For today’s devotional, I want to talk about a passage that I have been tempted to ignore, thinking that it didn’t apply to me. Here’s what 1 Corinthians 7:12-14 says,
12 … if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband.
Now, to be clear, this passage doesn’t directly apply to me. I am very blessed to be happily married to a follower of Jesus who, very fortunately for me, also “consents to live” with me. But I believe there is still a challenge for me and for you in this, no matter what your marital status is.
In The Message, Eugene Petersen translates this passage the following way:
If you are a man with a wife who is not a believer but who still wants to live with you, hold on to her. If you are a woman with a husband who is not a believer but he wants to live with you, hold on to him. The unbelieving husband shares to an extent in the holiness of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is likewise touched by the holiness of her husband.
I love the phrase, “hold on to her/him.” Not only does it speak of more than just staying in a hard marriage relationship, but it is actually a great way to get at the real meaning of the equivalent phrase in the ESV, “should not divorce.” The literal meaning of the Greek word for ‘divorce” is to send away, to leave, or to let go. So when Paul recommends that believers “not” let go, he is basically telling them to “hold on” to those relationships.
And this is where I see a challenge for all of us. We may not be in marriage relationships with people who are unbelievers, but I’m guessing that all of us have at least some lesser form of relationships with people who are not yet believers.
If Paul doesn’t encourage people to let go of the most intimate of relationships, I don’t think he would encourage us to run from any number of lesser relationships. The general principle is, don’t run from relationships with unbelievers … in fact, embrace them … hold on to them.
Who has God placed you in some form of relationship with? It could be a spouse, a relative, a neighbor, a co-worker, or any number of other relationships. Whatever you do, don’t let go of these relationships. Don’t lose them. Hold on to them … you never know what God might do. And maybe, or rather hopefully, the unbeliever will be touched by the holiness of you.
Josh Rose
Teaching Pastor