1 Corinthians 7:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

I will speak by way of example. A woman who has once fallen into adultery is impure. If he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her and himself becomes impure, then both are deprived of purity.

But here it is not so. How, then, is it? The idolater is impure, but the wife is not impure.

If she shared with him in that wherein he is impure, that is, in impiety, then she herself would become impure. But now the idolater is impure in one respect, while the wife shares with him in another.

In that respect he is not impure, because in marriage and union they share mutually.

Moreover, there is hope here that the wife of the unbeliever will convert him, since she belongs to him. But there this is very difficult.

How can a wife, after first dishonoring her husband, serving another, and violating the rights of marriage, again make the injured husband her own, when he has become almost a stranger to her?

After adultery the husband is no longer a husband. But here, if the wife is an idolatress, the husband's rights are not violated.

Moreover, she does not live with the unbeliever simply, but by his desire. Therefore the Apostle said, "and he is willing to live with her" (1 Cor 7:13).

Tell me, what harm is there if they remain united, when piety is preserved whole, good hope remains for the unbeliever's conversion, and occasions for useless quarrels are avoided?

Here the Apostle is not speaking about those who have not yet been joined in marriage, but about those already joined. He did not say, "if anyone wishes to marry an unbeliever," but, "if anyone has an unbeliever."

That is, if someone after marrying receives the pious teaching, while the other person remains in unbelief and yet wishes to live together, the marriage is not dissolved.

"For the unbelieving husband," he says, "is sanctified by the wife." Such is the abundance of your purity.

How so? Is the pagan holy? No. He did not say, "he is holy," but, "he is sanctified by the wife."

He said this not to declare the pagan holy, but to calm the wife as much as possible, and to stir in the husband a desire for the truth.

Impurity lies not in the bodies of those joined together, but in the will and in the thoughts.

Then a proof is offered. If you, being impure, give birth to a child, who comes not from you alone, is the child impure, or only half pure?

In the present case he is not impure. "Otherwise," the Apostle continues, "your children would be impure, but now they are holy," that is, not impure.

He calls them holy in order, by such a strong name, again to drive away the spouses' fear.

"If a believing wife," it is said, "has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not leave him" (1 Cor 7:13).

But concerning a harlot this is not said. What is said? "Whoever divorces his wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery" (Mt 5:32).

If through cohabitation husband and wife become one body, then he who lives with a harlot necessarily becomes one body with her.

How then will an honorable wife, being a member of Christ, receive such a husband? Or how will she unite to herself a member of a harlot?

Observe the distinction. A woman who lives with an unbeliever does not thereby become impure. "For the unbelieving husband," it is said, "is sanctified by the believing wife" (1 Cor 7:14).

But concerning the harlot this is not said. What is said? "Shall I take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?" (1 Cor 6:15).

There sanctification remains and is not taken away, despite cohabitation with an unbeliever. But here it withdraws.

If the first is unclean, how does the latter not become unclean? In the case of fornication, it is indeed so. When fornicators have communion with one another, their mingling contains uncleanness, and therefore both are unclean. But the matter is different when the believing half lives with the unbelieving. The unbelieving husband is unclean by his unbelief. But the wife has communion with him not in unbelief, but in the marriage bed. In this communion there is no uncleanness. For it is a lawful marriage. Therefore the believing half does not become unclean. "Otherwise your children would be unclean." If the unbelieving half were not overcome by the purity of the believing half, their children would be unclean, or only half clean. "But now they are holy." That is, they are not unclean. By the emphatic expression "holy," the Apostle drives away the fear of such suspicion.

This is what is meant by the saying: "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband." That is, such a one has hope of salvation. Even if the husband or wife remains in sickness, the husband's seed will be a partaker of salvation. The Apostle used an emphatic form of speech, persuading them not to abandon cohabitation.

And afterward one of them chose the good and came to the light of truth, while the other, unwilling to look upon the divine rays, remained in the bonds of error, then they are not to separate. This applies if the unbelieving wife is pleased to continue living with the believing husband, or conversely, the unbelieving husband with the believing wife. This is according to the divine Apostle: "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband."

Chrysostom observes, however, that the Apostle had in view not the contracting of marriage between believers and unbelievers. He meant the continuation of married life between persons who were already living as spouses before one of them turned to the faith, and who do not wish to separate afterward, when one has received Christianity.

That the Apostle in no way lowers the wife before the husband is evident from his words about the unbelieving wife's consent to live with a Christian spouse. Having indicated one highest foundation for the indissolubility of Christian marriage, namely the Lord's commandment, the Apostle gives several reasons in favor of the indissolubility of a mixed marriage. The first reason lies in the sanctification of the unbelieving member of the marriage union. The second lies in the sanctification of the children. Next he speaks of the benefit of remaining in the outward condition in which one is found. Thus the general order of family life is not destroyed, but sustained. Christians are also delivered from many serious reproaches. Saint Chrysostom says of this: "The Apostle said this so that the believing wife would not fear becoming unclean through living with such a husband, an unbeliever, and conversely. On the contrary, the purity of the believing wife overcomes the uncleanness of the unbelieving husband, just as the purity of the believing husband overcomes the uncleanness of the unbelieving wife." In a similar sense, children from mixed marriages are also sanctified. Blessed Theodoret, concerning the Apostle's words, "But if the unbeliever departs," remarks: "What the Apostle said does not contradict the Lord's teaching, but explains it. For, he says, the saving preaching does not introduce confusion into life. On the contrary, it seeks rather the true and God-loving peace."

How, then, should "is sanctified" be understood? It must mean that the husband is sanctified as husband, and the wife as wife, that is, in the marital relation.

In other words, your marriage, believing wife, with an unbelieving husband has not become unlawful cohabitation because you believed. On the contrary, your faith has sanctified this marriage and your husband in the marital relation.

"Is sanctified," ηγιασται, means that he has already been sanctified. The same should be kept in mind by a believing husband whose wife remains unbelieving.

The Apostle's aim is to calm the troubled conscience that does not understand how to act. He also aims to prevent divisions and the dissolution of families, which could cause much noise and harm the work of preaching.

Above all, since unbelieving husbands and wives do not turn away from believing wives and husbands, there is hope that they too will be converted in time. He says this directly below.

Chrysostom says: "The Apostle said this so that the believing wife would not fear becoming impure through living with such an unbelieving husband, and likewise the husband.

On the contrary, the purity of the believing wife overcomes the impurity of the unbelieving husband, just as the purity of the believing husband overcomes the impurity of the unbelieving wife.

The idolater is impure, but his wife is not impure because of this. If she shared with him in that wherein he is impure, namely in impiety, then she herself would become impure.

But now the idolater is impure in one respect, while the wife shares with him in another, in which he is not impure. For in marriage and union they share mutually.

Moreover, there is hope here that the wife of the unbeliever will convert him, for she belongs to him. And she does not live with the unbeliever simply, but by his desire.

Tell me, then, what harm is there if they remain united, when piety is preserved whole, good hope remains for the unbeliever's conversion, and occasions for useless quarrels are avoided?

'The unbelieving husband is sanctified.' How so? Is the pagan holy? No. He did not say, 'he is holy,' but 'he is sanctified in the wife.'

He said this not to declare the pagan holy, but to calm the wife as much as possible, and to stir in the husband a desire for the truth.

Impurity lies not in the bodies of those joined together, but in the will and in the thoughts."

Theodoret thinks that, for the calming of conscience and the preservation of family peace, "the Apostle used a heightened form of speech, persuading them not to abandon cohabitation."

In the same sense, children from such marriages are holy. They are not holy in the sense in which Christians are holy. For even children born from sanctified Christians are born in a state requiring sanctification by the Mysteries.

Rather, they are holy in the sense that they are not impure, illegitimate, or unworthy children.

Chrysostom says: "They are holy, that is, not impure. He calls them holy in order, by such a name, to drive away still more strongly the spouses' fear."