Scripture Queries and Answers: Marrying "Only in the Lord"

1 Corinthians 7:39  •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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Q.-1 Cor. 7:3939The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 7:39). Does this scripture mean that a sister, or a brother, was allowed to marry, if so led, but “only in the Lord,” that is, a fellow-Christian? YOUNG DISCIPLE.
A.-In my judgment the apostle meant more than that. A Christian is called to walk by faith in everything, and how much he needs it in a step so important to his future here below! He might be attracted by a sister, who so differed from himself in habits, circumstances, and age as to make it unseemly for others and unhappy for themselves, but by the still sadder fact of such fleshly or worldly mind as to endanger his soul and his testimony, and all the more, if he had been of spiritual mind or sought to.be. This scripture therefore seems to cover more than the bare fact of being in Christian fellowship, and teaches that the marrying should be in the Lord, that is, guided for their good to His glory, and so by His direction. This appears to be “only in the Lord.”