14. 1 Corinthians 7:13-16

It’s my privilege to baptize [child] this morning. And for our baptism talk I would like to take another look at 1 Corinthians 7:14. And I want to draw out more than just the infant baptism that is clearly there. I want to bring encouragement to every family. Let’s start reading in verse 13 to see the context.

1 Cor. 7:13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

One of the most exciting things about God’s grace is the way it invades entire families: it extends to wives, to husbands and to children. And it does so in two stages. The first stage is outward sanctification (which means to be set apart). The word “holy” that is applied to the child is the same Greek word as the word for sanctified that is used of the unbelieving husband or wife. It means that the moment a person believes in Jesus, every member of his immediate family is outwardly set apart for the Holy Spirit’s working. And the reason we know it is outward sanctification (rather than inward) is that verse 16 says that this sanctified spouse isn’t saved yet. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? By way of contrast, once a person is saved, he is not just outwardly sanctified; he is also inwardly sanctified at regeneration. But both stages: the outward holiness and the inward holiness are important. And both relate to the presence of God.

In the Old Testament, the closer to God’s Shekinah glory that you traveled, the more holy the people and things were outwardly considered to be. So Israel was the holy land, and within Israel, Jerusalem was the holy city, and within Jerusalem the temple mount was the holy mountain, and then there was the holy temple, the holy place, and the Holy of Holies. And it wasn’t just land that was sanctified to God. Pots and pans were. Now, Batman blasphemes when he speaks of holy cow, and holy this and that. But the Old Testament used exactly that language – it spoke of things being more holy the closer they got to God’s presence in the temple. But it’s just outward. So outward sanctification has to do with God’s presence. But what’s cool about it is that it means that this verse promises that the moment one member of a household gets saved, God has invaded that household with His holy presence. Amen? He is at work in the lives of that family. And what a blessing it is to bring a child into the home of a believer, because immediately that child is set apart; he or she is different. The whole family sits under the influence of God’s grace. As Geoffrey Bromiley summarizes it:

… in virtue of the other’s faith he or she is separated to God . . . and comes into the sphere of evangelical action and promise with a hope of future conversion. But the same is true of the children. (How much more so, one might suppose, when both the parents are confessing Christians.)⁴⁸

But the “otherwise” indicates that the meaning of “unclean” cannot be pushed beyond an outward cleansing either, or we miss Paul’s line of reasoning. If outward holiness is for the purpose of leading the members of the family to faith, then the cleansing that the child obviously had already experienced cannot be a reference to inward cleansing (regeneration). There are two ways the word for (un)clean is used in the Bible: There is outward (covenantal) cleansing such as “the purifying (καθαρος a) of the flesh” by ritual baptisms (Heb. 9:13),⁴⁹ and there is inward cleansing spoken of as the “purifying (καθαρος v) of their hearts” by the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:9). Which kind of uncleanness and cleanness is being talked about in 1 Corinthians 7:14? If Paul were referring to the purifying of the heart, then it would be teaching that children of one believer are automatically saved, and children of unbelievers are not saved. Though some people teach this, I believe it is a contradiction of the context (see above discussion on “holy”) and a contradiction of other Scriptures which insist that we are “born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:13 NIV).

But if Paul is not implying that these children have already been regenerated, then the only other alternative is outward, covenantal purification, or what Hebrews speaks of as the “purifying of the flesh.” And if it is an outward cleansing, it must refer to baptism, since baptism is the only New Testament ritual that is said to purify the flesh. The following are some examples that use this word in 1 Corinthians 7:14 as a synonym for baptism. In John 3:25 (see context of verses 22-26), both John’s baptism and Christ’s baptism was spoken of as a “purification” (καθαρος n). Thus “unclean” is a synonym for “unbaptized,” and clean is a synonym for “baptized.”⁵⁰ Christian baptism is spoken of as having “our bodies washed with pure (καθαρος a) water” (Heb. 10:22). (See Numb. 19:9,13,20-21; 31:23-24; Ezek. 36:25; Heb. 9:13 for the usage of “pure water” or “water of purification” or “purifying water.”) Ephesians 5:26 says, “Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify (ἁγιος v) and cleanse (καθαρος v) it with the washing of water by the word.” This verse teaches clearly that being “sanctified” (set apart for the Holy Spirit’s special working) is not enough for membership in the church, and thus the unbelieving spouse could not be a member even though there is great hope of his/her being saved in the future. Nor is being “cleansed” with the washing of water sufficient, and thus children of unbelievers have no right to church membership even if someone was foolish enough to baptize them. To be a member of the church one must be sanctified and cleansed (1 Cor. 7:14; Eph. 5:26).⁵¹ And Christ is the one who both sets people apart, and who declares them cleansed by water. Example: The Gentiles of Acts 10:28 were called “unclean” (καθαρος neg. a) because they were outside the covenant. But God showed Peter through the vision of the unclean animals, that God had extended the covenant to Gentiles. The Spirit set them apart to God when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit in a very dramatic way (10:44; 11:16). Peter accordingly baptized them into the church with water upon their profession of faith (10:47-48). When the apostles complained about Peter’s eating with these “unclean” Gentiles in Acts 11, Peter tells them the story, emphasizing God’s words, “What God has cleansed (καθαρος v) you must not call common” (11:9). Then Peter explained the incident at Cornelius’ house and ended by saying, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 11:15-16). In this passage, Peter ties the concept of uncleanness to those outside the church, and cleansing is declared to be by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (internal cleansing) and the baptism of water (external cleansing). For other examples where the word used in 1 Corinthians 7:14 refers to outward, ritual cleansing in the New Testament, see Matt. 8:2-3; 10:8; 11:5; 23:25-26; Mark 1:40-42,44; 7:19; Luke 2:22; 4:27; 5:12-14; 7:22; 11:39; 17:14,17; John 2:6; 13:10-11; Rom. 14:20; Tit. 1:15; Heb. 9:22-23. In the New Testament context, 1 Corinthians 7:14 can mean nothing more nor less than, “otherwise your children would be unbaptized, but now they are holy.”

In the Old Testament, the same language could have referred to either ritual baptisms or to circumcision. The word “unclean” is the word that is used to describe the uncircumcised Gentiles (Is. 52:1; 35:8; Acts 10:28). But it is most frequently used in connection with the Old Testament baptisms. Whereas there is only one cleansing rite in the New Testament, there were many baptisms in the Old Testament (Heb. 6:2). Hebrews 9 describes several of these sprinkling ceremonies and calls them “washings” (v. 10 - or literally “baptisms”), each of which “sanctifies [ἁγιος v] for the purifying [καθαρος n] of the flesh” (v. 13). Note the same usage of language as in 1 Corinthians 7:14. As one example of those Old Testament cleansing baptisms, Leviticus 13 uses the same word as 1 Corinthians 7:14 to describe the “unclean” (καθαρος neg. a) state of a man with “leprosy.” This ceremonial uncleanness makes it impossible for him to fellowship with God’s people in corporate worship. He is cast out (Lev. 13:46). If God heals him of his leprosy, he can be re-admitted. Since re-circumcision is impossible, baptism was used as a means of re-admitting him into the covenant community. In chapter 14 he says that the sprinkling of the “waters of purification” or “pure water” or “purifying water” (καθαρος a) upon him makes him “clean” (καθαρος a) (“. . . and he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed (καθαρος v) from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean (καθαρος a)” (Lev. 14:7). Of course, proselyte baptism (of which John 3:22-24 is one example), falls into the category of water being used to declare “unclean” pagans to now be clean, Jews, and full members of the covenant. The examples from the Old Testament are too numerous to list. Being “unclean” in an outward, covenantal sense is well established. Therefore, whether we are looking at 1 Corinthians 7:14 through the eyes of the Old Testament or through the eyes of the New Testament, the phrase, “otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy” means nothing more and nothing less than “otherwise your children would be unbaptized, but now they are holy.” Using the “proof-text” method, we have found at least one verse that clearly teaches infant baptism.

God has a special interest in the children that goes even beyond His interest in the unbelieving spouse. It has to do with covenantal cleansing. Children must remain in their unclean state if both parents are unbelievers. Paul says, otherwise your children would be unclean. Every child of an unbelieving home is an unclean child. But when there is even one believing parent, God not only sanctifies the child (as He did the whole family), but He permits a child to be taken out of an unclean status and into a clean status.

Here’s the million dollar question: What is that clean versus unclean status? Is it outward cleansing or inward cleansing? Those are the only options that you can find in the Old or New Testaments: an outward ceremonial cleansing or an inward spiritual cleansing. So which is it? Lutherans believe it is both. I think the context speaks against that. I believe it is dealing with the outward ceremonial cleansing of baptism. If you do a word study, you will see that the word for unclean is a synonym for “unbaptized.” Over and over again in the Scripture this word for unclean is used for those who do not have the sign of the covenant placed upon them. Cornelius was said to be unclean prior to baptism and clean after baptism. This is the word that is used of John the Baptist’s baptism in John 3, Christian baptism in Ephesians 6, Old Testament baptisms in the book of Hebrews, etc. So you could paraphrase this, “otherwise your children would be unbaptized, but now they are holy.”

So what is the significance of this? Just as there are two kinds of sanctification, there are two kinds of cleansing in the Bible. There is the outward cleansing of water baptism and there is the inward cleansing of Spirit baptism that the water baptism is a sign of. And this here is referring to the outward covenantal cleansing of water baptism. Just as outward sanctification looks forward to salvation (“How do you know O husband whether you will save your wife?” – v. 16), outward baptism (or outward cleansing) looks forward to spiritual baptism (or inward cleansing). And God is sovereign on the timing of that. With John the Baptist, He was baptized with the Spirit in his mother’s womb long before the sign of the covenant was applied. God can bring the thing signified before baptism, during baptism, or long after baptism. He is totally sovereign on the timing. But baptism is God’s promise to be a God to us and to our children after us and it is the parent’s promise to be stewards of what God has claimed.

And Jews would have understood this verse in exactly the way that I have described. This verse means that God continues the infant baptisms that He started in the Old Testament. And this is probably the reason why almost every passage on baptism in the New Testament either explicitly ties the baptism in with the Abraham covenant or mentions the whole household being baptized upon profession of faith by the adult. It’s God’s claim upon our children.

And as the [parents] present [child] for baptism this morning, they are not only trusting God’s promises to be a God to us and to our children after us, but they themselves are making a promise: the promise of verse 16 — to lead [child] to put her trust in Christ. 1 Corinthians 7:14 is an exciting promise that God’s grace invades entire families — extending His reach to husbands, wives and children. And verse 16 is a call for us to take our responsibilities seriously and to lift our entire families up to God and lead them to salvation.

And so, with that as a background, I’m going to ask the [family] to come forward and make their covenant vows before the congregation.