Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.
Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.
Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.
What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing. So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.
A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

• 1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

1 Corinthians 7:1 ‘abstinence before marriage’: “Paul begins to address matters that the Corinthians wrote to him about. A literal rendering of the Greek text into English is, ‘It is good for a man not to touch a woman.’ Touching a woman is a euphemism for engaging in sexual activity with her. Thus, for those who are single, abstinence is God’s good plan until marriage. God created sex for marriage between one man and one woman. He designed it and knows best how it is to be expressed. Pursuing it outside of the covenant bond of marriage is sin and will not bring the fulfillment that God intends.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 7:2 ‘sexual activity within marriage is not a sin’: “Since sexual immorality (fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pornography; etc.) is so common, Paul encourages men and women to pursue marriage so that each man may have sexual relations with his own wife, and a woman … with her own husband. Of course, a Christian isn’t to marry just anyone, but to marry ‘in the Lord’ (7:39)-that is, to marry a fellow believer who is likewise submitting to Christ and pursuing his kingdom. But Paul’s main point is to emphasize that sexual expression within marriage is not immorality.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 7:2 ‘mutual relief and restriction’: ”There was a prevailing belief in the Corinthian church that celibacy was the highest form of the Christian life. Those in the church who were unmarried and celibate were pressuring the married people to become just as they were. As a result, some of the married people were divorcing their spouses so they could be ‘more spiritual.’ Paul addressed these misconceptions and, in doing so, gave us some wonderfully helpful principles that are guaranteed-even in this generation-to enhance our marriages.
“The first principle is mutual relief. Paul did affirm the celibate life was good and, in fact, his preferred course for a believer. However, he also acknowledged the majority of people did not possess this gift of celibacy and thus the single life would not work for them. So, Paul advised people to get married in order to relieve the tension that comes from living in a sex-saturated society. There is relief from temptation when you have a happy marriage.
“The second principle is mutual restriction. This notion may seem quaint in a culture that encourages multiple partners and multiple spouses. However, God said, ‘Let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband’ (1 Corinthians 7:2). The principle of mutual restriction says that God’s plan of monogamy works when there is mutual commitment from the husband and the wife to each other for a lifetime of marriage.”

• David Jeremiah, 1 Corinthians (Jeremiah Bible Study Series)

1 Corinthians 7:3 ‘mutual responsibility’: ”The third principle is mutual responsibility. Paul writes, ‘Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband’ (verse 3). Some of the believers in Corinth thought they should cease all sexual activity with their spouses and devote themselves entirely to Christ. As a result, spouses were depriving one another. Paul addressed the problem by stating married Christian couples have no right to withhold sexual intimacy from each other. By this, he was not saying one person had the right to demand sex and the other had to comply. Rather, Paul’s point was that sex in marriage was designed for the fulfillment of each partner. God asks us to freely give this gift to our spouses in marriage.”

• David Jeremiah, 1 Corinthians (Jeremiah Bible Study Series)

1 Corinthians 7:4 ‘normal sexual behavior’: “Normal sexual behavior is summarized by the apostle as an intimacy in which the bodies of husband and wife belong to one another. The phrase ‘authority over’ (Gk. exousiazō, lit. ‘has rights over’) applies equally to both and connotes exclusivity (see 1Co 6:16). Furthermore, neither is to withhold marital rights from the other except for a spiritual pursuit, and that only with consent and limitation (1Co 7:5; see 1Co 6:17). Paul may have been addressing some who were trying to practice celibacy within marriage under the guise of spiritual superiority (1Co 7:5). Nevertheless, Paul is also making clear the importance of physical intimacy in marriage by speaking in the strongest terms (‘deprive,’ meaning ‘defraud’) of sexual abstinence within marriage.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 7:5 ‘deprive’: “Lit. ‘stop depriving each other!’ This command may indicate that this kind of deprivation was going on among believers, perhaps reacting to the gross sexual sins of their past and wanting to leave all that behind. Husbands and wives may abstain temporarily from sexual activity, but only when they mutually agree to do so for intercession, as a part of their fasting. come together again. Sexual intercourse is to be soon renewed after the spiritual interruption. so that Satan does not tempt. Cf. 1 Thess. 3:5. After the agreed-upon ‘time’ of abstinence, sexual desires intensify and a spouse becomes more vulnerable to sinful desire. See notes on Matt. 4:1–11; 2 Cor. 2:11.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 7:6 ‘concession’: ”A better translation of the Gr. would be ‘awareness’ or ‘to have a mutual opinion.’ Paul was very aware of the God-ordained advantages of both singleness and marriage, and was not commanding marriage because of the temptation of singleness. Spirituality is not connected at all to marital status, though marriage is God’s good gift (see 1 Pet. 3:7, ‘the grace of life’).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 7:7-9 ‘Marriage and Family’: “Jewish people regarded marriage as the natural duty of men and women. In line with Jewish tradition, Paul suggested that a person should marry in order to avoid sexual immorality (1 Cor. 7:9). The apostle also understood marriage and celibacy to be gifts of God (7:7). When he advocated remaining single (7:8), he was conscious of people’s usual expectation that adult men, and especially religious leaders, would marry.”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

1 Corinthians 7:9 ‘to burn’: “To burn has been interpreted primarily in two ways: as a reference to the fires of judgment, which might ensue as a result of sexual sin, or as a metaphor for unbridled passions. The latter seems more likely since the emphasis is on self-control and since Paul is here addressing believers.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 7:10 ‘not I but the Lord’: “What Paul writes to these believers was already made clear by Jesus during His earthly ministry (Matt. 5:31, 32, 19:5–8; cf. Gen. 2:24; Mal. 2:16). depart. This word is used as a synonym for divorce, as indicated by the parallel use of the word ‘divorce,’ in v. 11.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 7:15 ‘what about abandoned spouses’: “Ancient interpreters commonly qualified general principles, modifying or interpreting them to account for specific situations. In this manner Paul interprets Jesus’ general principle as needing to be qualified for those who are divorced against their will. In cases in which an unbelieving mate deserted the marriage, Paul declared, the believer was ‘not under bondage’ (7:15).
“In using the phrase ‘not under bondage,’ Paul was echoing the exact language of ancient divorce contracts, which spoke of marriage as ‘binding’ a woman to her husband and divorce as ‘loosing’ or ‘freeing’ a woman for remarriage. Such divorce terminology appears in Jewish texts, such as the Mishnah, and in actual 1st-century Jewish divorce contracts that have been recovered. Ancient readers would have understood ‘not under bondage’ as Paul’s permission for an abandoned person to remarry.”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

1 Corinthians 7:16 ‘when a believer is married to an unbeliever’: “Why should a Christian seek to remain married to an unbelieving spouse? Because the believing spouse just might save the unbeliever through the gospel witness he or she brings to the relationship. Daily exposure to the verbal and visual message of the gospel is a powerful testimony that God might use to bring someone to faith in Christ.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 7:17-19 ‘Live the life given to us by God’: “Paul’s counsel for believers to remain married to unbelievers (7:12-16) is an application of his overall principle that every Christian should live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him (7:17). Whether one is circumcised or uncircumcised before becoming a believer does not matter (7:18-19). Externals are non-essential. What matters is internalizing God’s commands and keeping them (7:19).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 7:23 ‘price’: “The blood of Christ (6:20, 1 Pet. 1:19). slaves of men. This refers to sinful slavery, i.e., becoming slaves to the ways of men, the ways of the world, and of the flesh. This is the slavery about which to be concerned.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 7:29-31 ‘life is short’: “Paul reminded the Corinthians of the impermanence of the world and the shortness of their lives. To describe the shortness of time, Paul used a word (Gk. sustellō, lit. ‘to send together’) that suggested ‘short’ in the sense of all events were drawing together toward the time of the Lord’s return. Therefore, the Corinthians were to keep themselves as free as possible from the ordinary pressures and distractions of life. Marriage, the processes of birth and death, material possessions, and all the other things that belong to this age are of a temporary nature. These are legitimate, but Christians are to view them from the perspective of eternity. Their lives are to focus on the eternal and not on the temporal.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 7:29 ‘time is limited’: “First, this statement warns, next it suggests, then it inspires, and lastly it alarms. Paul warns because if we knew the real worth of time we would shrink from the smallest waste of so precious a thing.  We cannot afford to lose it in senseless talk, idle gossip, or scandals. I wish it could be said of us that we wasted neither an hour of our own time nor an hour of other people’s time. By the brevity of time and by the rapidity of its flight, I admonish all of us to invest each hour in some profitable manner that, when past, it may not be lost. ‘The time is limited’ also suggests that we have no time for dreary intervals spent in wandering and backsliding, for retracing our steps in repenting of evil, for becoming lukewarm and then rekindling our former commitment.
” ‘The time is limited also should inspire us. It ought to fire us with zeal for immediate action. The time to do the deeds we must do, or leave undone, flies swiftly past. ‘The time is limited’ for others as well. I want to ring this sentence louder and louder in our ears that it may inspire us to pray for immediate conversions. Then seeing that ‘the time is limited,’ let us bear with patience the ills that trouble us. Are we poor? ‘The time is limited.’ Does the bitter cold pierce through our scanty garments? ‘The time is limited.’ Is illness beginning to prey on our trembling frame? ‘The time is limited.’ Are we unkindly treated by our relatives? Do our associates revile and our neighbors mock us? ‘The time is limited.’ Have we to bear evil treatment from an ungenerous world? ‘The time is limited.’ Do cruel taunts try our tempers? “The time is limited.” We are traveling at express speed and will soon be beyond the reach of all the incidents and happenings that disturb and distract us. Since ‘the time is limited’ in which we can hold any possessions in this terrestrial sphere, let us not love anything here below too fondly. ‘We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out’ (1Tm 6:7). ‘The time is limited’ should inspire us who are of the household of faith with the most joyous expectations be­ cause its fulfillment is near.
” ‘The time is limited’ also should alarm us. For those who have not believed in Christ and embraced the gospel, ‘the time is limited.’ There is not time enough to spare. Time is rushing on swiftly but silently. It soon will be lost for all eternity.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

1 Corinthians 7:32-34 ‘To Be (Married), or not to Be’: “So often in our society we view being single as a burden. We should be married. We want to be married. Why aren’t we married? That isn’t God’s attitude toward the matter, however.
“As you can see from today’s verses, the apostle Paul viewed marriage as a potential distraction from doing the Lord’s work, and Jesus told His disciples that ‘God helps’ those who stay unmarried (Matthew 19:11). Jesus wasn’t denigrating marriage; He was simply indicating that the unmarried often have greater potential for ministry, as Paul says.
“We spend so much time talking about finding someone to marry. And then we spend a lot more of our time in helping those relationships grow so as to maintain a healthy marriage; and we should do all we can do for our marriages to continue to grow. We need healthy marriages because they are the foundation for healthy families and the health of our society.
“There’s nothing wrong with being married. But take your time. Don’t rush into things if you’re not married, because there’s nothing wrong with being single. Instead of spending so much time on forays designed to find a spouse, spend it with the Lord. You’ll find it easier to stay focused on the Lord and what He has planned for your life-which may include marriage.
“If you are married, you need to make sure you are supporting your single friends as well. Is there someone you can reach out to and affirm as a child of God?”

• Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker, Uncommon Life – Daily Challenge (excerpt from devotion for 15 November)

1 Corinthians 7:35 ‘How do we be more like Jesus?’: “What [does] it mean to be just like Jesus? The world has never known a heart so pure, a character so flawless. His spiritual hearing was so keen he never missed a heavenly whisper. His mercy so abundant he never missed a chance to forgive. No lie left his lips, no distraction marred his vision. He touched when others recoiled. He endured when others quit.
“Jesus is the ultimate model for every person … God urges you to fix your eyes upon Jesus.  Heaven invites you to set the lens of your heart on the heart of the Savior and make him the object of your life.

• Max Lucado, Just Like Jesus

1 Corinthians 7:36 ‘his virgin’: “That is, a man’s daughter. Apparently in Corinth some of the fathers intending devotion to the Lord, had dedicated their young daughters to the Lord as permanent virgins. past the flower of youth. Fully matured as a woman capable of child-bearing. it must be. When daughters became of marriageable age and insisted on being married, their fathers were free to break the vow and let them marry.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

The first statement is quite interesting.  The people in the Corinth church had been under Paul’s tutelage for a year and a half according to Acts 18.  And Paul had six chapters of things that were of higher importance than the stuff the Corinth church wrote to Paul about which spawned this letter.  They were that far off track that they could not see the logs in their own eyes, to borrow the phrase from Jesus at the start of Matthew 7.

Some scholars say that one false teacher was preaching that they should all become celibate.  Thus, Paul starts with the odd statement that husbands and wives should have normal sexual relations.  What might be seen as “duh, does not everyone understand that?” could become a total confusion when a preacher tells them to be celibate.  Within the past century, we have had false prophets convince entire villages into drinking poisoned flavored water.  Being married and becoming celibate seems much less of a stretch.

But since Corinth was a center of commerce, and with that the center of debauchery and sexual indulgence, I can see someone commanding celibacy and then following that with what forms of sexual expression are normal and allowing those.  But celibacy and then moving on to the next town was harsh.

There is archaeological information regarding the nature of the moral decay in Corinth, but look at certain industries today.  The army used to laugh at the fact that somewhere on nearly every army base in the USA there is a swamp and also some high ground, at least a steep hill to climb.  But they do not laugh about how close to the gate into the army base are the strip clubs and “massage” parlors.  I have noticed many strip clubs near steel mills, and the sales managers that I worked with claimed they knew of no steel mills that did not have a strip club in the nearby towns, but the exception might be the only USA steel company that made money between 1990 and 2010.  But that company built steel mills in the middle of corn fields, wheat fields, rice patties, etc.  I went to one of their mills at an exit off the interstate, deep in Mormon country.  The only things at that exit were the steel mill and a gas station.

And no, I have never been inside a strip club, only seeing a stripper once, hired for a party that I had to attend, but I left before she started stripping.  I visited my injured comrades at the hospital instead.

But a man’s body does not belong to himself, but to his wife, and vice versa.  Decisions should never be made in a vacuum.  One partner cannot become celibate to leave the other partner non-celibate, if that’s a word.  This is where Paul talks about Satan’s temptations.  If your blood boils, but your spouse desires celibacy, this can lead to a variety of sins, none involving the actual act.  Thus, for a healthy marriage, the spouses should submit to each other.

In my wife’s case, she became so sick that she announced, to me only, that she was dead inside.  While I still had the desire, she could not respond, and she had no desire to respond.  Whether I accepted that or not, I loved my wife, and we both became celibate.

Paul makes the claim here that he wished everyone could be like he was.  He was happily celibate.  Some experts say that Pharisees, especially highly ranked Pharisees, were married.  As a result of Paul talking about being a Pharisee among Pharisees, many scholars think Paul was a widower.  There is no clear evidence one way or the other.

But if the man or woman burns with desire for the opposite sex, they should get married.  The marriage vows should be until death do they part, not Paul’s suggestion, but God’s Law.  If they divorce, they should never remarry unless it is to reconcile back with their spouse.  They should marry another believer.

But the problem in Corinth, or one of the problems, was that Paul spent a year and a half preaching at the church.  Some families became split.  One was a believer and the other was not.  Paul said to not leave the unbeliever.  The marriages “sanctifies” them and makes the children “holy.”  This may be confusing.  Marrying an unbeliever does not save them, nor does it make them more like Jesus.  Our children are not holy in the sense that God is holy.  But the unbeliever sees the light from the Christian’s daily walk with God and could accept Jesus.  My wife was more “giving” of her time and her heart to worthy causes, with me focused on making a wage to support the family, but she said that my foundation in the Gospel was a leading factor in her becoming “all in” when she accepted Jesus when 49 years old.  That is what the sanctification means.  Having children raised in a Christian home makes them more likely to accept Christ, at least they have heard the Gospel and seen it in action.

Paul gives an exception on the divorce issue if the unbelieving spouse leaves the believer.  In that case, Paul considers that a just reason to divorce (abandonment) and then remarry.

Verses 17-24 are Paul’s plea to not listen to the Judaizers.  Whatever you are before you accept Christ, you are that with Christ in your heart afterwards.  There is no need to change your body.  No work can save you.  Having Christ in your heart saves you by grace through faith.

Paul then speaks of virgins.  If pledged to another, go ahead and fulfill the pledge, but celibacy, in Paul’s view, is the best.  You can devote more time to serving God.  When my wife passed away, one of the last things that she told me was that I would be able to write more for the blogsite.  And that is clear in the number of posts and the length of the posts since her passing.

But what of those who are married?  They have responsibilities that distract from God’s work, but then the family is a big part of God’s work.  But this world, in this form, is dying.  We must make our largest investment in the next world, God’s kingdom.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

1 Corinthians 7 1. Have you seen new Christians (perhaps yourself) make crazy changes in their lives based on new-found ‘freedom’ in Christ? What problems did that cause you, which could have been avoided by applying Paul’s principle? When is pursuing a change in circumstances appropriate?
“2. Paul’s teaching about divorce here primarily relates to the false idea that to be spiritual meant to forego sex (7:1). What principles might he suggest to a person considering divorce for other reasons (e.g., cruelty, neglect, emotional exhaustion)?
“3. How has your marital status (single or married) helped you to serve Christ more effectively? How has it hindered your service?
“4. By his general principle, what is Paul really saying: (a) Change is usually misguided? (b) Think before you act? (c) Bloom where you are planted? How does his principle work in truly unjust situations?
“5. Whether you have never been married, are currently married, divorced, or widowed, what is one way you can show your ‘undivided devotion’ to the Lord this week?

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

First Corinthians 7 has one set of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.