D. The Christian married to an unbeliever willing to live with the believer (7:12–14)
D. The Christian married to an unbeliever willing to live with the believer (7:12–14)
12–13. It is noteworthy that Paul gives these directions under the heading, I, not the Lord. He does not, of course, mean that this is contrary to what the Lord would have directed. But, whereas in v. 10 he could cite an express command of Christ, here he has no such express command and he makes the situation clear. But that does not mean that what he says lacks authority; he believes that he has the Spirit of God (v. 40). Moffatt points out that Paul’s careful discrimination between a saying of the Lord and his own injunction tells strongly against those who maintain that the early church was in the habit of producing the sayings it needed and then ascribing them to Christ: ‘It is historically of high importance that he did not feel at liberty to create a saying of Jesus, even when, as here, it would have been highly convenient in order to settle a disputed point of Christian behaviour.’
The rest must mean those not linked in Christian marriage, for apart from this all the cases have been dealt with, the unmarried, the widows, and the married. But some were married before they became Christians, and if one partner only became a believer there was a problem. Paul regards unions entered into as pagans as on a footing different from those contracted by Christians. Here everything hinges on the attitude of the pagan partner. If the unbelieving wife is willing (syneudokei, ‘agrees with him’) to continue the marriage, the brother (almost a technical term for a Christian) is not to divorce her. In exactly similar language Paul instructs the believing woman married to an unbelieving husband not to divorce him if he is agreeable to continuing the marriage (Greek and Roman law allowed women to divorce their husbands, though Jewish law did not).
14. For introduces a reason. Believers are ‘saints’, they are ‘set apart’ for God (see on 1:2). The basic idea in sanctified is that of relation to God, not that of moral uprightness (though this should follow). The believer’s state of being set apart for God is not diminished because, before believing, he had contracted a marriage with a continuing pagan. Rather, the good prevailing against the evil, his sanctification in some way covers his wife. Sanctified is in an emphatic position (it is important), and it is in the perfect tense (which points to a continuing state). It is not possible to give a precise explanation of what this means. But it is a scriptural principle that the blessings that flow from fellowship with God are not confined to the immediate recipients, but extend to others (e.g. Gen. 15:18; 17:7; 18:26ff.; 1 Kgs 15:4; Isa. 37:4). Thus the sanctification of the believing partner reaches out to the unbeliever. Paul sees this in what was clearly accepted with regard to the children of such a marriage. If the believer’s sanctification stopped with himself, his children would be unclean. The word is used of ceremonial uncleanness, ‘that which may not be brought into contact w. the divinity’ (BAGD). This is an unthinkable position. Until he is old enough to take the responsibility upon himself, the child of a believing parent is to be regarded as Christian. The parent’s ‘holiness’ extends to the child. The child is ‘part of a family unit upon which God has his claim’ (Mare).