One of many tougher and controversial verses within the Bible is 1 Corinthians 7:14: “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by his spouse, and the unbelieving spouse is sanctified by her believing husband; for in any other case your kids are unclean, however now they’re holy” (NASB 1995). Christians disagree concerning the implications of this verse for baptizing toddler kids. However earlier than we enter that dialogue, a phrase needs to be mentioned concerning the context and the broader level of the paragraph.
Contagious Holiness
In 1 Corinthians 7:12–16, Paul addresses the query of combined marriages, marriages wherein one partner is a believer and the opposite is an unbeliever. If we take a look at 1 Corinthians 7 as a complete, we see that issues of purity pressed upon the consciences of the Corinthian believers. Due to this, a few of them naturally puzzled if they need to keep in a wedding with an unbeliever. Ought to a believer stay married to somebody who belongs to Devil slightly than God, who lives in darkness as an alternative of sunshine, who worships idols as an alternative of the true and dwelling God? Wouldn’t it not stain believers to have a sexual relationship with somebody who hates the Lord Jesus?
Paul’s reply is astonishing. We anticipate, primarily based on the Previous Testomony, that he would say the believer could be defiled and stained by such a relationship with an unbeliever. As a substitute, Paul turns the argument in the wrong way. The believing partner isn’t defiled by the unbelieving accomplice. Fairly the alternative! The unbelieving partner is sanctified by the believer. And it doesn’t cease there: the youngsters are holy as effectively.
We’re reminded of Jesus’s relationship with what’s unclean. We all know from the Previous Testomony that touching a leper made somebody unclean. But when Jesus touched the leper, he wasn’t rendered unclean. As a substitute, cleanness radiated from Jesus, and by therapeutic the leper, Jesus cleansed him. We see one thing related in 1 Corinthians 7. The holiness of the believing partner transfers, at the very least to some extent, to the unbelieving partner and to the youngsters of their union.
Sanctified, Not Saved
A query instantly arises, nonetheless: What does it imply for an unbelieving partner and the youngsters of combined marriages to be holy? Does it imply they’re saved by advantage of their relationship with a believing partner or a believing dad or mum? If unbelieving spouses are sanctified, and the youngsters of such unions are made holy, then it will make sense, on one stage, to say they’re saved. However, we all know from Scripture’s instructing about salvation that persons are not saved by mere affiliation with believers. The Bible teaches plainly and pervasively that we’re saved by private religion in Jesus Christ. We now have no foundation for pondering that anybody is saved as a result of she or he is married to a believer or the kid of a combined marriage.
The truth is, Paul confirms on this very context that the unbelieving partner isn’t saved merely by being married to a believer. Paul writes, “For the way have you learnt, spouse, whether or not you’ll save your husband? Or how have you learnt, husband, whether or not you’ll save your spouse?” (1 Corinthians 7:16). Students debate whether or not this verse is optimistic or pessimistic concerning the partner’s potential salvation. I agree with the optimistic view because the most important level of this passage is that believing spouses mustn’t forsake marriage to an unbeliever, and thus, Paul provides a motivation to proceed within the marriage. On the similar time, optimism isn’t the identical as a assure. Clearly, by being married to a believer, the unbelieving partner has a better alternative for salvation. Nonetheless, the unbelieving partner just isn’t saved just because she or he is married to a believer.
So, we return to our preliminary query: What does it imply for an unbelieving partner to be “sanctified” by the believing partner? It’s arduous to make sure! Maybe all we are able to say with confidence is that the unbelieving partner, by being positioned within the realm of the holy, has a better potential for salvation by the believing partner.
What About Their Kids?
Chances are you’ll be questioning by now if I’ve forgotten the unique query of this text. Nevertheless, the previous dialogue is important to know what it means when Paul says that the youngsters of combined marriages are holy.
“If there isn’t any motive to baptize unbelieving spouses, there isn’t any motive to baptize unbelieving kids.”
Our Presbyterian mates usually enchantment to this verse in protection of toddler baptism. After all, toddler baptism warrants a wider dialogue than merely this verse, and readers are inspired to seek the advice of this text by John Piper and Steve Wellum’s chapter on the matter within the e-book Believer’s Baptism: Signal of the New Covenant in Christ. Nonetheless, it is usually essential to contemplate this explicit verse because the holiness posited of kids right here is commonly adduced as a protection for baptizing infants.
We see right here that the youngsters in a wedding are holy. Does this holiness justify baptism? There are not any exegetical grounds within the context to assume that it does. We seen earlier that the unbelieving partner is sanctified by the believing partner. We additionally noticed that the sanctification of the unbelieving partner isn’t saving. For the reason that unbelieving partner isn’t saved by way of the sanctification described right here, there are not any grounds for baptizing her or him. In the identical method, the holiness of the youngsters doesn’t qualify them for baptism.
Some might discover significance in the truth that unbelieving spouses are “sanctified” and the youngsters “holy.” However such an remark doesn’t carry a lot weight. The phrases “sanctified” and “holy” are in the identical semantic vary, and thus the phrase “holy” doesn’t signify that the youngsters occupy a distinct realm than unbelieving spouses. To place it merely: if there isn’t any motive to baptize unbelieving spouses, there isn’t any motive to baptize unbelieving kids.
Within the Realm of the Holy
Paul just isn’t suggesting or encouraging the baptism of infants or kids who haven’t but come to religion in Christ. Nonetheless, this textual content does supply encouragement for elevating yet-to-believe kids. They’re within the realm of the holy. The presence of a believing dad or mum provides one a better hope that the kid will flip to Christ for salvation. We don’t have a promise or assure of salvation, nor does Scripture give grounds for baptism earlier than perception, however having a believing dad or mum implies that the kid needs to be repeatedly uncovered to the excellent news of salvation by religion in Jesus Christ.
Infants in a wedding between a believer and an unbeliever shouldn’t be baptized since baptism is reserved for individuals who imagine. And but, neither are such infants defiled and unclean, and in that we now have hope.
