Lesson #09

1CORINTHIANS 7:1-9
Lesson #09
THE ATTRACTIVE BLESSINGS OF LIVING TO GOD’S STANDARDS

• Memory Verse: Eph 5:25

• Review and orientation:
• Before we move forward in 1Corinthians, we need to see the church in relation to society.
• The post-modern society in which we live today:
• In order to understand post-modernism, we are going to look at one aspect of it, the aspect of truth.
• Paul already told us that true wisdom comes from God. (1Cor 2 Lesson #03)
• However, in post-modernism, truth is defined as to whatever the individual decides is truth for him.
• Therefore, each person’s truth is different.
• As a result, there is not one basic standard for truth in modern society.
• The consequences of the many standards of truth in today’s society, prompts the idea of “tolerance” which the world defines as a good character quality to have. Tolerance is a required characteristic for any society to function at all with varying standards of truth. In other words, we must accept any and all lifestyle practices in society because those practices are truth for those people.
• We can see this in the actual dictionary definition of the word, tolerance.
• The current, primary definition of the word tolerance is = a fair and permissive attitude toward others whose race, religion, attitude, opinions, or practices differs from your own. A lack of bigotry.
• The original 1828 English Webster’s Dictionary definition of the word tolerance is = the power or capacity of enduring.
• In other words, from this definition, tolerance is the ability to tolerate something negative.
• Instead of tolerating something positive as seen in the modern definition, the characteristic of tolerance is actually tolerating something negative.
• From the changing definition of the word, tolerance, we get a clear view of how society changes.
• =1= All societies construct a standard of acceptable behavior.
• As long as people live their lives within those standards of acceptable behavior, they are accepted as productive members of society.
• =2= When a person’s behavior moved slightly outside of the acceptable standards of behavior, in the past, it used to be that he was not accepted as a productive member of society.
• Permit me to use two examples that we can clearly see in today’s society, the case of homosexuality and the case of unwed pregnancy.
• In the case of homosexuality, it used to be that this behavior of sodomy was considered a crime severely punished in many states in the United States.
• In the case of unwed pregnancy, it used to be that the child was branded as illegitimate and the unwed mother was branded as an outcast. (The book, “The Scarlet Letter” by Hawthorne is a good example of society in that time period. 1850)
• This degree of intolerance made the standards of society very rigid and often times legalistic. You either conform or you were an outcast.
• In other words, according to the 1828 definition of the word, tolerance, society could not bear or endure unacceptable behavior. Therefore, rigid legalism made people outcasts.
• =3= When a society changes its standard of acceptable behavior to incorporate that which was previously considered unacceptable, that society, step by step, moves itself toward unacceptable behavior and what are now called alternative lifestyles.
• =4= With the growth of post-modern thinking, society has changed the standard of acceptable behavior to incorporate the post-modern concept of truth.
• In other words, anyone’s concept of truth is now tolerated, and no behavior is considered unacceptable because that lifestyle is that person’s concept of truth.
• Therefore, in our two cases of homosexuality and unwed pregnancy, society is told to have tolerance for these lifestyles and these people.
• Society has broadened the standard. We have made the box bigger so that no behavior falls outside the box and no person is branded as unacceptable. Tolerance rules.
• =5= Eventually, with the expanding box of society’s standards, there will be those levels of society that suddenly say, “That’s enough”. They will not tolerate any more changing of the standards to incorporate more and more sinful behavior. That is currently the situation in many Christian churches that follow the Word of God. As a result, society is like a rubber band that has been stretched too far. It suddenly breaks under the strain of an internal, social warfare between the rulers of darkness and the light of Jesus Christ.
• This is the description of the last days of the church age before the rapture of the church.
• How should the church deal with these post-modern concepts in society?
• Some say we should become more restrictive, more legalistic, and more like the way society used to be.
• However, legalism restricts freedom and produces the negative result of one person judging another person, and the result is that some people are considered social outcasts.
• Legalism does not allow for the moving of the Holy Spirit to convict a person of his sins internally so as to change that person from the inside.
• The better method is the Biblical method

:

• The Biblical concept is that God hates the sin but loves the sinner. God does not want any person to be an outcast. That is the reason He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, so that we would all be made acceptable to God through forgiveness and restoration. Without Jesus Christ we are all outcasts.
• Therefore, as Christians, we need to accept people with love and forgiveness without tolerating their sinful practices. This is a delicate balancing act.
• The Biblical concept is that the church should teach God’s firm standards of holiness without enduring the practice of unacceptable behavior (no post-modern tolerance allowed).
• This was Paul’s approach in 1Cor 5 (Lesson #07). He taught us that fornication is sin.
• The Biblical concept is that the church should offer forgiveness and acceptance for repentance. In this way, all are made acceptable and productive members of church fellowship through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. Cleansing, restoration, and acceptance are God’s model.
• Those who, by personal decision, refuse repentance and forgiveness, make themselves unacceptable outcasts. This is God’s concept of free will. Man gets to choose his destiny.
• The Biblical concept is that the church should teach the positive, abundant blessings of embracing God’s holy standards and the negative consequences of unacceptable behavior.
• This is Paul’s approach in 1Cor 7 where he discusses Christian marriage.

• Why did Paul place this discussion about Christian marriage after his discussion about fornication?
• Paul already showed us God’s standards in 1Cor 5.
• From man’s viewpoint, the standards of God are negative concepts of “Thou shalt not…”
• Now Paul will show us the positive blessings of living within God’s standards.
• It is the blessings that are supposed to attract us to the lifestyle that he wants us to live within God’s standards because they demonstrate God’s love and care for us.
• All too often, as Christians, we stress the negative standards and not the positive blessings of living the way God wants us to live.

• Read 1Cor 7:1-9
• Paul answers questions about Christian marriage. (1)
• The Corinthian church had written to Paul asking questions about marriage. We do not have the questions they asked, but we have Paul’s answers.
• Because the morals of the Corinthian Christians were so far away from God’s standards, they did not know how Christian marriage should function. In this and subsequent lessons, we will learn the Biblical model and the blessings of a Christian marriage.
• Paul’s qualifications to answer questions about marriage:
• Is Paul qualified to speak about marriage if he was never married?
• The Bible does not say that Paul was ever married. At the time Paul wrote this book, he was not married.
• However, before Paul came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior, he was a member of the Sanhedrin. One of the requirements for membership in the Sanhedrin was marriage. All Jewish youths were taught that they should marry.
• Therefore, Paul was probably married at one time, but his wife had probably died some time before he wrote 1Corinthians.
• The context of the Corinthian society:
• Corinthian society was based on the teachings of Plato. This was the foundation of the worship of Aphrodite, the sex goddess. The temple of Aphrodite dominated the Corinthian landscape where sex was an integral part of religion.
• Socrates, the Greek philosopher, incorporated in his teachings a tolerance for prostitution. The basic idea of Greek thought was that you get rid of the desires of the body by satisfying them.
• From this idea came the two schools of Gnosticism:
• Stoicism said that the basic desires of the flesh were to be denied.
• Epicureanism said that the basic desires of the flesh were to be indulged to their fullest extent.
• Because of this context of sexual immorality in their culture, Paul tells them that it is better for a man not to touch a woman. (1)
• In other words, if it is possible to remain single without indulging in fornication, it is an acceptable and good lifestyle for a Christian.
• Because of this context of confused sexual practices, the Corinthian Christians thought that all sex was sinful and should be avoided even in marriage.
• The Greek concept of marriage:
• The Greeks believed that marriage was a very practical, daily necessity where the woman was considered no better than a work slave. Therefore, a man had many wives. Each wife took care of one aspect of a man’s life, one wife did the cooking, a second wife did the cleaning, etc.
• For sex, the husband relied primarily on the temple prostitutes in the practice of his religion.
• Paul’s counsel in 1Cor 7 lifts marriage to a higher level and the woman to a higher position.
• Instead of many wives, Paul says that men should have one wife, and women should have one husband. (2)
• Paul elevated the position of women to be equal with man, instead of the level of property or a work slave. (4)
• Paul’s Counsel on God’s Gift of Marriage:
• The Christian marriage is a gift from God.

• In our own culture many years ago, the message to the youth of that time was that marriage was nothing more than a piece of paper. That deceptive message led to a period of “free love” among the youth and the results was an epidemic of AIDS and other venereal diseases, complicated and painful court cases, broken relationships, devastated families, single parent households, abortion on demand, etc.
• We have already discussed the many aspects of the sin of fornication that currently run rampant in our society deceiving our youth with the thought that these practices do not carry severe consequences.
• Paul indicates that a legal marriage is more than a piece of paper. It is God’s gift. (7)

• =1= Marriage is a blessed refuge from a life of sexual sins

. (2) Marriage frees a person from the many aspects of the sin of fornication. Sex within marriage is not sin, but a gift from God.

• The sexual desires that God created in the human body are a gift from God. God created these desires for the purposes of procreation and for the expression of love in marriage. It is in the bond of matrimony that these desires are to be met and satisfied. (4)
• Therefore, Paul counsels young people to marry instead of living lives of sexual promiscuity.
• In verses 5 and 6 Paul gives us his opinion in regards to sex in marriage. He says this is not a commandment, but his opinion. However, later in 1Cor 7:40, Paul says he feels he is speaking from the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
• Sex in marriage should be by mutual agreement and not forced because man and woman are equal partners.
• However, if sex is withheld, when not by mutual agreement, that partner “defrauds” his or her mate.
• What does the word, defraud, mean?
• Defraud means (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary) = to cheat someone; to deprive another person of what is rightfully his either by deception or design; to withhold something that is rightfully due another person.
• Sex withheld opens the door to Satan’s deceptive sins of fornication which undermine Christian marriage and destroy the Christian family.
• =2= Marriage is a blessed commitment that provides security

. (3)

• When youth were told that marriage is only a piece of paper, it successfully stripped away the necessary element of commitment.
• If two people live together outside of marriage, they live without commitment.
• As a result, there is no security in that relationship. Love becomes conditional, easily broken, and easily lost.
• Why is commitment important?
• God models commitment to us when He says that He will never leave us or abandon us.
• Because believers are to become like Christ, faithful commitment is an essential key to relationships.
• Therefore, marriage is the place where that characteristic of faithful commitment is lived out.
• Read Eph 5:22-24
• In the Christian marriage, love is supposed to be unconditional in the same way as God’s love for us.
• The Christian model for unconditional love is 1Cor 13 which we will deal with later in our study.
• The results of conditional love, in secular and Christian marriage, are high divorce rates and easily broken relationships in both the secular and the Christian communities.
• Therefore, Paul counsels the man and the wife to live in benevolence. (3) What does that mean?
• I Cor 7:3 is the only place in the Bible where this word is used.
• According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, it means = to wish a person well, to do good to, a desire to promote happiness in a person, having this attribute which is an attribute of God.
• Notice in verse 3 that Paul mentions the man first and then the woman.
• In marriage, the man is to be the initiator of love and benevolence. He is to understand his wife’s needs mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Then he is to fulfill those needs in benevolence.
• In marriage, the woman is to be the responder of love and benevolence. She is to respond to her husband’s demonstrations of love with benevolence so as to fulfill his needs mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
• Therefore, benevolence is the expression and commitment of unconditional love in a Christian marriage.
• =3= Marriage is sanctioned and blessed by God for our benefit.

• Marriage provides a secure refuge to live a life of commitment and unconditional love on a daily basis without the pressures of falling into the sin of fornication with its consequences.
• Marriage lived in this way provides us with the illustration of God’s relationship with His church. (Eph 5:21-33)
• Commitment
• Security
• Unconditional love
• A Christian marriage is the best model in which children are raised and nurtured so as to come to know the love of God and salvation in Jesus Christ.
• Application from Paul’s conclusion:
• In our study of 1Corinthians, we have just begun to examine Christian marriage. However, we have already gained much in the way of principles for Christian marriage.

• =1=

Due to the fact that marriage is a gift from God, it should be valued and protected.

• In society.
• In the church.
• =2=

For the maximum benefit to both people and the utmost happiness in marriage, it should be lived according to the Christian model of faithful commitment and unconditional love.

• In that benevolent environment, each person can develop and grow in Christ, having all his or her needs met fully. This is the beauty of the blessings of a Christian marriage.
• =3=

Christian marriage is a partnership between two Christian people of equal status before God. (Gal 3:28)

• Mature Christians understanding the concepts of commitment and unconditional love create a more stable environment in the home.
• If both marriage and the single life are gifts from God, then the Christian can choose which is best for him guided by the Holy Spirit for both are equally blessed if lived according to the Christian model. How is the Christian to decide this matter between being married or being single?
• If the Christian struggles with strong sexual desires, he or she should marry to avoid the sins of fornication. (8-9)
• If the Christian does not struggle with strong sexual desires, he should seriously consider dedicating his whole life to serving Christ, just as Paul did.

HOMEWORK
1CORINTHIANS 7:10-16
This is a self study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of 1Cor 7:1-9
• In what way does Paul’s counsel concerning marriage or the single life speak to your own personal situation?
• What changes do you need to make in your thinking or in your actions to live according to the Biblical model that Paul presents in this passage?
• Preparation for 1Cor 7:10-16
• Read 1Cor 7:10-16
• What is Paul’s teaching about divorce?
• What are the beautiful blessings of a Biblical Christian marriage?

Memory verse: Gen 2:24