I Corinthians 7

If I were to make a list of difficult chapters in the Bible, difficult both to study and to live, 1 Corinthians 7 would rank near the top.  The chapter contains the Apostle Paul’s answers to a variety of questions that the Corinthians had sent to him.  I do not intend to address each specific circumstance mentioned – nor would I do them justice in a column of this length – but to do my best to overview the main ideas of the passage.

This chapter, like the previous two, addresses Christian sexuality.  Paul ended chapter 6 by commanding Christians to flee fornication – meaning sexual perversion of any sort – in body and spirit, for the believer’s body and spirit both belong to God.  Now Paul addresses very practically the sexual life of the Christian.  His teachings were radical in the godless culture of Corinth; they are radical in the perverse society in which we live.

1)      Single life is good – not because living singly is holier in itself, but because one who is single is able to – must! – devote more time to the Lord and to the church without the distraction of a spouse and/or children (vs. 1, 7-9, 26, 32 – 40).

2)      If a single person has strong sexual desire, he or she must marry (vs. 2, 9).

3)      Marriage is a lifelong bond between two persons (vs. 11, 39).

4)      Sex is – at the very least – a consistent, frequent duty that a married person owes his or her spouse (passages like Proverbs 5:15-23 and the Song of Solomon make clear that this is an obligation that the Christian fulfills joyfully.).

5)      Christians are not to seek to divorce their spouses, as Christ also made clear during his earthly ministry, even if one’s husband or wife is an unbeliever (vs. 10-13, Matthew 19:9).

6)      If a believer is deserted by an unbelieving spouse, he or she must not live enslaved to the guilt of that broken marriage: he or she still has peace with God (Note: The words in this verse “under bondage” come from a different Greek word than the word translated “bound” in vs. 27 and 39, though certain Bible translations render them the same way.)

7)      Parents have authority over their children until they are married, and with regard to when and whom they marry (vs. 36-38.  Note: Some translations render the man in these passages as one who is betrothed to a young woman rather than her father).

As I read I Corinthians 7, two passages jump as out as “keys” that unlock the door to living a life of godly purity.  First, whether one is single or married, the life in which God places him or her is a calling.  Not a relationship – or lack thereof – that exists as a result of his or her own preferences or for the sake of his or her ease in this life.  Men or women are commanded by God to live faithfully and contentedly in the life that God has assigned them.

How is this possible?  Some of us, no doubt, find ourselves in very difficult circumstances: single, with no prospective spouse; married, with trouble; deserted, and lonely.  Paul shows us how in verses 29-31: with an eternal perspective.  This life is short, and our time here, though we be single or married, plagued with sorrow or full of joy, wealthy or poor, passes quickly away.  And it is for eternity that the godly will receive – as singles! (Matthew 22:30) – a gracious reward for living faithfully in their calling.  The idea Paul expresses here corresponds to Jesus’ words in Luke 14: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”