For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
Parallel translations
- WEB For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
- BSB How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
- NKJV 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?
- NASB For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
- NLT Don’t you wives realize that your husbands might be saved because of you? And don’t you husbands realize that your wives might be saved because of you?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A believing spouse cannot be sure whether staying will lead to the other's salvation. It matters because, read either as hope or as humility, it shapes how a believer regards an unbelieving partner.
Overview
This verse is read two ways by faithful interpreters: as a hopeful reason to stay (you may yet win your spouse to Christ) or, in context with verse 15, as a humble admission that one cannot guarantee the other's salvation, so peace may mean release. Either way, it acknowledges the limits of our control and entrusts the unbelieving spouse's salvation to God. The believer is called to faithful witness, not anxious certainty.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Pet 3:1–2Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
- 1 Cor 9:22To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
- Rom 11:14If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
- Luke 15:10Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
- Jas 5:19–20Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
- 1 Tim 4:16Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
- Prov 11:30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 7:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.