1 Corinthians 7:14. For the
unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is
sanctified by the husband . . .
That is, the abundance of purity
in the believing spouse overcomes the impurity of the unbeliever. That is Paul’s
meaning—not that the unbeliever becomes holy in essence. He does not say is
made holy, but is sanctified, that is, influenced by the holiness of the other.
He says this so that the believing wife need not fear being defiled by her unbelieving
husband. But one may ask: if he who joins himself to a harlot becomes one flesh
with her and is thereby defiled (1 Corinthians 6:16), then does not one who
join with a pagan become defiled as well?
1 Corinthians 7:14. Otherwise
your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.
If the unbelieving spouse were
not sanctified by the believing one, then their children would also be unclean—or
only half-sanctified. But now, Paul says, they are holy—that is, not
impure. With the emphatic term holy, the Apostle banishes any fear of such
suspicion. (The New Testament
Commentaries of Theophylact of Ohrid, 3 vols. [trans. Dean Marais; Based
Book, 2025], 2:200-1 [PG 124:644-65], emphasis in bold added)
Further
Reading:
Examples
of Commentaries, Historic and Modern, on 1 Corinthians 7:14
