To be sanctified is to be made holy, separated unto God for His purpose. As the believing wife is of the Lord and for the Lord, so her unbelieving husband is made holy, sanctified, separated unto God, because he is for his wife, who is of and for God. It is similar to the situation in which the temple and the altar make the common things holy when the latter are attached to them (Matt. 23:17, 19). The same principle applies to the unbelieving wife and the children. For the unbeliever to be sanctified in this way does not mean that he is saved, just as the sanctification of food through the saints' prayer has nothing to do with salvation (1 Tim. 4:5). A saved person is a sanctified person, a saint. Anyone who is attached to him and is for him is made holy because of him.
