1 Corinthians 7 - Paul's View of Marriage and Sex!

1 Corinthians 7 - NIV

Enduring Word Commentary

Concerning Married Life

7 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 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. 5 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. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 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.

Once again in chapter 7, like in chapter 6, Paul devotes the entire chapter to giving the Corinthians instruction on how they should handle themselves sexually. He gives practical instruction to those who are married, widowed, or single. There have been many misinterpretations of Paul's teaching in this area of sexuality. I think it is important to start out with the fact that Paul is not against marriage, considers sex a gift from God, and wants married couples to have a good sex life. 

My first question then is why does Paul say in verse 7, "It is good for a man to not have sexual relations with a woman." This is a great example of why you have to be so diligent to study and interpret any given passage based on it's context. Importantly, in this example Paul says, "Now for matters you wrote about." So Paul is answering their preconceived notion that man should not have sexual intimacy with his wife. 

Since sexual immorality was so rampant, and because Paul warned them about it, they figured it might be good to avoid sex, even if they were married. Paul corrects this misunderstanding, but also makes the case that in this current time one could give more undivided attention to Lord's affairs, if they were not married. Even when couples want to go through a period of sexual abstinence, he says they should only do it to engage in a focused time of prayer. 

Paul does not see marraige as an unnecessary burden, but he also realizes with the heavy persecution happening to them, being married and having children will have its challenges. Paul advises those not marriage it is certainly okay to marry. But he reminds them that being married requires a big commitment, which also requires a time commitment. But, he doesn't make this a matter of right and wrong. He gives them freedom to marry, especially if they are burning with lust. It is better for them to enjoy the gift of sex within holy marriage, than become entangled in sexual immorality.  Many in the Corinthian culture, even Christians, were engaged in sexual immorality. 

Finally, Paul says that if those who are engaged are being heavily tempted to have sex (verse 36), they should get married. Of course, this is not the only reason to marry someone, but it is a factor according to Paul. 

I find this chapter very refreshing. I appreciate Paul's honesty about a very important topic that is not talked about much in the bible, or the church today. I think this is why we have so many problems related to sexuality today, because we don't have frank or honest discussions based on biblical teaching like today.  

After all, sex is good. How else would we be here? How else would Jesus have been born? God created sex for our enjoyement, but also put up clear boundaries to protect us from serious relational, emotional, and spiritual consequences when we do not respect those boundaries. I am sure you have a library full of examples of the collateral damage caused when God's clear boundariues are crossed! 

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of sex to be enjoyed between a man and a woman in the covenant of marriage. We pray for our marriages that they would be places where we serve each other and enjoy sexual intimacy. We pray for everyone who has experienced the consequences of engaging in sexual immorality. May they experience your grace realizing that sexual sin is not worse than any other sin. Help us all to turn from what we know is wrong in these areas, so we can live freely and serve you with all of our hearts! Amen. 


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