1 CORINTHIANS - Chapter 7
1 CORINTHIANS – Chapter 7
Sunday Evening Service
November 18, 2012, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
I know there must be some kind of hero’s award just for attempting to teach this Chapter. “Fools rush in where angel’s fear to trod” or something like that. It is a very important chapter especially in view of the church being under attack by the liberal Homosexual agenda and even this week the adultery of General Petraues.
This chapter is specific to the challenges of the coming persecutions facing the Corinthian church. Paul has suffered much for the preaching of the gospel. He knew the advantage of being single. He was free to flee on a moment’s notice. If he got caught, he didn’t have to think about a wife or fatherless children. Paul didn’t have to be careful. He could risk his life with abandon, as he did when he made that fateful trip to Jerusalem.
Missionary work is dangerous today, but in the time of the early church, it was dangerous just to be a Christian.
The apostle has now finished dealing with the matters brought to his attention such as: The divisions in the church, taking each other to court and immorality. He is now ready to answer their questions which had come to him in the form of a letter and will touch on such subjects as marriage, divorce, celibacy and food offered to idols.
In chapter 6, he dealt with the libertines who felt that everything was permissible applying their freedom to sex in particular. This has evolved today into the sect of our society known as liberals.
He will now deal with those who feel that sexual relations in any form were to be shunned. Paul validates marriage stipulating the mutual responsibilities of husband and wife and the relation of these to their spiritual lives.
To understand Paul’s teaching in relation to Grace as opposed to Law, two facts must be remembered:
- Ascetic practices of denial were highly esteemed, demanding among other things a celibate life. We can assume Paul is answering the question, “Is marriage to be permitted?” Paul replies, recognizing many advantages of celibacy, but maintaining too the virtue of marriage. Paul is not writing a treatise on marriage, but is answering their question within the context of current attitudes and the circumstances of the day.
2. A balanced picture of the Christian concept of marriage is to be gained from a study of the New Testament teaching as a whole.
(a) The wedding in Galilee – Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding by turning water in to wine. (John 2: 1-11).
(b) Marriage is compared to the relationship of Christ and the Church-- Eph. 5.
(c) 1 Tim. 5:14: “I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house and give the enemy no occasion for reproach.”
(d) Heb. 13:14: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”
1 Cor. 7: 1-2: “Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.”
This is not a reflection of a low view of marriage or even that celibacy is Holier than marriage. Paul is here a realist, not a mere theorist. His attitude is defined in Eph. 5: 21-33: “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.”
This is loud and clear, each man…each woman. Marriage is between a man and a woman. It cannot, and must not be sanctioned by the church as between man and man; woman and woman. We who are penalized because of this preaching must suffer whatever persecution we must suffer.
Also, in the Corinthian culture, there was no public opinion against casual sex. It was practiced everywhere. Lust was socially acceptable and even encouraged. Paul felt unmarried believers were particularly vulnerable with sexual freedom so much a part of the culture.
1 Cor. 7: 3-6: Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control. This I say by way of concession, not of command.”
A wife is no mere chattel. The relationship is clarified further in verse 4, where the same statement is predicated separately of both husband and wife demonstrating their equality. This scripture suggests that married couples in Corinth were refraining from intercourse on the grounds of mistaken asceticism. Only a limited period of abstinence by agreement, for special devotions, is permissible.
Clearly then, procreation is not the sole purpose of intercourse.
Marriage is encouraged and permitted, but is not a command for all.
1 Cor. 7:7: “I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.”
Marriage, just as celibacy, is a special gift from God. The same word is used for gifts of the Holy Spirit in 12: 4-11.
Paul carefully differentiates on issues where he can appeal to a command of the Lord and where he must rely on the wisdom that God gives him.
1 Cor. 7: 9-11: “I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn. To the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband. If she does leave, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband, and that the husband should not send his wife away.”
The suggestion that Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin and therefore must have been married is hard to substantiate. It is by no means certain that he was a member, nor is it certain that every member of the Sanhedrin in the period before A.D. 70 had to be married. If Paul had once been married, he could now have been a widower.
The Lord spoke to me in 1988 concerning divorce. He spoke specifically about a young woman. I heard that her first marriage had been declared dead. In which case, if the Lord declares a marriage dead, then a divorcee is free to re-marry. Either way, whatever caused the divorce whether adultery, fornication, drugs, physical or emotional abuse is forgivable as is all other sins. The Lord presents us as chaste virgins to Christ through the power of the gospel.
The scripture is clear that the responsibility falls on the Christian woman or man to not be the one who instigates the divorce. Again, exceptions are in place for abuse, adultery and other cruelties.
1 Cor. 7:12-13: “But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, let him not send her away. A woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, let her not send her husband away.”
Paul says he is speaking on his own. He does not have a direct command from the Lord. He is here relying on his own wisdom as the Holy Spirit leads him. On the other hand, if the pagan partner wishes to continue with the marriage, the wife must not divorce him. She is not to take the initiative and seek a divorce. Jewish Law, Roman law and Greek law permitted a wife to divorce her husband. Here Paul is saying Christians should not initiate a divorce as long as the unbeliever wants to stay in the marriage.
One cannot use their salvation as an excuse to break up the marriage simply because you find it rough sledding. If salvation automatically annulled mixed marriages, a lot of marriages would be instantly broken and that would be terrible for the children.
However, children raised with either parent being abusive will either become victims or abusers.
1 Cor. 7:14: ‘For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean and now they are holy.”
The union is sanctified and the children undefiled. “Whatever touches the altar shall be holy (Exod. 29:37); Lev. 6:18). The unbelieving husband in becoming one flesh with his believing partner is sanctified in the wife for the purpose of marriage. If however, the unconverted partner desires a divorce, the Christian is free to permit it.
If the unsaved partner departs, he/she removes themselves from the place of blessing.
1 Cor. 7: 15-16: “Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. 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?
Called to peace is the Grace that unlocks a bad marriage. A lawyer would insist on upholding the letter of the law, as do legalistic Christians. But God is not a lawyer. When one partner turns to Jesus and the other refuses Him, a huge change occurs. When partners fuss with each other; when tempers flare and resentment buildings, it can become a hateful situation.
I have shared with you the vision the Lord gave me of marriage. The man is a living entity in Heaven. The woman is a living entity in Heaven. The soul of the marriage is a living entity in Heaven. Satan brings pain into the marriage with a steady stream of negatives and positives until a demon is formed in the soul of the marriage. The only way to remove the demon is for a time of separation. The Lord showed me separation, but not divorce.
Verse 17 sums up the apostle’s teaching on mixed marriages.
Each one should be content to live out his life according to the state in which he found himself when the Lord called him, and in that state use whatever gifts God has given him in the service of the Lord. This is a rule I lay down in all the churches.
This is spoken with strong apostolic authority.
1 Cor. 7: 18-22: ‘Was any man called already circumcised? Let him now become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in Uncircumcision, Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and Uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.”
The circumcised were the Jews the uncircumcised were Gentiles. Paul never ceased to be a Jew.
Let each man remain in that condition in which he was called. Were you called while a slave, then do not worry about it, but if you are able to become free, then do that. For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he, who was called while free, is Christ’s slave.”
What matters is not one’s temporal state, but one’ spiritual standing and relationship.
1 Cor. 7:23-24: “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. Brethren let each man remain with God in that condition in which he was called.”
As Christians we are set free from the law of sin and death. We are bond slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ and are never to come into bondage to anyone. We are free from our sins. The Lord paid the ransom for our freedom. Those whom the Lord sets free are free indeed.
1 Cor. 8:25-28: “Now when you ask about virgins and celibacy, I have nothing from the Lord on that specific matter, but I will give you my opinion as one whom God in His mercy has trusted with wisdom. In view of the terrible times just ahead, I feel it is wiser for a man to stay unmarried. If you are married, don’t try to be free of your wife. If you are single, then don’t look for a wife. Of course, it you do get married, that is all right with God. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. However, marriage brings problems which compound as the days go by. As I say these things, please understand I am trying to spare you all the problems I can. “
God say, “it is not good for the man to be alone”, so he gave him a helpmate, Eve. The apostle knew that. He was aware that marriage was the very center of life on earth. The Lord made the home before he made the church. I feel sure he is seeing into the times of terrible tribulation and persecution the church went through in the next two decades.
1 Cor. 7: 29-33: With so little time left before we move into those awful days, men with wives should live as though they had none. There isn’t even time for sorrows or rejoicing or buying anything. Those who have discovered how to make it big in this world, should forget all about those skills, because this world as we know it, is about to pass away. I want you free from every kind of worldly concern, and that includes marriage. An unmarried man is free to concentrate on the Lord’s work, but a married man has responsibilities that require him to think about material things in order to please his wife. Thus his focus is divided.”
This is a fine balance that ministers of the gospel who have families continually face. Minister’s wives and children are notoriously neglected and abandoned by the pressures of the ministry. This is one of the reasons so many preacher’s kids go into rebellion. The needs of others take precedent over their own families.
1 Cor. 7: 34-35: The unmarried woman or virgin is free from such worldly concerns and is able to invest her life in the Lord; whereas the married woman is also required to think about worldly things since she has a husband to please. The only reason I tell you these thins it to help you. I am not trying to restrict your lives. I am thinking of what is best for you, to aid you in devoting yourselves to the Lord’s service without any distractions.
Marriage is difficult under the best circumstances, requiring lots of attention and sacrifice. I am inclined to think Paul is here speaking to disciples who are called into full time ministry.
1 Cor. 7: 36-40: “When a man senses he is losing control over his passions and feels he is behaving improperly toward the girl he is engaged to, and yearns to marry her, they should get married. There is no sin in that. On the other hand, if the couple has agreed to remain celibate and the man finds he can keep his desires in check, he will be doing a good thing if he makes up his mind not to marry. In the eyes of God, the man who marries his girl has done well, but the one who chooses not to marry has done even better. As for the wife, she is bound to her husband for as long as he lives, but should he die, she is then free to marry anyone she likes, as long as the man she chooses is a Christian. In my opinion, I think she will be a lot happier if she remains single. And that is not just my opinion; I am confident the Holy Spirit’s witness attends my words.”
“I think that I also have the Spirit of God.”
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from N.A.S. and C. S. Lovett’s Lights on 1 Corinthians; I entered into the labors of F. F. Bruce Bible Commentary and C. S. Lovett’s Lights on 1 Corinthians. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those whom I entered into their labors.