Paul on marriage

1 Corinthians 7:12-14 To the married I give this command: If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

So the unbelieving spouse is saved because the believing spouse is, for the sake of the children? Am I reading this right?

Sanctified doesn't always mean saved. It means "set apart". Here is a link to a site I use for research that has a ton of different translations and versions of the Bible as well as other resources. Bible dictionaries and commentaries can be a great help with passages such as this one!

http://www.biblegateway.com/

[VCURamFan]

Originally Posted by annamal

1 Corinthians 7:12-14 To the married I give this command: If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

So the unbelieving spouse is saved because the believing spouse is, for the sake of the children? Am I reading this right?

Think of it this way: who's going to have the most effect on a person's life? Who's going to have the greatest chance to lovingly bring a sinner to Christ? Who will have the greatest opportunity to witness to someone by living as Christ would? It's the spouse. No can be saved thanks to the belief of another sinner, but a wife living for Christ can be a powerful example to an unbelieving husband & vice versa.

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by VCURamFan

Think of it this way: who's going to have the most effect on a person's life? Who's going to have the greatest chance to lovingly bring a sinner to Christ? Who will have the greatest opportunity to witness to someone by living as Christ would? It's the spouse. No can be saved thanks to the belief of another sinner, but a wife living for Christ can be a powerful example to an unbelieving husband & vice versa.

exactly. If you are a Christian, its alright to mix with the heathen, because they need help...think about who Jesus went with. He steered well clear of the religious of his day, even though they were Jewish and GODs Chosen...instead he went to the sick and healed, or he went to the sinful and forgave them, the rabble that followed him were litterally that...except for Saint Paul, they all had extremely humble and socially low positions prior to following Christ.

As this is a War Effort that we are engaged in, it should be your LAST thought to abandon anyone who needs saving...instead you have personal access to future Christians GOD willing of course and he will, which is why he speaks through Saint Paul to tell you to respect their wishes if they want a devorce...but if they do not, stay with them, and lead them to Christ with your example