Bible Contradiction? Is it OK to marry unbelievers?

May 4, 2023 by SLIMJIM

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Is it OK to marry unbelievers?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Yes

“But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if any woman has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not [c]divorce her husband. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through [d]her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.” (1 Corinthians 7:12-14)

No, they are unclean

“Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? 15 Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial, or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are [e]the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the website’s track record of inaccurate handling of biblical passages.  See the many examples of their error we have responded to here in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this post, which is what the remainder of the post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages the Skeptic Annotated Bible cited and see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptic here tries to pit 1 Corinthians 7:12-14 which the skeptic claimed “It is ok to marry unbelievers” against 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 which the skeptic claimed “It is not ok to marry unbelievers.”
4. 1 Corinthians 7:12-14 is not saying it is permissible for a believer not yet married to marry a nonbeliever.  Context matters.  1 Corinthians 7:12-14 is situated in the context of 1 Corinthians 7:10-24 that addresses questions about divorce.  Of course divorce assumes one is or was once married.  1 Corinthians 7:12-14 is talking about those who presently are married to a nonbeliever (note the present tense in the Greek with the verbs in verse 12).  In such scenarios one should not divorce if one is already married to a nonbeliever.  That is important to keep in mind, its not straight out saying it is good for a believer to start out in singleness to go out intentionally marrying an unbeliever; rather it is saying those who are married to unbelievers remain married to unbelievers.
5. I do think the skeptic is right to cite 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 as justifying the claim “It is not ok to marry unbelievers.”
   1. Now a bit of nuances; the passage I don’t think is primarily focusing on marriage; that’s absent from the context.
   2. Its talking about close relations (“Koinonia”) in general; but of the closest human relations we can have it is marriage so I think 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 rightly have application concerning not marrying believers.
6. I believe 1 Corinthians 7:12-14 in the context of the rest of the book of 1 Corinthians is in agreement with the principle that believers do not actively go out seeking marriage with unbelievers.  Note 1 Corinthians 7:39 reinforce the truth but indicating believers are to marry believers; in the context Paul allows a widower to marry: “A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband ^[v]is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 7:39)
   1. Note “in the Lord” refer to the sphere of those whom one wishes to be married to.
   2. This “in the Lord” phrase is seen earlier in the chapter in verse 22 and the context reveals it refers to someone who is saved and a Christian.
7. As a human analogy to indicate how this is not a contradiction: It would be wise for anyone to not over-commit with promises to do things.  Making a promise is a big deal.   But that does not mean one should keep their promises when they made promises already.  So a parent teaching a child to be careful not to make promises or even at times not to make promises to certain individuals does not mean its a contradiction the parent says to the child he or she must keep his or her promises to someone.  Its not a contradiction! Likewise here with this case of marriage with unbelievers.
8. There is no contradiction here.  Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
9. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”

https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2023/05/04/bible-contradiction-is-it-ok-to-marry-unbelievers/#more-33987