Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | 1 Corinthians 7:12 ¶ But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Corinthians 7:12 ¶ To the rest I declare--I, not the Lord [since Jesus did not discuss this]--that if any [believing] brother has a wife who does not believe [in Christ], and she consents to live with him, he must not leave her. |
Subject: He believes in God not Jesus, is it ok? |
Bible Note: Youthguy (Greg): Taken from your post #161177: "1 Corinthians 7:12,13 says that it's okay for non-believers to marry." ..... I assume you mean that Paul is sanctioning a union between a believer and a non-believer. ..... But such is not what Paul, writing under inspiration of God, says at all. Here's the text of 1 Corinthians 7:12,13; "But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she is pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him." ....... This passage does not promote, endorse, encourage or sanction the marriage of a believer to an unbeliever. To exegete it thus would be in contradiction with 2 Cor. 6:14, "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers" -- and God does not contradict himself in His word. ..... What the Apostle is saying in this 1 Cor. 7:12,13 passage is this: If a believer is already married to an unbeliever, then preservation of the marriage is preferable to divorce. This does not mean that God sanctions the marriage of a believer to an unbeliever (1 Cor. 6:14). Neither does it mean that God sanctions divorce in this instance. See Malachi 2:16. ...... Divorce was permitted, but never prescribed, by the law of Moses (Deut. 24:1; see also Matt. 19:3-9). ....... Last evening at prayer meeting services at my home church there appeared in our bulletin an anonymous prayer request of a wife and mother who was distraut because her husband was an unbeliever and would not attend worship services with his family. It was an occasion to reflect on 1 Corinthians 7 and the unwisdom of being unequally yoked together with an unbeliever. The longer I grow in the faith and the more I learn of God's word, the clearer the truth of the following passages become: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them" (Ecclestiastes 12:1) and "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclestiastes 12:13). ..... As Jesus said to rebellious Saul of Tarsus: "It is hard for thee to kick against the goads" (Acts 9:5) so says He to us. Our Lord depicted Saul as a rebellious beast that fights against the prod of its master. When a Christian rebels against his Master and his Master's teaching, the Lord not only knows it but feels it as much as we (See Matthew 25:35-40). ...... Yes, 'tis true, the way of transgressors is hard (see Proverbs 13:15). --Hank |