Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on 1 Corinthians 7:14
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, etc.] That is, “by the believing wife”; as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, and so it is read in some copies; and likewise in the next clause the same is read, by the believing husband; this is a reason given by the apostle why they should live together. This cannot be understood of internal sanctification, which is never the case; an unbeliever cannot be sanctified by a believer in this sense, for such a sanctification is only by the Spirit of God; nor external sanctification, or an outward reformation, which though the unbelieving yoke fellow may sometimes be a means of, yet not always; and besides, the usefulness of one to another in such a relation, in a spiritual sense, urged as a reason for living together, in (<460716>1 Corinthians 7:16) nor merely of the holiness of marriage, as it is an institution of God, which is equally the same in unbelievers as believers, or between a believer and an unbeliever, as between two believers; but of the very act of marriage, which, in the language of the Jews, is expressed by being “sanctified”; instances almost without number might be given of the use of the word çdq, in this sense, out of the Misnic, Talmudic, and Rabbinic writings; take the following one instead of a thousand that might be produced f114. “The man çdqm, “sanctifies”, or espouses a wife by himself, or by his messenger; the woman çdqtm, “is sanctified”, or espoused by herself, or by her messenger. The man çdqm, “sanctifies”, or espouses his daughter, when she is a young woman, by himself or by his messenger; if anyone says to a woman, yçdqth, “be thou sanctified”, or espoused to me by this date (the fruit of the palm tree,) yçdqth, “be thou sanctified”, or espoused to me by this (any other thing); if there is anyone of these things the value of a farthing, tçdwqm, “she is sanctified”, or espoused, and if not she is not tçdwqm, “sanctified”, or “espoused”; if he says, by this, and by this, and by this, if there is the value of a farthing in them all, tçdwqm, “she is sanctified”, or espoused; but if not, she is not tçdwqm, “sanctified”, or espoused; if she eats one after another, she is not tçdwqm, “sanctified”, or espoused, unless there is one of them the value of a farthing;” in which short passage, the word which is used to “sanctify”, or be “sanctified”, in the Hebrew language, is used to espouse, or be espoused no less than “ten” times. So the Jews f115 interpret the word “sanctified”, in (<180105>Job 1:5) he espoused to them wives; in the Misna, the oral law of the Jews, there is a whole treatise of ˆyçwdyq “sanctifications” f116, or espousals; and in the Gemara or Talmud f117 is another, full of the disputes of the doctors on this subject. Maimonides has also written a treatise of women and wives f118, out of which might be produced almost innumerable instances in proof of the observation; and such as can read, and have leisure to read the said tracts, may satisfy themselves to their heart’s content. Let it be further observed; that the preposition en, which is in most versions rendered “by”, should be rendered “in” or “to” or “unto”, as it is in the next verse, and in many other places; (see <401712>Matthew 17:12 <410913> Mark 9:13) (<510123>Colossians 1:23 <520407>1 Thessalonians 4:7 <610105>2 Peter 1:57) if it be rendered in the former way, “in”, it denotes the near union which by marriage the man and woman are brought into; if in the latter, it design…
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