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 ought 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 an entire, 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 moderately than God, who lives in darkness as a substitute of sunshine, who worships idols as a substitute of the true and residing 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 count on, primarily based on the Previous Testomony, that he would say the believer can be defiled and stained by such a relationship with an unbeliever. As an alternative, Paul turns the argument in the other way. The believing partner isn’t defiled by the unbelieving associate. Fairly the alternative! The unbelieving partner is sanctified by the believer. And it doesn’t cease there: the kids are holy as properly.
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 an alternative, 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, not less than to some extent, to the unbelieving partner and to the kids of their union.
Sanctified, Not Saved
A query instantly arises, nonetheless: What does it imply for an unbelieving partner and the kids 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 kids of such unions are made holy, then it could make sense, on one stage, to say they’re saved. Alternatively, we all know from Scripture’s educating about salvation that individuals are not saved by mere affiliation with believers. The Bible teaches plainly and pervasively that we’re saved by private religion in Jesus Christ. Now we have no foundation for considering that anybody is saved as a result of she or he is married to a believer or the kid of a combined marriage.
In actual fact, Paul confirms on this very context that the unbelieving partner isn’t saved merely by being married to a believer. Paul writes, “For a 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 predominant 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 larger alternative for salvation. Nonetheless, the unbelieving partner is just not 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 laborious to make sure! Maybe all we will say with confidence is that the unbelieving partner, by being positioned within the realm of the holy, has a larger potential for salvation by the believing partner.
What About Their Youngsters?
You could be questioning by now if I’ve forgotten the unique query of this text. Nonetheless, the previous dialogue is critical to know what it means when Paul says that the kids of combined marriages are holy.
“If there isn’t any cause to baptize unbelieving spouses, there isn’t any cause to baptize unbelieving kids.”
Our Presbyterian associates usually attraction to this verse in protection of toddler baptism. In fact, 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. However, it’s also vital to think about this explicit verse because the holiness posited of youngsters right here is commonly adduced as a protection for baptizing infants.
We see right here that the kids in a wedding are holy. Does this holiness justify baptism? There aren’t 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. Because the unbelieving partner isn’t saved via the sanctification described right here, there aren’t any grounds for baptizing her or him. In the identical manner, the holiness of the kids doesn’t qualify them for baptism.
Some could discover significance in the truth that unbelieving spouses are “sanctified” and the kids “holy.” However such an statement 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 kids occupy a special realm than unbelieving spouses. To place it merely: if there isn’t any cause to baptize unbelieving spouses, there isn’t any cause to baptize unbelieving kids.
Within the Realm of the Holy
Paul is just not 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 larger 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 ought 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 consider. And but, neither are such infants defiled and unclean, and in that now we have hope.
