1 Corinthians 7:1-16

I definitely won't have time to write on the entire chapter today (It's 39 verses long!). But I'll get through as much as I can, stopping at 16 or 24 depending... Here we go!

The Classic Opening Verse: #1 ~ "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." That sounds radical, but it's actually a Jewish eupemism for intercourse. So... It is good for a man - and we'll use the English euphemism - not to sleep with a woman. Paul is referring to single people here, as in the next verse, he condones marriage in order to avoid immorality. In the next few verses he goes over how sexuality in a Christian marriage should be. Married people can read verses 3-5. I'll just move on. In verse 6, Paul clarifies that he is not commanding people to get married (i.e. Marriage is not required for the believer. It would not be sin for a man to remain unmarried his entire life). On the contrary, Paul wishes that all men could be single like him, but each man has his own God-given abilities (7/8). He agrees that it would be better for them to fulfill their passions the way God created them to be fulfilled than to remain single and unable to concentrate on working for the Lord.

The next section (verses 10-16) is about faithfulness in marriage. Verses 10 and 12 might seem confusing, like Paul is denying inspiration in verse 12 but affirming it in verse 10. However since this is Scripture, and all scripture is God-breated (2 Timothy 3:16), we know then that this cannot be the case. John MacArthur says that what Paul means by these phrases is that verses 10 and 11 are him reaffirming what God has already stated in older Scriptures, while verses 12-16 are new information coming through Paul. That makes sense.

Verses 10 and 11 are pretty straightforward. Christian couples are not to divorce. And if they do for any reason other than marital unfaithfulness (see Matthew 5:32), they are to remain unmarried to anyone else or be reconciled again to eachother. Paul makes it clear in verse 11 that neither partner has special priveleges for divorce (e.g. The woman isn't allowed to divorce, but if the man wants to he can). You have to clear this up with people. No loop holes.

Verses 12-16 address unequally yoked couples. Being married to an unbeliever (hopefully due to a conversion after marriage) is not defiling, and the Christian is to remain faithful to their spouse if s/he is willing. In verse 13 Paul once again clarifies that this applies to both the believing husband and the believing wife. Neither has special priveleges over another in divorce. Verse 14 should not be mistaken with salvation, although it can sometimes be including in the "sanctification." By saying that the unbelieving spouse is sanctified by the believing one, he means that the blessings received by the saved spouse will pour over and be shared with the unsaved. The same is said of the children. One Christian spouse will bless the children and possibly save them. The Christian parent doesn't need to fear what the non-Christian might do to make the children "unclean," but remain faithful.

He also then says that if the unbelieving spouse wishes for divorce, the believing one need not hold on (although I can't imagine it would be easy to simply let them go). Paul is speaking morally here in verse 15: the believer doesn't have to worry about sinning because a divorce is occurring. He says they are "not under bondage in such cases." Also, the believer need not be preoccupied with saving their spouse: that is not their job. There is no guarantee that they will be the one to save their spouse anyways. God decides who is saved, so it would be better to be at peace with that believer than to create more strife by resisting the separation.

A common theme in these verse is contentment. We as Christians should be content with our social or marital or whatever status that God has placed us in. There is no need to fight the circumstances God has placed us in, but we need to trust Him and do our absolute best to serve Him wherever and however we are: in this case, single or married. I as a highschooler can be content with simply being single and being able to serve the Lord with all my heart, without loyalty owed to another person. I don't need to worry about searching for a girlfriend or getting married because God has provided my singleness as a blessing and a time to focus on growing in Him (possibly even to prepare for such a relationship). My job is to wait on the Lord, and I can do so eagerly with great anticipation and excitement. What a way to live!

"My soul waits for the Lord
More than those who watch for the morning -
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning."
~Psalm 130:6