The Mission Field of Marriage
1 Corinthians 7:12-16
Pastor Jimmy Snowden

Introduction[1]

This message will be finishing the section that we started during our previous session on the issue of divorce. In the last message's text (1 Corinthians 7:11-12) Paul addressed ‘Christian marriages´—that is, marriages which consist of a Christian husband and a Christian wife. You will remember that in vss. 10-11 Paul merely reduplicates Jesus´ basic teaching on divorce. In the passage we will be looking at, Paul addresses a completely different situation. Instead of addressing Christian marriages, he addresses mixed marriages—that is, marriages which consist of a believer and a non-believer. I find it interesting that God has decided to speak to this very issue in His word. There is oftentimes a tendency for those of us who are married to genuinely born again Christians to lose sight of the great blessing that we have been given. Those who are married to unbelievers oftentimes walk a very difficult and lonely road. I want you to know that if you are in this situation, God has not forgotten you. He sees your struggle.

Jesus, your high priest, has experienced firsthand the spiritual loneliness, persecution, and difficulty that you may be experiencing. No, Jesus was not married. But… “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin’ (Hebrews 4:15). And Because Jesus, as our high priest, “has been tested in every way as we are’ He invites us to “approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time’ (Hebrews 4:16). And you will “receive mercy’ and “find grace’ if you boldly approach His throne, because He is compassionate to those who are faithfully walking down the narrow way. I want you to know that you are in good company. Consider how well Jesus can identify with you in your unique situation (as a Christian married to an unbeliever). Jesus knew what it was like to walk alone and He knew what it was like to be rejected by His own people. After all, it is said of Christ in John 1:10-11:

    “He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own and His own people did not receive Him.’

Jesus set about Himself to serve a people who could not recognize Him for who He was (their very own Creator) nor were they willing to receive Him. While Jesus was on the cross, bearing the sins of the world, He was even rejected by His own Father. He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’ (Matthew 27:46). The Father truly turned His face away from the Son. He knows your lonely path of obedience. God knew that marriage would be a lonely and difficult road for many of His kids. And it is amazing that He speaks to this specific issue of mixed marriages in His word.[2] If you are in this very situation, I trust that you will find Paul´s words to be encouraging.

A Word to Mixed Couples (1 Corinthians 7:12-16)

Let us now direct our attention to the very words which the Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write concerning this issue of mixed marriages.

    12 But I (not the Lord) say to the rest: If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not leave her. 13 Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not leave her husband. 14 For the unbelieving husband is set apart for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart for God by the husband. Otherwise your children would be corrupt, but now they are set apart for God. 15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you to live in peace. 16 For you, wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Or you, husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?

Before we take a look at the passage, it will be important to mention that God does not condone or permit His people to marry unbelievers. He specifically forbids Christians from marrying non-Christians all throughout the Bible (Malachi 3:11; 1 Corinthians 7:39; 2 Corinthians 6:14). However, for one reason or another—whether it be because of sin or because a person married as an unbeliever, became a Christian, and his/her spouse did not, or because a Christian thought he/she was marrying a fellow believer only to find out months or years down the road that his/her spouse was never truly converted—whatever the cause, mixed marriages are a reality. In our text this morning you will see that Paul does two things: he gives an admonition (a commandment) to those Christians who have unconverted spouses and then he lays forth a reason for why he gives the commandment that he gives. So Paul gives a commandment and then a reason for the commandment.

The Admonition (1 Corinthians 7:12-13, 15)

As stated above, Paul first gives a two part commandment (found specifically in 7:12-13, 15): 1. A Christian is not to initiate a divorce (7:12-13), 2. however, if the unbelieving spouse initiates a divorce, the Christian is not bound to fight ‘tooth and nail´ to prevent the divorce (7:15).

You will notice that Paul says that what he is about to say did not originate from the Lord. What does he mean by this? First, let me say what he does not mean. He does not mean that what he is about to say is uninspired. Rather, what Paul is saying is that Jesus never spoke to this specific situation. Jesus had quite a lot to say about divorce in general. However, Jesus never spoke to the specific issue of what a believer is to do if he/she is married to an unbeliever. Paul was able to point to a specific chapter and verse (as it were) when he spoke to Christian marriages in vss. 10-11, but Jesus never addressed the issue of mixed marriages. This is something that we are always doing, aren´t we? Every generation is confronted with new issues to tackle. If we take anything from what Paul says here, we should understand that every issue regarding divorce needs to be dealt with on a case by case basis.

But his admonition is that a believer must not initiate divorce. You will notice that the HCSB translates it as a bona fide commandment—“he must not leave her’ (7:12). This is entirely correct. After all, “must not leave’ (me aphieto) in the original is an imperative. Once again, as with the directives he issues in 7:2, 3, 5, 9, 10, and 11, Paul is not offering good advice or wise counsel. Rather, he is issuing forth a command. In other words, it is a sin for a believing spouse to initiate a divorce with his/her unbelieving spouse. The only exception is in the case of adultery (as explained by Jesus in Matthew 19:9). On the other hand, if the unbelieving spouse initiates a divorce, Paul says that the believing spouse is not “bound.’ What Paul is saying here is that a Christian is not shackled to his/her marriage with unbreakable chains. The Christian is not to break those chains himself/herself. However, if a Christian´s unbelieving spouse picks up the hammer to break those chains, he/she is at liberty to be set free from the obligations of the covenant of that marriage.[3] God will not hold the Christian responsible for the divorce in this situation.

He is merely saying that you are not bound to do everything in your power to hold the marriage together. In fact, Paul communicates that putting up too large of a fight to hold such a marriage together may actually be counterproductive. After all, he gives a reason for why the believer should let the unbelieving spouse go if he/she should initiate a divorce; “God has called you to peace.’ A Christian who has heard God´s strong words against divorce (“I hate divorce’; Malachi 2:16) may feel the pressure to go to every length to keep the marriage together out of a fear of being branded by God as a ‘divorced one.´ Paul wants those who have such fears to know that God will not hold you accountable for the divorce. Although God certainly does hate divorce, He has called you to peace. To, as Andrew Cornes says, “put up every possible legal, emotional and financial roadblock to prevent the unbeliever from making the separation permanent’ may “merely engender more antagonism’ and strife.[4] Wingerd, Elliff, Chrisman, and Burchett explain Paul´s intention well.

    We do not believe that Paul was saying that a believing spouse should never resist being divorced by an unbeliever. Marriage is precious in God´s sight and should be preserved whenever possible. This will often mean reasoning, even pleading, with an unconverted spouse who expresses the desire to divorce. These efforts are perfectly appropriate, even mandatory, before giving in to the unbeliever´s desire. Once the efforts to preserve the marriage have been proven fruitless, however, the believer´s dignified cooperation in the process is not only permitted, but is actually better than contentiously striving to prevent the inevitable.[5]

Paul´s point is that the believer´s primary concern at this point should not be the salvation of the marriage, but the salvation of the unbelieving spouse. Fighting to keep the marriage from divorce may actually work to bring a greater degree of hostility in the relationship and may cause the unbeliever to grow even more callous to the call of God´s grace.

His Rationale (1 Corinthians 7:14, 16)

Paul has spoken with authority to Christians who have unbelieving spouses. A believer is not to initiate divorce even if his/her spouse is an unbeliever. Of course, Paul also commands the Christian to let the unbelieving spouse leave in peace if he/she is determined to get out of the marriage. Here is the question that must be asked at this point; why is Paul so adamant about a believer not initiating divorce? He does not offer mere suggestions to Christians who find themselves in such a situation—he issues forth commands. Why does he speak with such unwavering authority? We find his rationale behind such strong imperatives in vss. 14 and 16. It has everything to do with the spiritual good of both the unbelieving spouse and whatever children they might have.

Paul says that the unbelieving spouse is “set apart for God’[6] by the believing spouse. What does Paul mean by this? First let me tell you what he does not mean. Paul does not mean that the unbelieving spouse is ‘in´ with Jesus because he/she is one flesh with his/her believing spouse. No. The bible knows nothing of a salvation by proxy.[7] In other words, God will never forgive you simply because you are connected to a person who is ‘in´ with Jesus. The Bible teaches that you must be born again if you are to be forgiven by God. You must have a personal encounter with the crucified and risen Christ—repenting of your sins and believing on His name (John 1:12-13). Apart from this there is no salvation for you. Clearly, Paul is not saying that the unbelieving spouse is ‘in´ so long as the believing spouse holds the relationship together. To hold to such a position would necessitate a theology which embraces the possibility of true apostasy (the loss of salvation). After all, if the unbelieving spouse is ‘in´ with Jesus so long as the marriage is maintained, what happens when the unbelieving spouse decides to dissolve the marriage? Is the unbelieving spouse now no longer saved—has he/she lost his/her salvation? Of course not! What then does Paul mean when he talks about the believing spouse sanctifying (setting apart) the unbelieving spouse? He is saying that the believing spouse has a ‘sanctifying effect´ on the unbelieving spouse.[8] In other words, the non-Christian spouse will be exposed to the Spirit-empowered influence of the believing spouse.[9] We will get back to this in a minute.

In vss. 14 and 16 Paul gives those who are married to unbelievers assurance that their one-flesh union with their unbelieving spouse will not in any way contaminate their own spirituality.[10] In fact, not only will the believer not be contaminated by their unbelieving spouse, the unbelieving spouse will be contaminated (if one could refer to it as contamination) by the purity of the believing spouse. It is the same sort of thing that is found in the Gospels. For example, how often do we see Jesus touching the unclean? What happened when the woman with an issue of blood touched the edge of Jesus´ garment? Did her uncleanness transfer to Him, making Him unclean? No. His positive holiness transferred to her, which resulted in her healing (Matthew 9:20-22). When Jesus touched a dead boy´s coffin, did the impurity of death contaminate Jesus? No. Not only was Jesus not rendered unclean by the dead boy, Jesus´ positive holiness was transferred to the boy, resulting in resurrection (Luke 7:11-17). Paul is saying that the same thing happens to a believer who may be one flesh with an unbeliever in the context of marriage. I imagine that a believer who is married to an unbeliever would ask, “How can this be good for me? How can I be one flesh with an unrepentant sinner and not be contaminated and defiled by his/her worldly ways and unbiblical thinking?’ It has everything to do with the fact that the Christian is ‘a temple of the Holy Spirit.´ Paul actually says that the sanctifying influence of the believing spouse will be the more dominant factor in the marriage.

How can this be? Because Jesus lives His life through you by virtue of the indwelling Spirit. This is why Paul can say the following about a true child of God:

    “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me’ (Galatians 2:19-20).

When your spouse has an encounter with you, he/she is actually having an encounter with the living Christ. How can I say this? Because “it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure’ (Philippians 2:13). This is not to say that you become divine yourself when you become a Christian, but it is say that the Divine takes up residence within you and lives His life through you when you become a Christian. Peter communicates this very same idea in 1 Peter 3:1-2.

    1 In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, even if some disobey the Christian message, they may be won over without a message by the way their wives live 2 when they observe your pure, reverent lives.

Although the cliché is often misused, there is a lot of truth to it: Preach the Gospel and if necessary use words. No one will become a Christian merely by observing a life (just see Romans 10:13-15). However, when the message of the cross is accompanied by a life bearing the fruit of the Gospel, God gets involved. A quiet and submissive life of joy can speak just as loudly as a side-walk preacher with a megaphone. The Spirit of Christ works through the true regenerate believer. It is one thing to hear about the works of God. It is another to see the work of God firsthand. God may just use the Spirit of Christ working through you to bring your spouse to come to know Himself. The goal here is to ‘win over´ your spouse. Peter is clearly speaking about winning them over to Christ.

This is what Paul is saying about believers in their relationships with their unbelieving spouses. You should not divorce your unbelieving spouse. Rather, you should seek to be faithful to your unbelieving spouse, understanding that you have a sanctifying effect on your unbelieving spouse. Your marriage to your unbelieving spouse may just be the avenue that the Lord uses to bring your spouse to Himself. This is why Paul says in vs. 16, “For you, wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Or you, husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?’ Paul is not here questioning as a skeptic. No, he is laying forth the possibilities of how God might work to bring about salvation in the life of an unbeliever through the sanctifying effect of a believing spouse. He is saying, ‘Hang in there! With God all things are possible!’ (Matthew 19:26). Let me say, however, that this is not a promise that God will definitely use you to save your unbelieving spouse. No, your spouse´s salvation is in God´s hands. Your faithfulness to maintain the marriage does not guarantee your spouse´s salvation, but your continued faithfulness to the covenant that you made with your unbelieving spouse will keep him/her in the pathway of grace.

Paul argues in the last part of vs. 14 that your kids will also experience this ‘sanctifying effect.´ Some use this passage to prove that children born to believers are automatically in the covenant community.[11] What is wrong with using this passage to suggest such a thing? The same thing that is said of the children is also said of the parents! Thus, if when Paul says that the children are ‘set apart´ (i.e., sanctified) in the realm of such a relationship, then so is the unbelieving spouse.[12] I have not read anyone who would suggest that the unbelieving spouse would be considered ‘in´ with Jesus because of his/her one flesh union with a Christian. But this is what would have to be asserted if one were to argue that sanctification is to equal entrance into the covenant community, for Paul uses the same exact word when referring to both. We must remember Paul´s main point. Paul´s whole thrust in 7:14 is to encourage the believing spouse to not leave his/her unbelieving spouse. He is providing motivation to the believing spouse for why staying married would be considered advantageous. He has communicated that there is both something to gain by staying married to the unbelieving spouse (sanctification of both the unbelieving spouse and whatever children that they might have) and something to lose (sanctification, once again). He communicates that the child is ‘set apart´ so long as the marriage is held together.[13] He says that the child would be ‘corrupt´[14] if the believing spouse were to leave. But, as I asked when dealing with the sanctification of the unbelieving spouse, what happens to the sanctified status of the child if the marriage should be dissolved? Is the child´s salvation dependent upon an unbreakable marriage? If one is to take ‘set apart´ as a reference to salvation, one would have to believe that a child´s salvation stands or falls upon the ability of the believing spouse to keep the marriage together. This is simply unthinkable. Certainly, a child´s salvation is not dependent on how mommy and daddy work things out!

What then did Paul mean when he spoke of the children being sanctified? A child who is constantly exposed to Gospel witness is not guaranteed salvation, but the more opportunities the child has to hear the Gospel and to see it lived before his/her very eyes the more opportunities the child will have to respond to the Gospel. I can understand why some Christians would tinker with the idea of divorcing their unbelieving spouse in order to protect their children from the unbelieving spouse´s worldly influence. And parents should be concerned to protect their children (to one degree or another) from worldly influence. However, Paul commands the believer to remain married, and suggests that the positive sanctifying influence of the believing parent will be more profitable for the child than if the believing parent were to initiate a divorce. That much is clear from Paul´s statement in our text.

Concluding Applications

I have three concluding applications from 1 Corinthians 7:12-16. 1. If you are married to an unbeliever, consider your marriage and your home your mission field. In the same way that Hudson Taylor was a missionary who was called by God to serve in China, you have been called to be an ambassador for Christ to your own spouse. You must seek to be faithful to the mission field that God has called you to. I understand that the mission field of marriage can be fraught with emotional and relational heartache, but it is a mission field nonetheless. Jesus calls us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-48). An unloving spouse can be the most difficult person to love and a troubled marriage could be the most difficult mission field to embrace. But I plead with you to consider your calling. This must be your first and primary missionary field. Fulfilling the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5) can be more difficult in this arena than in any other in the world. What makes this such a difficult missionary field is that words are never enough. Your spouse watches your every move. The Gospel must be both intentionally proclaimed and intentionally lived (as explained in the passage from 1 Peter 3 above).

2. If you ever have to go against the word of your unbelieving spouse, only do so out of respect, not defiance.[15] There is a world of difference between disobeying (or displeasing) your spouse with an attitude of defiance and doing so with brokenness. In other words, you must never get a ‘tude´ with a chip on your shoulder and say, “Who do you think you are to tell me what I can and cannot do?! God tells me to x, y, and z, and you have no right to tell me otherwise!’ Such an attitude will only work to render ineffective all of the Gospel labors that you have exerted toward your unbelieving spouse. And I must say, as well, that you should only go against the word of your spouse if your spouse is asking you to do something that Christ would clearly forbid or if your spouse is forbidding you to do something that Christ would clearly demand.

3. Embrace Paul´s vision. Trust the power of the Gospel. Paul concludes his exhortation to those believers who find themselves in mixed marriages on a positive note. He ends by pointing to the possibilities of God´s conquering grace—“For you, wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Or you, husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?’ Paul leaves the subject on a note of hope. Although situations may seem unchangeable and unsalvageable, cling to what Jesus says to the disciples after his encounter with the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19:23-26.

    23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘I assure you: It will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.´
    25 When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, ‘Then who can be saved?´
    26 But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.´

With God all things are possible! Your unbelieving spouse´s hard, rebellious heart is no match for the power of God´s grace. God is sovereign over every human heart and action. God is mighty to save. Cling to Him in prayer. Trust His all-powerful (omnipotent) and all good (benevolent) character. The arm of the Lord is not so short that it cannot save (Isaiah 59:1). Are you hopeless? Stop looking to whatever potential may or may not lie within your spouse. Look to the God (the one, true God) who can do the impossible. Who knows how God might use your faithful service to your unbelieving spouse to impact His kingdom!

[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman HCSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

[2] This is not to say that all ‘mixed marriages´ are fraught with horrific challenges, nor is it to say that all unbelievers are equally sinful. However, it is true that unbelievers possess the capacity to live in unrepentant sin. That is to say that an unbelieving spouse (unlike a converted spouse) can live with unresolved tension resulting from unrepentant sin. Those who are truly born again, on the other hand, do not have the capacity to live in unrepentant sin (1 John 3:4-10). Although God may exert an unusual amount of common grace on an unbelieving spouse, the pleasant disposition of the unbelieving spouse is unpredictable in light of the fact that there is no Spirit within ‘causing´ the unbelieving spouse to walk in God´s statutes (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Although an unbelieving spouse may encourage his/her believing spouse in his/her pursuit of Christ, there will always be a massive sense of loneliness in the things of Christ for the believer who is married to an unbeliever. Although the unbelieving spouse may encourage the believing spouse, the unbeliever will not be fully committed to actually walking with the believing spouse in full surrender to the person of Christ, the Gospel, or the word of God. Thus, although there may be no negative energy directed to the believing spouse for his/her life in Christ, there will be an inability on the part of the unbelieving spouse to actually engage in the things of Christ in a complimentary way.

[3] Although some have communicated that not being bound implies that the believing spouse is set free to remarry (Ciampa and Rosner, for example), this is not what Paul has in mind in this passage. See Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 302-303.  I am not in any way saying that a Christian who has been divorced by an unbelieving spouse is not free to remarry. In fact, I would argue that a Christian in this situation would be free to remarry. But I don´t think that Paul is addressing that issue in this passage. His emphasis in the context is on the divorce. Thus, I would agree with Fee who says that “all of this is not to say that Paul disallows remarriage in such cases; he simply does not speak to it at all. Thus this text offers little help for this very real contemporary concern.’ Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1987), 303.

Garland has a helpful explanation on the background of the word that Paul uses when he speaks of the believing spouse being “not bound’: “Paul uses vivid language to describe the situation. The believer, he says, is not ‘enslaved,´ ‘under bondage´ (dedoulotai); cf. Rom. 6:18, 22; 1 Cor 9:19, Gal 4:3… [H]e justifies his ruling in 7:15a by saying that the believer is not to be enslaved to a marriage relationship that an unbeliever wishes to dissolve… The slave imagery is best understood in light of Jewish backgrounds, not Greco-Roman… Instone-Brewer (2001:238-39) correctly shows that the divorce deed in early rabbinic traditions (m. Git. 1:4) is ‘compared to an emancipation certificate for a slave,´ not because they thought marriage was akin to slavery but because ‘the divorce legislation of Exodus 21:10-11 was based on the law of a woman from marriage and the release from slavery.´ Paul deliberately chooses to use images of the slavery bond here because he wishes to communicate that ‘the marriage bond is to be respected and not treated lightly.´’ Garland, 1 Corinthians, 290-291. He concludes, “Paul´s primary goal in this passage is to argue against a Christian dissolving his or her marriage to an unbelieving spouse for spurious religious reasons. He disallows remarriage in the case of Christians divorcing Christians in 7:11 and argues against changing one´s status in 7:17-24. But in 7:17-24, he also allows for an exception in the case of the slave obtaining freedom. In the same way, the one who has been divorced would be permitted to move from being married to being set free by divorce to being married again.’ Ibid., 196.

[4] Cornes, Divorce and Remarriage: Biblical Principles and Pastoral Practice (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1993), 251, 253.

[5] Daryl Wingerd, Jim Elliff, Jim Chrisman, and Steve Burchett, Divorce and Remarriage: A Permanence View (Kansas City: Christian Communicators Worldwide, 2009), 73n32.

[6] Paul here uses the word hegiastai. BDAG suggests that this word should be understood as, “consecrate, sanctify by contact w. what is holy.’ Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. ed. by Frederick William Denker, 3d Ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 10. In this case the unbelieving spouse is “consecrated’ or “sanctified’ or “set apart’ “by contact with’ his/her holy, by virtue of the indwelling Spirit, Christian spouse.

[7] I am borrowing this clever phraseology from Garland, 1 Corinthians, 289.

[8] F. Alan Tomlinson, “1 Corinthians’, in HCSB Study Bible, Edited by Edwin A. Blum and Jeremy R. Howard (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2010), 1969.

[9] Gary Shogren explains Paul´s intention well; “The key seems to be the godly influence that the believer brings to the home that might persuade others to accept the gospel… In a limited way all the members of the household are shielded from the realm of Satan (see [1 Corinthians] 5:5).’ Gary S. Shogren, 1 Corintios. Comentario Bíblico Iberoamericano (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Kairos, forthcoming), 189.

[10] Thisselton helpfully explains what was probably the Corinthians concern when it came to maintaining a one-flesh relationship with an unbeliever. “The key controlling principle lies in the recognition of the nature of the anxiety which Paul seeks to allay. The believer asks Paul with genuine concern: if I have left behind the old life and become a new creation in Christ, does not my relation with my unbelieving, unrepentant spouse and my entire home atmosphere threaten to pollute and to corrode my purity as one who belongs to Christ? Paul has argued readily enough that relations with a pagan prostitute tear apart the limbs of Christ (6:12-20). How can someone who has been purchased by Christ to belong to him (6:20), who is the Spirit´s holy shrine (6:19), also ‘belong´ to a spouse who does not ‘belong´ to Christ?’ Anthony C. Thisselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), 528. Garland sheds light on exactly why God frowns upon a one-flesh union with a prostitute, and yet smiles upon a one flesh union between a believer and an unbeliever in the context of marriage. “What is the difference? A Christian who has relations with a prostitute cannot convey holiness, because that union is outside the will of God. Fornication is the antithesis of holiness. Marriage, on the other hand, is a divine institution that accords with God´s will for man and woman.’ Garland, 1 Corinthians, 289.

[11] This is, unfortunately, is close to what Leon Morris actually states in his comments on 1 Corinthians 7:14; “Until he is old enough to take the responsibility upon himself, the child of a believing parent is to be regarded as Christian.’ Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary; Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 110. To see how this text has been interpreted historically see Thisselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 531-533.

[12] He does use, after all, the very same word (hegiastai) in the very same context, emphasizing the very same thing.

[13] Hence the word “Otherwise’ (epei hara).

[14] Paul uses this word (akatharta) for effect. What means, then, in this context is “common’ or “unsanctified.’ Garlands states that “Paul uses the term ‘unclean´ to contrast ‘holy´ in 6:19 and 1 Thess. 4:7.’  He explains that “These references imply that the uncleanness is ‘something which belongs by its very nature to the pagan world outside the church.´’ Garland, 1 Corinthians, 288.

[15] Props to my brother, Luke, for sharing this insight with me.

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