“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.”
King James Version (KJV)
7:14 For the unbelieving husband hath, in many instances, been sanctified by the wife - Else your children would have been brought up heathens; whereas now they are Christians. As if he had said, Ye see the proof of it before your eyes.
1Co 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, etc. This passage has been much debated, and little understood. The unbelieving husband or wife is not made personally holy, not do the children of believers have personal holiness transmitted to them by virtue of birth relation. Sanctification, then, means something besides personal holiness. To sanctify is to separate to a sacred use, or relation (Ex 20:8 28:38). Food is "sanctified by the word of God and prayer" (1Ti 4:4,5). Here Paul uses the term to denote that one Christian member of a household brings a sanctifying influence to it, so that all the members are to be regarded as separated in part from the great, ungodly, unclean world. Nehemiah commanded Jews to part from heathen wives on the ground that they were ceremonially unclean (Ne 13:23-27). Paul insists, rather, that the believer cleanses the other, and that the unbelieving partner, or the children, are rendered ceremonially clean. But now are they holy. Brought into such a sacred relation that the unbelieiving partners are under the power of sacred influences, and not to be counted as sources of defilement.
For the vnbeleeuing husband is sanctified by the wife, and the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children vncleane, but now are they holy.
- King James Version (1611) - View 1611 Bible Scan
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
- New American Standard Version (1995)
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
- American Standard Version (1901)
For the husband who has not faith is made holy through his Christian wife, and the wife who is not a Christian is made holy through the brother: if not, your children would be unholy, but now are they holy.
- Basic English Bible
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother; since [otherwise] indeed your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
- Darby Bible
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
- Webster's Bible
For, in such cases, the unbelieving husband has become--and is--holy through union with a Christian woman, and the unbelieving wife is holy through union with a Christian brother. Otherwise your children would be unholy, but in reality they have a place among God's people.
- Weymouth Bible
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.
- World English Bible
For the vnfeithful hosebonde is halewid bi the feithful womman, and the vnfeithful womman is halewid bi the feithful hosebonde. Ellis youre children weren vncleene, but now thei ben hooli.
- Wycliffe Bible
for the unbelieving husband hath been sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife hath been sanctified in the husband; otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
- Youngs Literal Bible