1 Corinthians 7:12-16

1 Corinthians 7:12-16

And to the remaining ones I – not the Lord – say: if any brother has an unbelieving wife and she consents to live with him, do not let him divorce her!  And if some woman has an unbelieving husband and this one agrees to live with her, do not let her divorce the husband!  For the unbelieving husband is being made holy in the wife and the unbelieving wife is being made holy in the brother.  Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.  But if the unbelieving one desires to separate, let him separate.  The brother or sister has not been enslaved in cases such as these.  And God has called you all in peace.  For how do you all know, wives, if the husband will be saved?  Or how have you all known, husbands, if the wife will be saved?

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

At first, these two cases at the opening of this section look like cases on divorce.  Which, it is.  But even more importantly, these are cases that are all about obedience to God.  Look at the examples.  In the first case, you have a believing man.  Paul says specifically that he should not be allowed to divorce her while leaving out constraints upon her behavior.  The same is true about the believing woman with an unbelieving husband.  She is encouraged to not divorce him while Paul puts no limit upon his behavior.  The message of the bigger picture is that we as Christians are held to a higher standard than the world.  We are held to the standard of God.  We don’t have any right to put Christian expectations upon non-Christians.  But we have every obligation to expect Christians to live up to the ways of their Father.

Do you mind living up to a higher standard than the rest of the world?  Do you think this is fair?  Does it become fairer when you consider the reward of eternal life?

Second Thought:

We need to be careful with verse 14.  In fact we need to temper the tense of 1 Corinthians 7:14 with the tense of 1 Corinthians 7:16.  In verse 14, Paul seems to be indicating that the unbelieving spouse is absolutely made holy. But in verse 16 Paul says that salvation is a possibility – but not a guarantee – of marriage to an unbelieving spouse.  So what is Paul actually talking about when he says “made holy?”  Remember the model of Christ.  Christ was a perfect man living in an imperfect world.  But He was not corrupted by being a part of this world.  His purity did not become impurity.  Rather, His purity made us pure!  It is Christ whose character bleached into us, not the other way around.  This is what Paul is getting at here.  In a marriage between a believer and an unbeliever, there is a chance that the behavior of the believer will transfer to the unbelieving spouse.  The desire is for Christianity to be infectious.  That’s what Paul is saying.

How infectious is your Christianity to your spouse?  How infectious is your Christianity to the world?

Third Thought:

Paul reminds us that we are called in peace.  This is such a difficult concept.  We want to be right.  We want to be on top.  We want to win.  But God has called us in obedience, not in absolute victory.  It is better to go in peace when we are not wanted.

Do you value peace?  How often do you realize that peace is a desired outcome with God?  How should this dynamic influence our work with the world.

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 Corinthians 7:17-19