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Originally Posted by PuritanCovenanter  Quote:
Originally Posted by armourbearer Quote:
Originally Posted by PuritanCovenanter This passage is about marriage. | It is about marriage as it affects one's ceremonial cleanness before God. |
Marriage is legit. The marriage itself is not unclean as the two are made one by God's decree. But sin is not forgiven and union in Christ is not achieved if one is not in Christ. |
This is the point we arrive at in view of the apostle's teaching. But to the Corinthians the great problem was how they stood ceremonially before God in view of their sexual union with an unbelieving spouse, and what would be the status of their children as a result. Paul assures them the unbeliever is sanctified in the marriage bond for the purpose of making the sexual union legitimate so that their children are set apart to God in the same way that the children of two believing parents are set apart. Paul's statement only makes sense on the presupposition that the children of a believing marriage are set apart to God and not considered unholy as is the case with unbelievers' children.