciliation was to be sought, to maintain the marriage covenant as God ordained it. 

When a Christian is married to an unbeliever, let them stay together. 

1 Corinthians 7:12-13  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. 13)  And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. 

Paul makes it plain that there was no direct scripture speaking to the command that he is now giving us for the first time. 

He is speaking as a Spirit guided apostle and addresses another group of married people: the case of a believer married to an unbeliever. 

Paul tells us that if a Christian man is married to an unbelieving wife, he should not seek a divorce. A wife whose husband is an unbeliever should not divorce her husband. 

The believing husband or wife sanctifies marriage with an unbeliever.

1 Corinthians 7:14  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. 

An unbeliever married to a child of God is hallowed so that the believing spouse may remain married without impairing their own sanctity. 

Paul tells the Corinthians if they were married to an unbeliever, they remained holy and their marriage was still a holy covenant. He is sanctified for the believing wife's sake. She is sanctified for the believing husband's sake.

Thus, Paul tells us that the children born to a mixed marriage of believer with unbeliever, are holy. 

We need to understand what this means.

A church father named Tertullian wrote about the Roman idolatry connected with pregnancy and childbirth. 

Please read through his observation carefully, for it describes the cultural corruption that Corinthian Christians had to deal with. 

 “A child,” says he, “from its very conception, was dedicated to the idols and demons they worshipped. While pregnant, the mother had her body swathed round with bandages, prepared with idolatrous rites. The embryo they conceived to be under the inspection of the goddess Alemona, who nourished it in the womb. Nona and Decima took care that it should be born in the ninth or tenth month. Partula adjusted every thing relative to the labor; and Lucina ushered it into the light. During the week preceding the birth a table was spread for Juno; and on the last day certain persons were called together to mark the moment on which the Parcae, or Fates, had fixed its destiny. The first step the child set on the earth was consecrated to the goddess Statina; and, finally, some of the hair was cut off, or the whole head shaven, and the hair offered to some god or goddess through some public or private motive of devotion.” He adds that “no child among the heathens was born in a state of purity; and it is not to be wondered at,” says he, “that demons possess them from their youth, seeing they were thus early dedicated to their service.”

This is why Paul tells us that in a mixed marriage of a believer to an unbeliever, their children are not tainted by such vile pagan customs. 

The believing husband or wife shields their children from the pollution of being dedicated to idols. Rather, the children are set apart as unto God. 

What happens if the unbelieving husband or wife leaves the believing spouse?

1Cor 7:15  But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. 

What happens if the unbelieving husband leaves his Christian wife? The wife is no longer under bondage in this case. 

In such a case the deserted person must be free to marry again, and it is granted on all hands. The words of being "not under bondage"  are strong words.  

They indicate that Christianity does not make marriage a state of slavery for believers who are married to an unbeliever. 

The meaning clearly is that willful desertion on the part of the unbelieving husband or wife sets the other party free. 

Some think that a malicious desertion is as much a dissolution of the marriage covenant as death itself. 

For how is it possible that the two shall be one flesh when the one is maliciously left the marriage or sought divorce?

In this case, God has called us to peace.

God may use an wife's godly testimony to save an unbelieving husband. 

1 Corinthians 7:16  For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? 

Paul now gives an important reason for the believing wife to stay with her unbelieving husband. 

The faithful consistent testimony of a Christian wife can be used by God to bring her husband to repentant faith in Christ. 

1 Peter 3:1-2  Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; 2)  While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. 

The apostle Peter was also guide by the Spirit of God to address this same issue. 

A Christian wife should be subject to her husband and should maintain a godly testimony before him. 

God can and does use here faithful testimony to save unbelieving husbands. I know, for I am one who was led to faith in Christ by my wife's godly testimony. 

So far Paul has addressed those who are married as believers and those who are married to an unbeliever.

God continues to show us His heart regarding the marriage covenant.

We must meditate on these truths, and seek to live them out so that we may fully enjoy marriage as God designed it to be enjoyed.

Bob