Afterthought
Puritan Board Senior
I'm working through finding the flaws in some arguments in favor of Christians marrying unbelievers, and I have run out of time to keep studying it on my own. Apparently, papists allow special "dispensations" for it, and having heard about that, out of curiosity, I looked around, and it appears some Christians will argue in favor of mixed marriages from 1 Cor. 7. Obviously, there is a "biblical theology" that uniformly and strongly condemns the practice, but focusing on 1 Cor. 7....
1) Does "marry in the Lord" in 7:39 mean marrying a believer (as it seems most understand it, including the WCF, it would seem), or does it merely refer to marrying according to the Lord's will? (Clearly, if it did mean the latter, it doesn't help those who wish to justify mixed marriages too much.) Are there good reasons for holding to the former, majority view over the latter?
2) It is argued that since mixed marriages are holy, even holy enough so that the believer is not to divorce the unbelieving spouse (a change from Ezra 10), so it must be justifiable to enter into such a marriage bond; hence, mixed marriages are permissible and either an exception to being "unequally yoked" or not in view by Paul when speaking of being "unequally yoked." What are some good examples of marriages (or other commitments/states) being entered into sinfully that must be honored? Off the cuff, **maybe** polygamy could work as an example. Any others? (I ask this last question because 1 Cor. 7 addresses the married and gives a condition of divorce; so any use of the passage to justify mixed marriages must be an inference; showing the inference does not follow defeats the use of the passage in favor of mixed marriages.)
As a bonus:
3) Suppose one argued that Ezra 10 **does** still apply: that is, it is lawful and necessary for a Christian to divorce an unbelieving spouse that they married while a believer. In other words, this proponent of divorcing idolaters would say that 1 Cor. 7 addresses the case of those who had been married while unbelievers and then one of the parties converted; it does not address the case of a person who is already a believer who married an unbeliever, so Ezra 10 applies to that case. Reponses? My own thoughts would be: if the mixed marriage is sanctified by the believer (a general statement), then it would also apply to the case of a believer having sinned by marrying an unbeliever; so Paul's instructions in 1 Cor. 7 to not divorce apply in this case also.
1) Does "marry in the Lord" in 7:39 mean marrying a believer (as it seems most understand it, including the WCF, it would seem), or does it merely refer to marrying according to the Lord's will? (Clearly, if it did mean the latter, it doesn't help those who wish to justify mixed marriages too much.) Are there good reasons for holding to the former, majority view over the latter?
2) It is argued that since mixed marriages are holy, even holy enough so that the believer is not to divorce the unbelieving spouse (a change from Ezra 10), so it must be justifiable to enter into such a marriage bond; hence, mixed marriages are permissible and either an exception to being "unequally yoked" or not in view by Paul when speaking of being "unequally yoked." What are some good examples of marriages (or other commitments/states) being entered into sinfully that must be honored? Off the cuff, **maybe** polygamy could work as an example. Any others? (I ask this last question because 1 Cor. 7 addresses the married and gives a condition of divorce; so any use of the passage to justify mixed marriages must be an inference; showing the inference does not follow defeats the use of the passage in favor of mixed marriages.)
As a bonus:
3) Suppose one argued that Ezra 10 **does** still apply: that is, it is lawful and necessary for a Christian to divorce an unbelieving spouse that they married while a believer. In other words, this proponent of divorcing idolaters would say that 1 Cor. 7 addresses the case of those who had been married while unbelievers and then one of the parties converted; it does not address the case of a person who is already a believer who married an unbeliever, so Ezra 10 applies to that case. Reponses? My own thoughts would be: if the mixed marriage is sanctified by the believer (a general statement), then it would also apply to the case of a believer having sinned by marrying an unbeliever; so Paul's instructions in 1 Cor. 7 to not divorce apply in this case also.