Text: 1 Corinthians 7:10-16
Memory verse:
”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?“
‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭7‬:‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Let’s discuss further today what salvation isn’t.
Salvation isn’t marriage, nor is it obtained by marriage. The scripture is clear on the fact that salvation is obtained by faith in Christ alone, not by associating with any believer, be it a spouse, parent, sibling, or relative.
Now, there are two possibilities. Firstly, someone from a non-Christian faith who got married to an unbeliever (a Christian by tradition) may assume salvation by that union. No, that is only a change of religion.
Secondly, a believer who is married to an unbeliever may also claim that his or her spouse is saved by that association. Such believer buttresses his claim with 1 Corinthians 7:14 which says, ”For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.“ The unbelieving spouse being sanctified by the believing spouse doesn’t mean the unbelieving spouse is now justified before God through their marital union. Sanctification has two forms, and the first is positional. We were first sanctified when we received Christ to be able to stand before God, so your spouse can’t make you right before God. The second is progressive sanctification, that is, being made more like Christ, through daily mortification of the flesh by the Spirit. This command is given only to those who are already in the right relationship with Christ, that is, the believers. Unbelievers are not called to mortify their flesh but to repent of their sins and accept the Lordship of Jesus (Mark 1:15). Progressive sanctification, therefore, comes only in our union with Christ and not with our spouse (Rom 8:13)
Therefore, sanctification in 1 Corinthians 7:14 is matrimonial and familial sanctification instead of personal or spiritual. It means the family becomes set apart or made holy by the very presence of that Christian spouse. However, this doesn’t mean the spouse and children are automatically saved by virtue of marriage. Rather, it means God blesses the family specially and causes His grace on the believing spouse to extend to them.
Verse 16 points out, however, that an unbelieving spouse might be saved through the witness of a Christian spouse (1 Pet 3:1-2). This also proves that being married to a believer does not automatically bring eternal salvation to an unbelieving spouse.

Prayer points
1. Father, please, show mercy and save the unbelieving spouse of all Your children, in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, please give grace to all Your children with unbelieving spouse to witness Christ by their conduct in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. It is putting one’s faith in Christ that makes one a Christian and not being married to a Christian.
2. God can save an unbelieving spouse through the witness and godly conduct of his or her believing spouse.