{"id":390,"date":"2014-07-10T14:13:03","date_gmt":"2014-07-10T18:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/?p=390"},"modified":"2014-07-10T14:13:03","modified_gmt":"2014-07-10T18:13:03","slug":"1-corinthians-7-1-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/1-corinthians-7-1-16\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Corinthians 7.1-16"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 7 Devotion<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

1 Corinthians chapter seven is Paul\u2019s marriage chapter.\u00a0 There is a shift that takes place in the beginning of chapter seven.\u00a0 In the first six chapters of the book, Paul has been addressing specific sins that have been reported to him most likely from the household of Chloe (1:11).\u00a0 With the beginning of chapter seven, Paul now begins to address the concerns of the Corinthians believers.\u00a0 We see that in verse 1, \u201cNow concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me.\u201d\u00a0 It is no wonder that Paul begins with marriage, because it was under attack in his day and it certainly is under attack today.\u00a0 The devil knows that if you want to take down and entire nation and society, attack it at its most basic element which is the family.\u00a0 And so it is no surprise that he would attack marriages and families.\u00a0 This chapter can be broken down into a few sections.<\/p>\n

The first section Paul writes about deals with one reason for getting married.\u00a0 The reason Paul begins to talk about here is sexual intimacy.\u00a0 We must realize that the gift of sexual intimacy is a gift from God.\u00a0 Since it is from God we know that it is good (Gen. 1:31; James 1:17).\u00a0 However, we must understand that it is to be enjoyed within the confines of how God originally designed it.\u00a0 This was something that was a struggle in Corinth and certainly a struggle here in America as well.\u00a0 We can see from Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, and Ephesians 5:31 that sexual intimacy should only take place within the context of a marriage between a man and a woman.\u00a0 God gave mankind sexual intimacy for two primary reasons.\u00a0 According to Genesis 2, one of the reasons is for procreation.\u00a0 However, we can see another reason as well in Genesis 2, Song of Solomon, and here in 1 Corinthians 7 that sexual intimacy is also for enjoyment between a man and his wife.\u00a0 In the first five verses of the chapter we learn that sexual intimacy between a man and his wife is an act of voluntary submission to each other.\u00a0 The gift of intimacy is to keep us from falling victim to sexual sin, which is any form of sex outside of marriage.\u00a0 But it is also so that the wife can meet the needs of her husband, and the husband can meet the needs of his wife.\u00a0 Submitting ourselves to God\u2019s plan for marriage is submitting ourselves to God which is what we are to do.\u00a0 In verse 5 there is the permission for a time of abstention from sexual intimacy, but it must be mutually agreed up, there must be a time frame set, and it must be for the purpose of prayer together as husband and wife.\u00a0 Paul urges it not to be a long time, because in verse five he says we lack self control.\u00a0 Without being too blunt or crude I must say this to both husbands and wives, we must meet our spouses needs or they will find someone who will.\u00a0 I am not excusing or giving an excuse for adultery, but we were created as relational creatures that need intimacy (physical and emotional).\u00a0 We crave it and will find it one way or another.\u00a0 So my marriage advice to have a successful marriage would be this, spend your life fulfilling your spouse\u2019s needs instead of trying to fulfill yours and you will have a happy marriage.<\/p>\n

The second section of the chapter is found in verses six and seven.\u00a0 This is an often misunderstood couple of Scriptures.\u00a0 Some have used it to say that Paul was against marriage.\u00a0 That isn\u2019t true for two reasons.\u00a0 First of all, Paul was obedient to the Bible and the Bible clearly tells us that God created and blessed marriage between a man and a woman.\u00a0 Secondly we know that Paul was a member of the religious establishment in Israel.\u00a0 We learn from Jewish history that a Pharisee was someone who was married.\u00a0 Therefore, we can say with some confidence that Paul at one point would have been married.\u00a0 One of the greatest mysteries in the Bible is what happened to Paul\u2019s wife.\u00a0 The answer, we don\u2019t know and it really doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 Verses six and seven really introduce Paul\u2019s thoughts beginning in verse 17 about being faithful to God in whatever state you are in, whether you are married, divorced, widowed, etc.<\/p>\n

The third section is covered in verses eight and nine.\u00a0 This is advice to the unmarried and the widows.\u00a0 Again Paul is not dogging marriage, but rather saying if you can remain single or a widow and not fall into sexual sin, then you would be better off remaining as you are so you can be fully devoted to the Lord.\u00a0 However, if sexual temptation is going to be a problem, then you are better off to be married.<\/p>\n

The next section is to those who are already married.\u00a0 Paul here deals with the issue of divorce.\u00a0 Another prominent issue in our culture today.\u00a0 Paul plainly says, if you are married stay the way.\u00a0 If you get divorced, stay divorced or go be reconciled to your spouse.\u00a0 One man, one woman for one lifetime is God\u2019s design for marriage.\u00a0 We see that clearly in Genesis and beyond.\u00a0 Many people will say, but in the book of Deuteronomy that God permitted divorce.\u00a0 To that we must say, God permitting something and God sanctioning it are two different things.\u00a0 God granted it because Israel whined that they wanted to be like other nations.\u00a0 This is clearly an example of where man\u2019s free will has created a lot of trouble for us.\u00a0 There is a biblical reason for divorce, for space sake I will not deal with it here, but if you would like to talk about it please feel free to contact me and I am more than willing to discuss it.<\/p>\n

The final section of the chapter that I will deal with is from verses 12-16.\u00a0 This is instruction to all people.\u00a0 This section talks about a believer being married to an unbeliever.\u00a0 Paul is talking specifically about when two people get married and they are both unbelievers at the time of the marriage, but then one of them becomes a Christian.\u00a0 In that case, they should remain married.\u00a0 Paul is not saying it is ok for a believer to marry an unbeliever. In fact Paul argues against that in 2 Corinthians 6:14.\u00a0 The goal of this section is to remind the new believer, that we are to be winsome in our attitude and affections toward our spouse, because God may use us to reach our still unbelieving spouse with the Gospel.<\/p>\n

I want to close this long post by saying this, marriage is not easy. In fact it is hard work.\u00a0 But I am blessed to be happily married, not because Diana or I are perfect, but because before we got married we gave our marriage over to God.\u00a0 There are many people in our church that have been married for many years and they serve as a testimony to the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 That if we build our lives around the principles taught in the Bible, we will be blessed and live a happy life.\u00a0 Marriage isn\u2019t easy, but it is worth fighting for.\u00a0 Remember this, at the end of the day, you are on the same team.\u00a0 Work together to grow closer to God and to each other!<\/p>\n

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 7 Devotion 1 Corinthians chapter seven is Paul\u2019s marriage chapter.\u00a0 There is a shift that takes place in the beginning of chapter seven.\u00a0 In the first six chapters of the book, Paul has been addressing specific sins that … Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[164],"tags":[260,60,113,261,9],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":391,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions\/391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}