of a parent. The apostle teaches, however, that in such cases of separation, the parties must remain unmarried.
12. 13. But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that beUeveth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
But to the rest ; i. e. to those married persons not con- templated in the preceding class. The context makes it clear, that the distinction between the two classes was, that in the former, both parties were Christians ; and in the latter, one was a Christian, and the other a Jew or heathen. With re- gard to these mixed marriages our Lord had given no specific command ; therefore Paul says, I speak, not the Lord. The rule which the apostle lays down is, that such marriages are lawful, and therefore there is no obligation on the Christian party to dissolve the connection. And if he is not bound to do it, he has no right to do it. If, therefore, the unbelieving party consent (o-wevSo/oet) to remain, the marriage may not be dissolved. The Christian husband is forbidden to repudiate (d<^ievat) his heathen wife ; and the Christian wife is forbid- den to repudiate her heathen husband. The same word is used in both cases, because, by the laws both of the Greeks and of the Romans, the woman as well as the man, had, on legal grounds, the right of divorce. Having said that these mixed marriages might be lawfully continued, he proceeds to remove the scruples which the Christian party might enter- tain on that point. He shows there is nothing unholy in such a connection.
14. Por the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbeheving wife is sanctified by the husband : else were your children unclean ; but now are they holy.
The proof that such marriages may properly be continued, is, that the unbelieving party is sanctified by the befieving ; and the proof that such is the fact, is, that by common con- sent their children are holy ; which could not be, unless the