Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from 1 Corinthians 7:8-16.

“But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I.  But if they do not have self-control, let them marry;  for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.

But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.   And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away.  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.  Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave;  the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.  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?”  1 Corinthians 7:8-16.

——————–

My mother died in 1996, and my father died in about 2007.

My father filed papers in Court in about 1977 seeking to obtain a divorce, and my mother fought the divorce.  She did not feel that today’s Scripture (“Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave”) applied, because even after he filed the papers (and could have avoided at least a long and hard fight if he admitted that he was not a believer), he continued to claim that he was a believer.

My father did finally obtain a divorce from the Court in about 1979 after a long and hard fight.

But, in any event, my father’s salvation was most important to my mother.  Even, if my father was not a believer, my mother had hope.

“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband;  …  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?”   Verses 14 and 16.

I think that you could interpret the “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?” which is immediately after the Scripture “Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave;  the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.” as reason for a spouse to let go of her unbelieving husband.  In other words, there is no guarantee by not letting the unbelieving one leave that a spouse could save the unbelieving spouse.

But, my mother accepted my father’s continued claim to be a believer and interpreted both Scriptures as giving hope.

When my mother was permanently in a nursing home close to death almost 20 years after the divorce, and my father had remarried shortly after the divorce and was taking vacations around the world, my mother would repeatedly ask me:  “Do you think he will come back to me?”  And, I would be amazed at her faith and hope, and certainly not wanting to crush her hope, I would say;  “Maybe, Mom.”

My father never did come back to my mother, but, most importantly, I believe my father was saved.  I do not know at what point in time that he was saved.  I do not know if he was saved before he met my mother.  I do not know if he was saved during their marriage.  I do not know if he was saved after their marriage.  But, most importantly, I believe that he was saved before his death.

Today’s Scripture gives hope for spouses who are married to an unbelieving spouse.

“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband;  …  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?”

“In hope against hope he believed, …  Without becoming weak in faith … with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.”  Romans 4:18-21.