This is very confusing, could the unbelievers be saved by the faith of their spouse ?

[R. Hartono]

1 Cor 7:14 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.

1 Peter 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if some do not obey the word, they also may without the word be won by the conduct of the wives.

 

 

 

[Pekoudah]

If the world will be judged by how they treated "the least of these My brethren"...IOW how they helped the saints in time of need (Mat. 25), it isn't too much of a stretch to understand how the family of saints are also justified (even sanctified) for their own support.

The saints are as a light in the world. When in the presence of a saint....there is a presence of God as well...from the eternal life that is flowing from them. An ambassador of heaven is an authority from heaven.

 

It is like being next to a fire. If we are close to the fire do we not feel it's warmth? The saints of God are like a fire that gives warmth to the world. So then salvation comes by the mere presence of these. The kingdom of God comes to be in our midst because of the fellowship of the saints. Where 2 or 3 are gathered there is Christ in our midst. There is salvation...His life and love...present in the world through the saints.

 

Of course we are talking about actual saints...not modern style believers who are walking after the flesh. It must be the ones who are dead to themselves and alive in Christ...so that His life is being manifested through them.

 

Edited June 12, 2019 by Pekoudah

[R. Hartono]

7 minutes ago, Pekoudah said:

If the world will be judged by how they treated "the least of these My brethren"...IOW how they helped the saints in time of need (Mat. 25), it isn't too much of a stretch to understand how the family of saints are also justified (even sanctified) for their own support.

The saints are as a light in the world. When in the presence of a saint....there is a presence of God as well...from the eternal life that is flowing from them. An ambassador of heaven is an authority from heaven.

 

It is like being next to a fire. If we are close to the fire do we not feel it's warmth? The saints of God are like a fire that gives warmth to the world. So then salvation comes by the mere presence of these. The kingdom of God comes to be in our midst because of the fellowship of the saints. Where 2 or 3 are gathered there is Christ in our midst. There is salvation...His life and love...present in the world through the saints.

 

Of course we are talking about actual saints...not modern style believers who are walking after the flesh. It must be the ones who are dead to themselves and alive in Christ...so that His life is being manifested through them.

 

Any example from the Bible ?

[Dennis1209]

1 hour ago, R. Hartono said:

1 Cor 7:14 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.

1 Peter 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if some do not obey the word, they also may without the word be won by the conduct of the wives.

 

 

 

I think Albert Barns puts it in perspective:

Verse 14. For the unbelieving husband. The husband that is not a Christian; who still remains a heathen, or an impenitent man. The apostle here states reasons why a separation should not take place when there was a difference of religion between the husband and the wife. The first is, that the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife. And the object of this statement seems to be, to meet an objection which might exist in the mind, and which might, perhaps, be urged by some, "Shall I not be polluted by such a connexion? Shall I not be defiled, in the eye of God, by living in a close union with a heathen, a sinner, an enemy of God, and an opposer of the gospel?" This objection was natural, and is, doubtless, often felt. To this the apostle replies, "No; the contrary may be true. The connexion produces a species of sanctification, or diffuses a kind of holiness over the unbelieving party by the believing party, so far as to render their children holy, and therefore it is improper to seek for a separation."

[BeauJangles]

21 minutes ago, Pekoudah said:

Of course we are talking about actual saints...not modern style believers who are walking after the flesh. It must be the ones who are dead to themselves and alive in Christ...so that His life is being manifested through them.

Therefore, scripturally speaking, the "saints" are the body of Christ, Christians, the church. All Christians are considered saints. All Christians are saints-and at the same time are called to be saints. 

www.gotquestions.org/saints-Christian.html

[Deborah_]

Interesting question - especially when you bear in mind that Noah's wife and children were saved from the Flood by his faith (theirs is never mentioned), and that not just Rahab but all of her family who took shelter in her house were saved when Jericho was destroyed (Judges 2:17-19, 6:22,23).

Maybe in certain circumstances faith can be a bit like magnetism: if you put a magnet into a box of pins, not just the pins touching the magnet but also any pins touching them can be drawn out by the magnetism (but this effect quickly wears off as you get further away from direct contact with the magnet).

It certainly isn't something that can be taken for granted: Lot's sons-in-law could have been saved along with his daughters, but chose to stay in Sodom (Genesis 19:12-14).

[simplejeff]

21 minutes ago, Deborah_ said:

Interesting question - especially when you bear in mind that Noah's wife and children were saved from the Flood by his faith (theirs is never mentioned), and that not just Rahab but all of her family who took shelter in her house were saved when Jericho was destroyed (Judges 2:17-19, 6:22,23).

Maybe in certain circumstances faith can be a bit like magnetism: if you put a magnet into a box of pins, not just the pins touching the magnet but also any pins touching them can be drawn out by the magnetism (but this effect quickly wears off as you get further away from direct contact with the magnet).

It certainly isn't something that can be taken for granted: Lot's sons-in-law could have been saved along with his daughters, but chose to stay in Sodom (Genesis 19:12-14).

Each person to be saved must be saved by their own faith - the faith of father's cannot save their own sons, as written in Scripture.

 

[Deborah_]

6 minutes ago, simplejeff said:

Each person to be saved must be saved by their own faith - the faith of father's cannot save their own sons, as written in Scripture.

 

That is standard teaching, of course - so how do you explain the salvation of Rahab's family being promised to them (in Judges 2) before they had any opportunity to exercise faith and, indeed, regardless of it?

I don't know how this tension should be resolved, but I find it intriguing.

[simplejeff]

2 hours ago, Deborah_ said:

That is standard teaching, of course - so how do you explain the salvation of Rahab's family being promised to them (in Judges 2) before they had any opportunity to exercise faith and, indeed, regardless of it?

I don't know how this tension should be resolved, but I find it intriguing.

Simple.

What do you think they were saved from ?

[Deborah_]

15 minutes ago, simplejeff said:

Simple.

What do you think they were saved from ?

The judgement of God