1 Corinthians 7

Everything Paul wrote before this sentence concerned issues Paul wanted to address. Apparently, the church in Corinth wrote a letter asking Paul to address specific "things": doctrinal issues...and this was the point in the letter where Paul began to cover these "things." Everything written before this chapter was written to set the context for Paul's answers.

Paul said it was good for a man not to touch a woman. Remember, good meant right and just, and resulted in creating something of value. In the previous chapter, the transitional verse stated that for believers all things were lawful, but not all things were profitable (good/create). Paul set the context in the previous chapter for this very difficult doctrinal discussion. Apparently, Paul was addressing a perspective that men ought to marry, that it was not good for men to abstain from touching women.

Critical Point: The next eight verses (verses 2-9) were from Paul, not God. Paul was speaking by permission, not by commandment (verse 6). Paul would not answer this question according to the Law. Paul's answer focused on profitability.

Remember, the second half of the previous chapter covered fornication. Paul began the previous chapter speaking about settling disputes between believers. Next, Paul compared going outside the church to settle these disputes to fornication. Remember, the definition for "fornication" was "to commit idolatry." Idolatry was "giving one's self to an image." There were two ways to do this:

1. worship another god, and

2. covenantal sexual intercourse with an unbeliever.

Both of these resulted in covenanting with other gods.

In verse 1, Paul stated it was good for a man not to touch a woman. Paul began verse 2 with "But..." Verse 2 was Paul's rationalization why touching a woman could also be "good." In verse 2, Paul stated that in response to people committing fornication (which was catastrophically unprofitable), it would be good for people to marry.

Doctrine: In Marriage, the wife's body belongs to the husband and the husband's body belongs to the wife. Neither person's body belongs to themselves. We, the believers, are Christ's Body because we make up the Bride.

In verse 5, Paul explained how a husband and wife could use "consensual abstinence" as a form of fasting. Remember, fasting is meant to be used to facilitate prayer. In this case, a husband and wife would "fast" from sexual intercourse to facilitate prayer. In fact, the word "defraud" meant "to withhold themselves from one another; to withdraw; take away from."

In verse 6, Paul stated that this rationalization for how Marriage could be seen as good did not come from God; it did not come from the Law. Paul stated he said this by way of concession, along with the next three verses.

Paul implied that remaining unmarried and not burning was the best condition. Paul said he wished all men were as him, however, he did not deny uniqueness. Paul said we all have different gifts, which included our ability to be married. It was better to marry if you "have not continency" (could not contain) because "not containing" would lead to fornication which would lead to "burning." Basically, a person who was gifted for Marriage ought to marry, and a person who was not gifted for Marriage ought not to marry.

These two verses addressed Marriage between believing spouses. God could speak to this situation according to His Law. Jesus also was able to speak to this situation according to God's Law in Mark 10:11-12. This passage actually referenced the Doctrine of putting away when Paul used the word "depart".

"Putting away" was a method of ending a Marriage Covenant and removing one of the spouses from the believing community because of unbelief. According to the Law, divorce was a method of ending a Marriage Covenant with both spouses remaining in the believing community, able to marry other believers.

Putting Away and Divorce are two different concepts.

The Law gave directions concerning divorce. The Law did not give directions concerning putting away. God could speak about Marriage between believers. Verses 10 and 11 stated that believing spouses should not put each other away, otherwise they would be committing adultery when they "married" another, because God would still see them as married. However, Paul stated this commandment from God in the positive: if believing spouses put each other away, they each ought to remain unmarried so as to prevent committing adultery.

Like the commentary for Mark 10:11-12 stated, some translations used the word divorce in place of "depart". Remember, Paul stated these two verses were from God. If God stated that believing spouses could not divorce, then God would be contradicting His Law (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). God would not contradict His Law. "Bibles" that used the word divorce in these verses presented a contradictory God. Unfortunately, many pastors use something other than the Word of God to prevent believers from getting divorced, and then tell people this false doctrine is God's Doctrine.

Paul addressed the situation of Marriage between a believer and an unbeliever. First, this showed that the situation God addressed in verses 10 and 11 concerned Marriage between believers. Second, this showed that, like Jesus in Mark 10:11-12, God was unable to answer this situation according to the Law. In Mark 10, the chapter began with the Pharisees trying/testing Jesus. The Pharisees knew Jesus could not answer the question according to the Law, and they asked the questions in order to trap Jesus. Jesus avoided their trap and answered their questions without telling them whether a believer had to put away an unbelieving spouse. In this passage, God also avoided answering the same questions according to the Law by having Paul answer these questions by permission.

Critical Point: Notice to whom Paul was speaking. People misinterpret this passage when they think Paul spoke to the spouses. Paul was speaking to the church, to the people outside the Marriage. This verse did not say: "...and she is content to dwell with you, do not leave her." Also, Paul stated that people outside of the Marriage ought to allow the believing husband not to leave (put away) her. This did not say that the church ought to prevent him from putting her away. That would have been requiring a believer to remain in covenant with an unbeliever, which would be requiring the believer to commit fornication. Paul was stating that the decision was up to the believing husband. If the believing husband thought the wife was in agreement with the Marriage, then the unbelieving wife was willing to covenant with God through the believing husband.

Again, translations other than the KJV and the ASV used the word divorce in place of "leave". Again, Paul would be proving he did not know the Law if he encouraged believing spouses to divorce unbelievers, which would have allowed unbelievers to remain in community.

The same could be stated about verse 13 as was stated with verse 12, with one crucial addition: when other translations used the word divorce in place of the word "leave", they were stating that Paul did not know the Law. According to God's Law, women were not allowed to divorce men. However, women were allowed to "put away" their husbands.

Verse 14 meant that the children would not be considered unclean (the product of fornication) because of an unbelieving parent. This was stated as one effect of the believer choosing to remain married to the unbelieving spouse. Again, this verse addressed Paul's explanation of fornication in the previous chapter. In the previous chapter, Paul stated that believers having covenantal sexual intercourse with those who worship other gods was fornication. However, Marriage between believers and unbelievers could be fornication if the unbeliever was covenanting with other gods, and it could not be fornication if the unbeliever was open to remaining in the Marriage. In the latter case, Paul stated the believing spouse sanctified the unbeliever so that fornication was not the result of their Marriage Covenant...otherwise, Paul contradicted himself between this chapter and the previous chapter. Again, it looked as if Paul wrote everything prior to this chapter in order to create a context for the questions he knew he would eventually answer.

Verse 15 was the final condition that had to be addressed in a non-contradictory fashion. Paul stated that if the unbelieving spouse put themselves away, let them go. The unbeliever was essentially admitting they did not want to be in covenant with a person who was in covenant with God. Remember, Paul was speaking to the church about a Marriage between a believer and an unbelieving spouse.

Paul saved his ultimate reason for the end of this discussion about his permission. The reason mercy was given to the unbelieving spouse (and the believing spouse) was that no one knew if the Marriage would result in the conversion of the unbelieving spouse. Paul's permission allowed for Marriage to be used as an evangelizing tool. It seemed that the people outside of this Marriage were harassing the believer about having to put away their unbelieving spouse. God's Law could not say that the unbelieving spouse ought to be put away, and it could not say the unbelieving spouse should not be put away because no one knew (not even God) if the Marriage would result in the conversion of the unbelieving spouse.

We should be good stewards of the gifts God has given us. Again, the context had been whether people were gifted for Marriage or not, however, Paul stated this applied to everything God called the person to accomplish, not just Marriage.

Paul used circumcision as an example to prove the actions that matter the most were doing the commandments of God, which ought to lead to people living according to God's Will for their life.

Paul continued his focus on people living according to God's Will for their life, no matter the circumstances. You are a bondservant to something, it is your choice whether it is God or man. Notice, being in bondage to God results in you being a "freedman." Paul concluded this section, like he did with the beginning of this chapter, telling people outside of the circumstances to allow others to live according to God's Will for their life, even if it was not the same as your circumstances and/or calling.

Paul continued speaking from permission when the topic concerned "never married" women. Should they get married? Should they stay unmarried?

Paul stated that no one should change their circumstances because of the stress the believers in the new church in Corinth were experiencing.

Even though Paul encouraged others to be as he was (unmarried), he made sure to emphasize that getting married was not a sin. Paul continued to push others towards their unique gifts. He wanted people to be able to do God's Will the best possible.

The words "virgin" and "unmarried" were used interchangeably, which (again) proves that consensual sexual intercourse is marriage. Paul gave his reason why he would have everyone be unmarried. Those who were unmarried cared for the things of God. The unmarried were able to spend more time doing things for God than married people. The unmarried were able to achieve more Reward through Justice than those who were married. Those who were married would have to spend some of their time focused on their spouse instead of God.

Again, Paul tried to help the reader consider the option that would be best for them uniquely: "what situation will help you focus on God with the least amount of distractions?" If you are gifted for Marriage, then marry. If you are not gifted for Marriage, do not marry.

Paul addressed the custom of that time that allowed the father complete power over his daughter's ability to marry. Paul said that if a father had stated he would not ever let his daughter marry, and then later decided when she was much older that he would allow her to marry, he ought to allow her to marry without feeling guilty. Again, Paul was focused on people living according to God's Will for their lives. Likewise, Paul concluded this topic by also encouraging widowed wives to choose for themselves...

Theme for Chapter 7: Paul began addressing the questions the church in Corinth wrote him about. This chapter covered Marriage. The previous chapters covered circumstances where people were judged. This chapter began with Paul telling the church not to judge a believer for not putting away their unbelieving spouse. Ultimately, Paul wanted everyone to walk in God's Will based on the uniqueness of the individual.