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Question

In verse 1 Corinthians 7 it says that an unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife and an unbelieving wife is made holy (NIV says sanctified) because of her husband. It goes on to say that Children are also made holy. What does Paul mean by this? It doesn't seem to be consistent with other scripture indicating that you would be saved because of anything other than Christ paying the price for you when you confess your sins and it would be an individual process. Any thoughts? I read the footnotes in our ESV Bible, but it only confuses me with notes on children's baptism in reformed theology.

Answer

The verse under consideration is 1 Corinthians 7:14: 

For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

We know that Paul is not saying that an unbelieving spouse is saved because he/she is married to a believer, or that children of believers are saved apart from their own personal faith. This goes against not only everything we read elsewhere in scripture and especially Paul, but Paul makes it clear two verses later (7:16) that these individuals in question are clearly not yet saved.

The passage is confusing, but the confusion itself leads us to a resolution. The word translated “made holy” (ESV) or “sanctified” (NIV) in describing the marital relationship is elsewhere used to speak of salvation (1:30 and 6:11). So, even though Paul is not meaning to indicate that someone is saved by simply being married to someone who is, he certainly, nonetheless, has the issue of salvation in mind. The most obvious meaning, therefore, is that the Paul contends that if the believer stays with the unbeliever it will increase their opportunity to come to salvation. This is certainly the conclusion Paul draws two verses later when he infers that by staying together salvation may result (7:16).

Why, then, does Paul say this in such an awkward way? I think it has to do with the context of 1 Corinthians. Evidently, according to 7:1 and following, there were some in Corinth that argued that a husband and wife should not have sexual intercourse even in marriage (7:1). This position would have been held even more vehemently in a marriage with an unbeliever. Added to this are the issues of chapter 5 where Paul addresses the Corinthian impulse to have nothing to do with outsiders (unbelievers), which was a misunderstanding of Paul’s instruction on church discipline (they were not to have anything to do with believers who were in blatant sin). Given the situation in Corinth you can see where certain people were teaching that if a believer had sexual relations with an unbeliever, even in marriage, then the believer would be “defiled.” Thus, Paul takes up the same language to counter this false teaching and states that the very opposite is true. The believer is not defiled, but the unbeliever is “sanctified”.

Gordon Fee makes this argument, or something similar, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians. He points out that a similar idea is found in Romans 11:16 which reads,

Romans 11:16, If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. Fee states, “the ‘consecration’ of the part, in the sense of ‘setting apart’ for God, ‘sanctifies’ the whole.” You find this idea throughout the OT law, that something holy “sanctifies” that which it comes in contact with.

Application:

There is obvious encouragement here for a believer married to an unbeliever to stay together for the sake of the spouse and their children. However, verse 15 releases the believer if the unbeliever desires to go.

Beyond this direct application there is encouragement for all believers. Our very presence is a blessing to others. God will use you to bring salvation to others, especially those you are in close relationship with. Furthermore, and perhaps most important to all those with unbelievers in their family, there is hope here that God intends to bless us by saving all of our family members. It may not seem like it, but God is using you as a sanctifying presence. So, continue in faith and seek God for the salvation of your loved ones.