Passage of the Day - January 10, 2013

I Corinthians 7:12-16

¹² 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. ¹³ And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ 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. 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?

Unclean versus holy, there can be only one or the other.  Let’s not get too distracted by the family circumstances laid out in this passage and let’s focus on the fact that God considers some children unclean and others as holy.  Being children of believers can be holy, but how?  Apparently, God has the authority to declare one to be holy, regardless of age.  If one can be declared holy, or set apart, by God, then why can’t the child be baptized?

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)