Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 7:14
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his believing wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian congregation while addressing marital questions in chapter 7. He addresses believers married to unbelieving spouses who remain willing to cohabitate.
The words — ἡγίασται (hēgiastai) translates literally as "has been sanctified," and ἄπιστος (apistos) means "unbelieving." The text states that the unbelieving spouse is set apart through the believing partner, not that the believer converts the other.
The thread — This pattern of relational sanctification parallels 1 Timothy 4:5, where things are set apart by the word and prayer, and aligns with Malachi 2:15's emphasis on preserving godly offspring within the family unit.
Why it lands — The passage commands believers to maintain their marriages and household peace while the unbelieving partner remains, treating the union and their children as set apart rather than unclean.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
Cross-references
- Malachi 2:15 Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
- Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter you.
- 1 Timothy 4:5 because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
- Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
- Romans 11:16 If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
- Ezra 9:1 After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.
- 1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
- Acts 10:23 So Peter invited them in as his guests. And the next day he got ready and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.