"Hallowed by his wife"

:13 And a wife who has an unbelieving husband, and he approves of making a home with her, let her not leave her husband. :14 For the unbelieving husband is hallowed by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is hallowed by the brother, else, consequently, your children are unclean. Yet now they are holy. 1Corinthians 7

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul is definitely not championing marriage. He would prefer that everyone was as himself; ‘single’, ‘a bachelor’ (:7). But, he adds to this, “each has his own gracious gift from God”. Whenever marriage is preferred, let it be “in the Lord” (:39), that is to say, choose a partner with whom you can share ‘knowing the Lord’. Is the one a believer and the other an unbeliever, an unequal team has been formed (2Cor.6:14). A cart fastened to a horse and a donkey will be moving forward, unevenly. a holy house But what, if the situation is like that? You are married, the one is a believer and the other an unbeliever. What then? Divorce is not an option, since you have entered into a relationship for life (7:14,39). However, Paul adds a beautiful reason to this. Namely, the unbeliever is hallowed by the believer with whom he or she is married. Please note: the believer does not become unhallowed, on account of the unbelieving partner, but the reverse is true: the unbeliever is hallowed on account of the believing partner. And that also counts for the children in the house. Everyone in the house is hallowed on account of the one believing person, whereby “hallowed” is connected to the actual situation: “Yet now they are holy”. The entire household shares in the blessing God gives via one person. believer The family members are hallowed in the believer. The word ‘believer’ has, in our language, sadly enough, become a completely meaningless concept. Muslims, Roman Catholics and Protestants are all ‘believers’. But in the Bible and especially with Paul, faith implies: saying AMEN to God’s promise! God’s promise does not ask (that would mean ‘work’) but gives. That is why faith is directly connected with grace (Rom.4:16) and, consequently, also with joy. they are holy Are you a believer and married to an unbelieving partner? Know this: your husband or wife is hallowed by you! Do you together have children? Those are hallowed by you, as well! Please note: they are hallowed. That is not an assignment, but a statement and a guarantee. Thank God for it! It is religion to put forth efforts to hallow your partner, trying to convert him, or to have him attend church and to have him pray, etc. No matter how pious, it is not faith. It is hypocritical hallowing. It frustrates, especially since such efforts usually produce an opposite effect. Faith does not have that problem, due to no ‘works’ having to be done. Your husband or wife and your children are holy! God is their Savior and He will, at His time, persuade them of it. All this is so, as in the past He blessed the whole household of unbelieving Potifar, only on account of Joseph (Gen.39:5). Trust in this and thank God for it! ——————————— first published (in Dutch): 23 september translation: Peter Feddema

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