Verse 16. For what knowest thou, etc. The apostle here assigns a reason why the believing party should not separate from the other needlessly, or why he should not desire to be separated. The reason is, the possibility or the probability that the unbelieving party might be converted by the example and entreaties of the other.

Whether thou, etc., How do you know but this may be done? Is there not a possibility, nay, a probability of it, and is not this a sufficient reason for continuing together?

Save thy husband. Gain him over to the Christian faith; be the means of his conversion and salvation. Comp. Ro 11:26. We learn from this verse,

(1.) that there is a possibility that an unbelieving partner in life may be converted by example of the other.

(2.) That this should be an object of intense interest to the Christian husband or wife, because

(a) it will promote the happiness of the other;

(b) it will promote their usefulness;

(c) it will be the means of blessing their family; for parents should be united on the subject of religion, and in their example and influence in training up their sons and daughters; and

(d) because the salvation of a beloved husband or wife should be an object of intense interest.

(3.) This object is of so much importance, that the Christian should be willing to submit to much, to bear much, and to bear long, in order that it may be accomplished. Paul said it was desirable even to live with a heathen partner to do it; and so also it is desirable to bear much, very much, with even an unkind and fretful temper, with an unfaithful and even an intemperate husband, or with a perverse and peevish wife, if there is a prospect that they may be converted.

(4.) This same direction is elsewhere given, 1 Pe 3:1,2.

(5.) It is often done. It is not hopeless. Many a wife has thus been the means of saving a husband; many a husband has been the means of the salvation of the wife. In regard to the means by which this is to be hoped for, we may observe that it is not by a harsh, fretful, complaining temper; it is to be by kindness, and tenderness, and love. It is to be by an exemplification of the excellency of religion by example -- by patience when provoked, meekness when injured, love when despised, forbearance when words of harshness and irritation are used, and by showing how a Christian can live, and what is the true nature of religion; by kind and affectionate conversation when alone, when the heart is tender, when calamities visit the family, and when the thoughts are drawn along by the events of Providence towards death. Not by harshness or severity of manner is the result to be hoped for; but by tender entreaty, and mildness of life, and by prayer. Preeminently this is to be used. When a husband will not hear, God can hear; when he is angry, morose, or unkind, God is gentle, tender, and kind; and when a husband or a wife turn away from the voice of gentle entreaty, God's ear is open, and God is ready to hear and to bless. Let one thing guide the life. We are never to cease to set a Christian example; never to cease to live as a Christian should live; never to cease to pray fervently to the God of grace, that the partner of our lives may be brought under the full influence of Christian truth, and meet us in the enjoyments of heaven.

{b} "save thy husband" 1 Pe 3:1,2 {2} "how knowest" "What"