The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 234

Vers. 12-28.-Mixed marriages. "To the rest," those cases in which one party was a believer and the other not (nJixed marria"es), "speak I, not the Lord." Yet while St. Paul does not claim to expound and apply a formal law, he must not be con~ sidered as abnegating for the time his apostolic office and giving an opinion simply personal. The decision pronounced here is a very weighty one, and obviously it is an utterance of God's will. "If any brother hath a wife that believeth not," what shall he do? That depends on the wife herself. The initiative step is not with the husband: "If she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away." So of the wife with respect to her husband. Obviously, then, personal will is contemplated, and the difference between marriage where both parties are Christians, and marriage where only one party is a. Christian, lies in the fact that, in the latter instance (mixed marriages), the continuance of the relationship is contingent on the adaptiveness of the parties each to the other and their ready disposition to be a mutual source of happiness. The will of the Lord is that they keep together, and they should endeavour to fulfil this will, but if controversies exist and the true ends of marriage are not only not met, but cannot be met, then at the option of the wife, the husband may put her away. The converse holds good, so that in the case of either party, individual will may interpose a bar to the continued union. " God hath called us to peace." In such a solemn act, no wilfulness, no passion, no worldly and selfish motives, must have place. "Peace," and "peace" only, can warrant the step. And in connection with "peace n he presents two views, one antecedent, the other subsequent, to the state- ment, that "a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases." A Christian husband or wife sanctifies the marriage tie, and accordingly it was pleasing to God that the relationship should be perpetuated. "I am not the rose," says a Persian proverb, "but I live with the rose, and am therefore sweet." What grace comes to us through the tender associations of life, much of it unconscious, silent and secret, asking no leave, provoking no resistance, floating into us on the air and mingling with our blood, sweetening and purifying we know not how, and all the more precious because our agency is for a while quietly set aside, and the Spirit of the blessed Jesus asserts his Divine supremacy! "Your children," too! The declaration is strong and unequivocal: "They are holy." Age was before the Fall; childhood eame after; and childhood had not been possible but for the promise of the "Seed of the woman" antedating her other offspring. "Of sueh is the kingdom of heaven." Baptism does not create this holiness, but acknowledges its existence, and testifies, on the part of God and on behalf of the Church, that" your children" are in Christ and therefore "holy." What a motive this, that the marriage relation in these " ruixed marriages" should be main- tained! What an appeal to instinct, to memory and hope, to all the truest and noblest sentiments which are the strength and stay of home I All the grandest influences of Christianity come from the heart of Christ to our hearts; and whenever intellect is perplexed and doubts arise and logic confesses its weakness, we fall back on the great, sure, primal instincts of the heart, and work thence and upward into light and assurance. "Your heart shall live for ever," and because it shall "live for ever," it lives now amidst intellectual conflicts and bewildering questions with an inherent testimony to Christ and his truth such as could only spring from the immovable con- sciousness of its immortal birthright. Turn now to the subsequent statement con- tained in the sixteenth verse. Hatred and contentions may arise; if incurable," peace" must be had by separation. But St. Paul is exceedingly anxious to prevent a sever- ance of the marriage tic, and hence appeals to the believing husband or wife to con- tinue in the holy relationship in view of the possible salvation of the unbelieving partner. By some learned men this interpretation is contested. According to their view, St. Paul meant to express uncertainty, to throw doubt on the sacred utility of the marriage union with regard to its prospective bearing on the salvation of the unbelieving party, and virtually to advise the believer to look after his or her own spiritual interest. This is not like St. Paul. It is not in accord with his generous solicitude to impress upon the parties the sanctity of their union. It is at variance with the declaration that Christianity recognizes the sanctificaliun of the unbelieving party by the believing. It conflicts with his statement concerning the "holy" chih!ren, or at least abates much of its force as a reason why the marriage shonhl not be disrupted. Congruity must be maintained, and congruity in this instance-so H  2:16 'l'I-IE FIRST EPISTLE TO 'l'HE CORIN'l'HIANS. [en. vn. 1-40.