1 Corinthians 7:1-5 says...
Today's verses are 1 Corinthians 7:1-5, which read,
v.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, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.
We find out in this verse that the Christians in Corinth also wrote a letter to Paul with some questions and this one deals with being single or being married.
There is an advantage to be single for the sake of Christ. Paul gives us the qualification of what he is talking about by the phrase "not touch a woman." That phrase deals with the intimate relationship for only a husband and wife. So the single state that Paul is talking about is one that is holy in all relationships and not participating in the list of sins given in chapter 6.
Because of that list of sexual sins that were happening that Paul gives us in chapter 6, he adds the word "but" which includes another time the Bible gives the definition of a marriage as a husband and a wife. He also adds the distinction of the word "own." You could be a husband but you are not be with someone else wife. If words still mean something in our world, the words used for husband and wife are never given to mean persons other than genetically a husband is a man and a wife is a woman.
v.3, 4 - The husband must 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.
If you are single then you don't have the responsibility of the married couple. The married couple has entered into a covenant that requires submission to each other. The single person is not in that covenant with another so those responsibilities are not a part of his or her life. Those who are married willing give themselves to the other and therefore we say those vows at an altar in the presence of many witnesses.
The single person who is fleeing from sexual immorality and not flirting with it; the single person who has not taken up the ways of the world but is living the ways of God; the single person who is in essence married to God and God alone is totally devoted and submitted to Him the way a husband and wife would be devoted and submitted to each other. This is why marriage is to be seen as an earthly example of God's love for His church.
v.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, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.
We find out in this verse that the Christians in Corinth also wrote a letter to Paul with some questions and this one deals with being single or being married.
There is an advantage to be single for the sake of Christ. Paul gives us the qualification of what he is talking about by the phrase "not touch a woman." That phrase deals with the intimate relationship for only a husband and wife. So the single state that Paul is talking about is one that is holy in all relationships and not participating in the list of sins given in chapter 6.
Because of that list of sexual sins that were happening that Paul gives us in chapter 6, he adds the word "but" which includes another time the Bible gives the definition of a marriage as a husband and a wife. He also adds the distinction of the word "own." You could be a husband but you are not be with someone else wife. If words still mean something in our world, the words used for husband and wife are never given to mean persons other than genetically a husband is a man and a wife is a woman.
v.3, 4 - The husband must 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.
If you are single then you don't have the responsibility of the married couple. The married couple has entered into a covenant that requires submission to each other. The single person is not in that covenant with another so those responsibilities are not a part of his or her life. Those who are married willing give themselves to the other and therefore we say those vows at an altar in the presence of many witnesses.
The single person who is fleeing from sexual immorality and not flirting with it; the single person who has not taken up the ways of the world but is living the ways of God; the single person who is in essence married to God and God alone is totally devoted and submitted to Him the way a husband and wife would be devoted and submitted to each other. This is why marriage is to be seen as an earthly example of God's love for His church.
v.5 - Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
In context, Paul is talking about the area of sexual intimacy reserved between the husband and wife but I would like to pull out a couple other things about the marriage relationship. The first is that the marriage relationship is signified by a one time event but it is maintained by a daily devotion to one another. Even if one area of the marriage that is allowed to be suspended for a time, there has been a time to come and agree about it for a holy purpose. The second is that God is at the center of the marriage. He is referred to and called upon. The third is that Satan is alive and well and attacks marriages. He tempts those who are married just like he tempts those who are single. We can help him out when we rely on our self-control instead of our God-control. Our self-control isn't much but God-control is endless.
Just as the Christian who happens to be single is married to God, so are the Christians who happened to be married is also married to God's word for not only the definition of marriage but the playing out of that life His way. We have given Satan a foothold in many of our Christian marriages because we have varied from what God says on how a Christian husband and wife should be to each other. Those verses in the Bible we have taken as "suggestions" rather than "commands."
"Lord, You have so much more to say on this topic of singleness and marriage and both states are to be honoring unto You. If I am single I will follow Your word on how I will live my life and if I am married I will follow Your word on how I will live my life. I pray that You protect both the single and the married from the schemes of Satan to tear down the relationship that we have with You. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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