A Life Worthy

Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches (1 Corinthians 7:-17).

God has put you where you are.

Oh, sure, you have free will, and your actions and attitudes affect your life, but God is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe. If he has called you to singleness for this time, do not waste it by wishing to be married. You might miss out on the joys of serving God with undivided attention. If he has given you a spouse, quit with the daydreaming and the “what if”ing. Rock the Kingdom with your marriage. To borrow from my week-ago self: Don’t worry that the grass is greener on the other side. Just mow your own lawn.

Happy Friday, Beloved

To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified by her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy  (1 Corinthians 7:12-14).

This is a weird passage.

A quick read throws up two things that just don’t work: First, that Paul is contradicting Christ, and second, that your salvation can cover someone else.

Both ideas are wrong, and this is why you need to read more slowly sometimes.

So, the Paul contradicting Jesus part. When Paul says “I, not the Lord,” he is clarifying that, unlike the previous verses which came directly from Christ’s teachings, these words are his own. Inspired wisdom, yes, but not directly from Christ’s earthly teachings. Fear not, Beloved–Paul’s not going rogue.

Now for the weirder part.  Paul reaffirms that marriage is sacred. If a man comes to Christ and his wife is still an unbeliever, his vows still hold; he is not to leave her because of her unbelief.

OK, you’re right–that part’s not weird. But the next part is. Paul says that the unbelieving spouse is sanctified, and the children made holy by the believer. That doesn’t fit with anything we know about salvation by faith and faith alone.

True…but Paul didn’t say anything about salvation, did he? 

If I understand it correctly, Paul is saying that, because the husband and wife are one, God looks upon the unbelieving spouse and children as extensions of the believer, and considers them his people. They are not eternally saved by this relationship, but they are regarded as blessed.  It’s kinda like how, under the Law, ordinary objects could sometimes be made holy by coming into contact with items from the temple. Often it would be the opposite, and the secular  would corrupt the sacred. But sometimes…

This would be one of those times.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved

Now to the unmarried and widows I say: it is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion (1 Corinthians 7:8-9).

This verse is interesting. Paul wasn’t married? But as an adult male who was “advancing in Judaism” as he told the Galatians, he should have been married. Obviously, at the time he wrote this, he was not. So what happened? Did his wife die? Did she leave him because of his conversion to Christ? Was he the rare bachelor Jew? I don’t know, but I find the question interesting.

Back to the passage: Why does Paul say that the unmarried should stay unmarried, if they can handle it? Well, Beloved, singleness gives one an advantage in serving Christ. Your time, your energy, your finances–they are yours to spend as you wish. No one else has a claim on them, except God. You have the freedom to give and to go and to be whatever you choose. Given the unstable situation the Corinthians faced, this might have been the best bet. 

I hear some of you single folk out there thinking, “That’s it. I’ll never get married. God doesn’t want me to.” Be careful. Paul was speaking directly to the Corinthians, and only tangentially to you. Theory situation, and therefore their solution, was not yours.

There is a blessing in singleness. If you are single, enjoy the blessing and employ the blessing. But don’t assume that your singleness is forever. 

God has a tendency to surprise us.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

I say this as a concession, not as a command  (1 Corinthians 7:6).

So there’s a little controversy over this verse.

Specifically, what is the “this”that Paul is referring to?

Is he talking about his last statement, in which he tells couples that they can be apart for a time, but then must come back together? Or is he referring to the whole getting married part? There’s a big difference.  You see, his next words (spoiler alert) will be that Paul wishes everyone were single, so that they could focus on serving God. 

The clear and obvious answer to the question is…I don’t know. The residents of Bible Commentary Land are divided on this one. But this seems to be a moment in which Paul is acknowledging that sometimes times are tough, and the world is crazy, and it’s difficult to know what God wants you to do. In such a time you pray, you employ what wisdom and common sense you have, and you make the decisions that you think will best honor God and advance your own life.

I’m so glad this verse is here. I’m so glad that God understands that we will not always know what is best, that sometimes we fumble around trying to get it right.

Trust God, Beloved. If your heart is for him, his grace will be for you.

Happy Thursday 

The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to herself alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife (1 Corinthians 7:3-4). 

Well, this verse is pretty clear, isn’t it?

Beloved, our society makes a big deal of our rights.

It is rather quiet when it comes to our duties.

If you are married, you have a duty to your spouse. I hope it is a duty that you perform joyfully and with great delight. 

But it is a duty, nonetheless.

Remember a few verses ago, when Paul said that “you are not your own; you have been bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body”?

This is one of the ways to do that.

You know how, in Ephesians, Paul tells husbands and wives to submit to one another?

This would be one way we do that.

There is, of course, the caveat that no one should ever feel forced or pressured into physical intimacy. 

But if you do, perhaps there are other issues in your marriage that you need to address.

Go forth, Beloved, and…honor God.

Happy Tuesday