http://www.pastorjohnshouse.com/books/marriageanddivorce.html
Good Morning John,
How does a believing spouse sanctify his or her unbelieving spouse? And also that the children become clean? In verse 1Corinthians 7:13, it states that he is pleased to dwell with her. But they are still unequally yoked in their marriage are they not? In verse 12, Paul says this is he (Paul) speaking and not he Lord as in verses 9 and 10. Thanks.
Jim K
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Hi Jim:
The unbelieving spouse is sanctified by Christ, but using the believing spouse to lead the unbeliever to him, and that WILL happen every time that the unbelieving spouse is truly “pleased to dwell with” the believing spouse. The only way we can know if the unbelieving spouse is really “pleased to dwell with” the believing spouse is that he comes and is sanctified by the holy ghost baptism. We have seen examples of this. For one example, Rob was truly “pleased to dwell with” Donna, after she found the way, and he (eventually) followed her into Christ. Brother Keith is another example, and Bob and Cliff. And there are some women, like Caroline, who were pleased to dwell with their believing husbands, and they proved it by coming to Christ and being sanctified themselves.
Of course, it is true that until unbelievers are sanctified by Christ, they are still unequally yoked to their believing spouses, as you pointed out. Paul’s statement “else were your children unclean” is harder to understand because everybody is unclean until cleansed by God’s Spirit. He makes it sound as if children are not unclean in God’s sight if both the parents are believers, but I know from experience that offspring of godly parents can be as worldly as offspring of sinners. So, Paul is probably referring to how God feels in general about believers mating with each other as opposed to children born of “unequally yoked” parents.
Good questions.
jdc