Gillihan, Yonder Moynihan.  “Jewish Laws on Illicit Marriage, the Defilement of Offspring, and the Holiness of the Temple: A New Halakic Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:14.”  Journal of Biblical Literature 121 (Winter 2002): 711-44. [Israel/Christian/Marriage/Ritual/Liturgy/ Worship]

This article answers the question of what Paul means when he says the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife, and that the children of such a union are “holy”.  It appears to mean that unbelievers were considered legitimate mates.  In contemporary terms it is almost like saying, common law marriages are recognized and legitimate.  This definition is derived linguistically and in comparisons with similar usages in Jewish literature by the rabbis.  The last third of the article reviews and critiques the three main explanations of this verse in scholarly literature.  (Which seems a little backward from the usual structure of this type of article.)  The essay is helpful regarding the temple in several ways.  It has many useful insights regarding marriage and rulings on marriage in the centuries before and after Christ.  It contains several new references on Jewish marriage.  The most interesting items are the concerns about the purity of the temple being defiled by those who are married to those who are forbidden in Jewish law.  It is pointed out that in early Judaism “contaminating the temple was considered the most severe sin.”  The Book of Jubilees conveys the same relationship between illegal marriage, sexual impurity, mamzerim and the defilement of the temple.  Although, the article does not address in any detailed or systematic way, why this is the case.