Spouse Sanctified? Children Holy?

What are y'all's thoughts on this verse, 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 they are holy."

So this Chapter 7 is all about marriage and conditions of divorce -------

To understand this scripture ---you really need to read the whole Chapter ------Just picking this scripture and trying to understand it will be perplexing to say the least -------but reading the The Whole piece makes it easier to Grasp with the direction of the Holy Spirit ------in my view ------



My understanding ------

So this is saying if your unbelieving wife or husband wants to stay with the Believing wife or husband ----then there should be no divorce or separation ------Why ------cause the the Believing partner become the sanctifying instrument in the non believers life and in the lives of the children because the Believer is receiving the Grace of God is being poured out on the Believers Life and spilling over to the Unbelieving Partner and the Children -------God's Grace is more powerful than evil and therefore instead for the Believer who is saved becoming defiled by the unbelieving partner ----the Unbelieving Partner and the Children are cleansed by the mere presents of the Saved Believer ------

This does not means they are saved ---this is not talking Salvation here ----but the wonderful blessings of God being poured out on the Believer and spilling over to the Non Believer makes for a purer ---cleaner home ----and a chance that the unbelieving Partner and the Children may come to the way of being Saved by and through the actions and Character of the Believing Partner ---------

It's one of my favorites and you ask a great question.

I tend to take the Bible as written and try to avoid too much interpretation. The verse you mention is in the context of an believer who finds themselves married to an unbeliever. Paul says in his opinion the believer should not divorce the un-believer. He adds the believer will make their children "clean". In my experience his words are true. Both the unbeliever and their children will be blessed by the believer.

This question does not appear to support marriage between a believer and an unbeliever, that is separate issue.

I have to admit I don't have a clue what Paul meant by this.

Yes this makes a lot of sense. I definitely have read the chapter many times but I guess the children part was especially a little confusing to me.

If we understand that believers are carriers of the grace of God the passage is easier to understand.

Note you are still NOT allowed to marry an unbeliever (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

The verse you mentioned had the very specific purpose of encouraging converts who were already married to an unbeliever at the time of their conversion.

It is about marriage and sexual relationship between a spouse who is a Christian to his/her spouse who is not. A spouse who does not profess belief in Jesus is made acceptable in God's eyes to qualify as a believer through the believing spouse. It gives the unbelieving spouse a very good opportunity to be saved by God's grace. But yes. It would make more sense to go through the entire passage to understand the context to the verses here in question better.

Consider the opposite. If the spouse or children could keep the believer from being sanctified or being considered unholy simply because of their relationships. I think it is at least, in part, an assurance to believers that their relationship to Christ is what determines these things.
No doubt the positive effects mentioned by others are clearly in view.

It means what it says. In short the belief of the faithful sanctifies the whole household.
Read in Acts how entire households were baptized.
Egalitarianism is a man made concept.

But this in no way allows a believer to knowingly marry an unbeliever.

By the way this is one of the reasons why all the orthodox churches baptize children and infants. Along with many other passages. Because the believers children are clean, only one thing cleans, thats the blood of the Lamb, Jesus The Christ our Lord.

Correct. We are directly told not to do that. But a person becomes a believer afterward. The Grace they recieved cleanses their house.

Where did Jesus teach this?
Paul could only reiterate Jesus' teachings. I don't recall Jesus saying this.

Or also in the case one of the spouses later leaves the faith. But since many people love to twist the Bible according to their lusts I wanted to make a reminder.

I think that we can better gain an understanding of what it means by first understanding what it doesn't mean. Let's look at this verse in its overall context.

1 Corinthians 7
12But 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. 13And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. 14For 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. 15But 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. 16For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

We can safely conclude, I believe, that the type of sanctification and holiness described in verse 14 has nothing to do with salvation. I say that because one of the spouses involved "believeth not", or is "unbelieving", and this is why Paul asks the question "For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?"

Seeing how this sanctification and holiness doesn't directly relate to salvation from sin, what does it relate to?

It seems, as others have already suggested, that there's simply a benefit of being in close union with a believer. My mind immediately turns to Laban being blessed when Jacob was working for him and to Potiphar's house being blessed when Joseph was working for him.

If we had a record of every word Jesus said, i can only imagine it would be a mighty archive. However we have to trust that the Holy Spirit made known all that we need in scripture.

Hi HopeinHim4ever,

This chapter can be summarized pretty simply when we look at the theme.
First is the problem....believer decides to marry an unbeliever. OR Perhaps a married unbeliever gets saved, now they look at many issues from opposite points of view. Now they begin to have conflicts that didn't occur when both were unsaved. There will be the temptation to separate and divorce by the unbeliever. However, God hates divorce. His will is reconciliation to those who have already been separated or out of fellowship with one another. Who knows if the believing husband or wife might save, (lead to Christ), the unbelieving spouse.

Please watch this short video and I have a follow-up that will clarify the verse about their children.

Good news for children

The (pre-existing) marriage to the unbeliever makes your spouse acceptable to make babies with (in spite of them not believing yet), as opposed to, let's say one decides to fornicate:

the fornication makes you unclean, the person you fornicate with unclean, and the children born of fornication are born into an unclean situation; this whole "family" is defiled, because this unbound amalgamation is not what God intended family to be.

It's not really a "salvation" thing- but it's more about whether or not it's in line with the Lord's intention... the people that say children born of fornication can't be saved... I'll just say they are obviously wrong, and leave it at that- because the lord has made it clear to me that he is not impressed by the things that I say in anger: but I feel very strongly that they are wrong.

I'm glad you brought this up. I had never studied it out before.
Lots of good responses on here.

Verse 16 tells us that salvation of the whole family is not automatic, but that it is possible.
Perhaps Paul is reassuring those who find themselves in this situation that they should not consider this marriage to be adulterous (unsanctified) and their children should not be considered bastards (unclean). The marriage and the children should not be considered un-holy.

This verse is indeed confusing if viewed without it's context.

Don't get involved in an unequal yoke if you can help it, but persevere if you are already in one.