We will be convening here at the ZigZag café, Suisse, on Thursdays for conversation and dialogue. I invite you to stop by every Thursday for the question of the day. Your thoughts and participation are most welcome. Pull up a stool, avec un café, un thé, ou un chocolat chaud, et un croissant, and join in here on Thursday at the ZZ café.
For today:
Does the Bible forbid a believer to marry an unbeliever?
10 comments:
I think it depends upon how one reads it. While there were prohibitions in the torah, many kings married out of the faith. Hannah's sons married out of the faith. Caleb married Rahab. Much of the Old Testament was written down during the Exile in an effort to try to explain how this (the Assyrian conquest of Israel and the Babylonian conquest of Judah and the destruction of the temple) could have happened to God's chosen people. Ezra and Nehemiah came to the conclusion that these foreign spouses brought their foreign gods and the people prostituted themselves to those gods, therefore the foreign spouses in the remnant would have to be expelled.
Paul speaks against it, but then, Paul speaks against much. Does Paul forbid it? Not as I read him. He just warns against it, but he also recognizes that many of his church-homes had such "mixed" marriages.
Carter,
Thanks. Good observations. The OT points are interesting. Paul seems to be more concerned about the problem of idolatry than forbidding mixed marriages.
The "unequally yoked"passage that it's often tied to this conversation it's not, interestingly, specifically talking about marriage. However, what it's a marriage if it isn't a partnership? I don't know that the Bible outright forbids inter-faith marriage, but it does seem to strongly advise against it.
Renea,
Thanks. Excellent point about the 2 Corinthians passage. It seems the Bible does say this type of marriage would be unwise, but falls short of a clear mandate forbidding it.
Thanks, Greg. Sorry about all the typos... silly autocorrect. I should have paid closer attention.
I Cor. 7:39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
Does "only in the Lord" mean something to the effect of her marriage being within the Lord's will or specifically that the husband must be "in the Lord" (a believer)? I don't know, but if the verse above does not forbid believers to marry unbelievers, I still consider it unwise. I have to think that the Lord's design of marriage in which the two become one flesh (Gen 2:24) would be satisfied most fully if the two were also of one heart and mind.
Certainly once married a Christian ought not to pursue divorce if the unbelieving spouse "consents to live with him/her" (I Cor. 7:12+13)
Ben,
Thanks. Good point. I think 1 Cor 7:39 wants to emphasize that the woman has a free choice to make up her own mind and therefore does not have to accept family or traditional demands, and that it would make a lot of sense to marry a believer. Perhaps, it is offered as a wise suggestion, without being a command.
I Corinthians 10:23--“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.
The Walk,
Thanks. This is an important verse and to be kept in mind.
The Walk,
Thanks. This is an important verse and to be kept in mind.
Post a Comment