Be Sensitive to Conscience
This is a shorter passage where Paul introduces the subject of conscience. The commentary suggests that the Corinthians had raised the issue of idolatry, but the precise nature of the question is difficult to determine. Either way, Paul begins by addressing the root problem in this case, pride. "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies." The Corinthians had raised the problem of eating food offered to idols. It seems there were two groups, one who saw nothing wrong with this practice, because afterall there is only one true God. The other group was convicted that this practice was wrong. Now it is difficult to know what the interaction between the two is, but it is apparent that the first group was bold in their practice without regard for their brethren. Paul warns this group about their practice: "But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak." It is Paul's main concern was that the knowledge of this group was being used for prideful reasons instead of allowing their conduct to be guided by love. Paul ends the passage with an extreme but helpful statement, "Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble." We should see the extreme measures we should go to to protect our brethren above ourselves.
On a quick side note, I see this principle manifested with reformed college students in regards to drinking alchohol. It may be ok, because it is not prohibited, but we must be careful for how that "looks" to others and especially to our brethren who are convicted by this practice. This is where the rubber meets the road, will our actions be motivated by love or by pride?
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
1 Corinthians 7
1. Principles of Marriage
2. Marriage Vows and Divorce
3. Live as you are Called
4. To Unmarried and Widows
1. Principles of Marriage
This passage begins with a statement that is probably common among some in the corinthian church; "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." Paul begins his message to them with the idea that although even to him this is true, nonetheless because of sexual immorality, marriage (in it's God given context man-woman union) is the answer.
Paul then goes on to describe the marriage relationship in basic principles that we must remember as married couples. He defines the role of husband and wife as follows: "Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband." The husband doesnt have authority over his own body, but the wife does and vise versa. These two primary points really make us stop and see that the marriage relationship is right away one of sacrafice and service to the other partner. It isn't all easy and fun and games to get married, but a different set of struggles emerges. "Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, yet I would spare you..." This is without a doubt true, that we as married couples really struggle with selfishness instead of sacraficing for one another as this passage indicates. So I have a primary responsiblity to "render to my wife the affection due her". What does this look like?
If we look at another well known passage on marriage, Ephesians 5, we can get some type of practical answer to this. "Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the wahing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle of any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." "Love as you love and nourish and cheris your own body, just as Christ does the church." "Love your wife as yourself" Here it becomes apparent that the "affection due my wife" is one of totally sacraficial living with her best in mind over my own goals and desires. She comes first! atleast before me.
To look a little closer at the idea that I don't have authority even over my own body, I would also look at the previous theme I looked at in ephesians. My body and spirit is not free any longer to pursue it's own goals, rather find out your wife's desires and pursue those. You submit your personal desires to that of your wife. Am I doing that? What are my wife's desires for my body? Also on a side note but extremely important is the idea that if my wife has authority over my body, no other woman can. If you look at it like a slave, well no master would allow his slave to be used by another man. So we have seen that not only are we the temple of the holy spirit, and not only were we bought at a price by God, but also our bodies belong to our spouses. That is three reasons to "flee sexual immorality".
The next major point in this passage is the idea of not depriving one another "except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselve to fasting and prayer;" These are the only two valid reasons for abstaining from the natural function of sexual relations in the marriage relationship. Number one, are we doing those thing to start with? Secondly, Paul hi-lights the importance of doing them when you are not participating in sex in order to guard against the tempter's ways. Satan loves to use our old nature, our lack of self-control to tempt us to sin. I find this concept extremely interesting. If you think about it, our lack of self control is why we were married in the first place: "For it is better to marry than to burn with passion." Now we tend to think we are better than that and do not lack in self control, when we could not be any more wrong. We must recognize that God has given us marriage to complete us and we must use the context of sex in marriage to satisfy our God-given desires, and when we abstain, we must be even more diligent in prayer and perhaps fasting to guard against desires that become even stronger.
The final thought Paul leaves us with is that of wishing we were all as he is, without the burden of these extra concerns by remaining single and committed only to God's kingdom. But he understands God has distributed unique gifts to each one and we must live accordingly.
2. Marriage Vows and Divorce
I will divide this passage up into 2 parts: God's decree concerning divorce and then Paul's application of the principle to a specific situation.
First, God's decree is simply that a wife is not to depart from her husband. But, if she does depart let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. That is the black and white of the situation according to our God. He hates divorce. In this instance Paul may be dealing with some specific issue in the corinthian church where the people were abusing different liberties concerning marriage and divorce. Paul is now writing to correct them and show them what they should be doing.
Paul then goes on to give his advice in a specific situation. I say this because he begins with "I, not the Lord, say:" His first point is that if a couple has one spouse who is not a believer, then the other spouse should not divorce him or her, because the unbelieving spouse and the children are sanctified by the believing spouse. This is an interesting point that I didnt have any understanding of before becoming acquainted with infant baptism. In infant baptism the children are given the all the priveledges of the covenant community, which is a huge blessing. Their will be prayers on their behalf, they will here the Word of God preached, the gospel, they will receive instruction...and as a result will be holy or set apart. In this same way, an unbelieving spouse and children may be sanctified by a believing one.
Paul goes on to bring up the situation of an unbeliever leaving the marriage. This implies that however bad things get, the believer is never to dissolve or depart from the marriage. (is there an exception for adultery?) Paul says in such a case the beliver is not under bondage to pursue them. He then uses a phrase that could be taken either as serious or sarcastic: "For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?" In my opinion as hard as it would be, I would think a main point from my limited reading of scripture would be that it is always desireable whenever possible to uphold the marriage vow whatever it takes! I also acknowledge though that this is not always the case and Paul here and elsewhere has given us practical guidelines to help us with this difficult issue.
3. Live as You are Called
I think it is very interesting that after the discussion on divorce, that Paul inserts this passage on living in our present situation. I could definitely be wrong, but if I just hypothesized for a minute, I could see many in the Corinthian church who had been led astray by a misunderstanding or just by sin concerning divorce and were now in a situation that was prohibited or atleast not desireable. So what do they do now, well Paul is going to tell us (I could definitely be wrong about this because Paul does not specifically reference the marriage problem in his challenge to live as we are called)
I think the main point of this passage is summed up well with the statement: "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commeandments of God is what matters." We are not to worry and complain about our present positions, but rather be good stewards of what we currently have."
4. To the Unmarried and Widows
This is an interesting and kind of difficult passage. There may be and probably is much more to it than I will get a surface reading of it. But to me Paul seems to be continuing with the theme I discussed in the first point. To him it is better to remain unmarried, for the simple reason that the unmarried person's first concern is how they may please God. The married person's first concern is how they may please their spouse. Nevertheless Paul acknowledges the need to be married, mainly to control our passions, but he wishes everyone were as he is, so that he would spare them the troubles in the flesh that marriage brings.
He inserts a final comment about widows...that they are free to remarried to whomever she wishes, but only in the Lord. But she is happier if she remains as she is.
2. Marriage Vows and Divorce
3. Live as you are Called
4. To Unmarried and Widows
1. Principles of Marriage
This passage begins with a statement that is probably common among some in the corinthian church; "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." Paul begins his message to them with the idea that although even to him this is true, nonetheless because of sexual immorality, marriage (in it's God given context man-woman union) is the answer.
Paul then goes on to describe the marriage relationship in basic principles that we must remember as married couples. He defines the role of husband and wife as follows: "Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband." The husband doesnt have authority over his own body, but the wife does and vise versa. These two primary points really make us stop and see that the marriage relationship is right away one of sacrafice and service to the other partner. It isn't all easy and fun and games to get married, but a different set of struggles emerges. "Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, yet I would spare you..." This is without a doubt true, that we as married couples really struggle with selfishness instead of sacraficing for one another as this passage indicates. So I have a primary responsiblity to "render to my wife the affection due her". What does this look like?
If we look at another well known passage on marriage, Ephesians 5, we can get some type of practical answer to this. "Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the wahing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle of any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." "Love as you love and nourish and cheris your own body, just as Christ does the church." "Love your wife as yourself" Here it becomes apparent that the "affection due my wife" is one of totally sacraficial living with her best in mind over my own goals and desires. She comes first! atleast before me.
To look a little closer at the idea that I don't have authority even over my own body, I would also look at the previous theme I looked at in ephesians. My body and spirit is not free any longer to pursue it's own goals, rather find out your wife's desires and pursue those. You submit your personal desires to that of your wife. Am I doing that? What are my wife's desires for my body? Also on a side note but extremely important is the idea that if my wife has authority over my body, no other woman can. If you look at it like a slave, well no master would allow his slave to be used by another man. So we have seen that not only are we the temple of the holy spirit, and not only were we bought at a price by God, but also our bodies belong to our spouses. That is three reasons to "flee sexual immorality".
The next major point in this passage is the idea of not depriving one another "except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselve to fasting and prayer;" These are the only two valid reasons for abstaining from the natural function of sexual relations in the marriage relationship. Number one, are we doing those thing to start with? Secondly, Paul hi-lights the importance of doing them when you are not participating in sex in order to guard against the tempter's ways. Satan loves to use our old nature, our lack of self-control to tempt us to sin. I find this concept extremely interesting. If you think about it, our lack of self control is why we were married in the first place: "For it is better to marry than to burn with passion." Now we tend to think we are better than that and do not lack in self control, when we could not be any more wrong. We must recognize that God has given us marriage to complete us and we must use the context of sex in marriage to satisfy our God-given desires, and when we abstain, we must be even more diligent in prayer and perhaps fasting to guard against desires that become even stronger.
The final thought Paul leaves us with is that of wishing we were all as he is, without the burden of these extra concerns by remaining single and committed only to God's kingdom. But he understands God has distributed unique gifts to each one and we must live accordingly.
2. Marriage Vows and Divorce
I will divide this passage up into 2 parts: God's decree concerning divorce and then Paul's application of the principle to a specific situation.
First, God's decree is simply that a wife is not to depart from her husband. But, if she does depart let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. That is the black and white of the situation according to our God. He hates divorce. In this instance Paul may be dealing with some specific issue in the corinthian church where the people were abusing different liberties concerning marriage and divorce. Paul is now writing to correct them and show them what they should be doing.
Paul then goes on to give his advice in a specific situation. I say this because he begins with "I, not the Lord, say:" His first point is that if a couple has one spouse who is not a believer, then the other spouse should not divorce him or her, because the unbelieving spouse and the children are sanctified by the believing spouse. This is an interesting point that I didnt have any understanding of before becoming acquainted with infant baptism. In infant baptism the children are given the all the priveledges of the covenant community, which is a huge blessing. Their will be prayers on their behalf, they will here the Word of God preached, the gospel, they will receive instruction...and as a result will be holy or set apart. In this same way, an unbelieving spouse and children may be sanctified by a believing one.
Paul goes on to bring up the situation of an unbeliever leaving the marriage. This implies that however bad things get, the believer is never to dissolve or depart from the marriage. (is there an exception for adultery?) Paul says in such a case the beliver is not under bondage to pursue them. He then uses a phrase that could be taken either as serious or sarcastic: "For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?" In my opinion as hard as it would be, I would think a main point from my limited reading of scripture would be that it is always desireable whenever possible to uphold the marriage vow whatever it takes! I also acknowledge though that this is not always the case and Paul here and elsewhere has given us practical guidelines to help us with this difficult issue.
3. Live as You are Called
I think it is very interesting that after the discussion on divorce, that Paul inserts this passage on living in our present situation. I could definitely be wrong, but if I just hypothesized for a minute, I could see many in the Corinthian church who had been led astray by a misunderstanding or just by sin concerning divorce and were now in a situation that was prohibited or atleast not desireable. So what do they do now, well Paul is going to tell us (I could definitely be wrong about this because Paul does not specifically reference the marriage problem in his challenge to live as we are called)
I think the main point of this passage is summed up well with the statement: "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commeandments of God is what matters." We are not to worry and complain about our present positions, but rather be good stewards of what we currently have."
4. To the Unmarried and Widows
This is an interesting and kind of difficult passage. There may be and probably is much more to it than I will get a surface reading of it. But to me Paul seems to be continuing with the theme I discussed in the first point. To him it is better to remain unmarried, for the simple reason that the unmarried person's first concern is how they may please God. The married person's first concern is how they may please their spouse. Nevertheless Paul acknowledges the need to be married, mainly to control our passions, but he wishes everyone were as he is, so that he would spare them the troubles in the flesh that marriage brings.
He inserts a final comment about widows...that they are free to remarried to whomever she wishes, but only in the Lord. But she is happier if she remains as she is.
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