November 20 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

1 Corinthians 7:1-7

¹Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
²Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
³Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
⁴The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
⁵Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
⁶But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
⁷For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

Devotional:

The church at Corinth was having problems with sex. All around was promiscuity. In the midst of that there was a reaction. Some either did not marry at all or else refrained from sex within marriage. The people had written to Paul for advice. What was his response?

First Paul speaks to the single person, assuring him that it is quite right to choose not to marry. It is good, fine, commendable. But he warns him that, in the face of the immorality and temptation on every side, marriage, monogamous marriage, is generally preferable to remaining single. Man has a need which God implanted and which God designed should be met within marriage.

Then Paul speaks to married couples. He warns that they, too, must be aware of the problems and temptations around them. They must not turn ascetic, but realize the plan of God for mankind, and find their joy and fulfilment in each other, not fearing to give themselves to each other freely. He suggests that an exception may be made when they agree to set aside a special period for prayer, in order that marriage may not hinder the maintenance of their own personal relationship with God. But the general rule should be that there is freedom for the exercise of their conjugal rights.

Paul goes on in the sixth verse to clarify his original statement concerning marriage. He wants to be sure that the Corinthians do not interpret his words as a command to marry. Rather, they have the right, they are permitted to marry. It is just that they do not have to exercise that right. He, as a single person who was free to travel for the Lord and whose absence or whose persecution would not cause hardship to a wife or children, was of the opinion that the single state has a real advantage during dangerous days in the history of the church. The Lord had given him, furthermore, the special gift of continence, and this was for the furtherance of the gospel.

These verses are often held up to scorn and are presented as evidence that Paul had a low estimate of marriage. But is it not clear in the context of the writing that this is not the case?

Recall, too, the high view of marriage which Paul sets forth in Ephesians 5! Indeed, it was because Paul had this high view of marriage that he warned against marrying lightly, without the ability to maintain the relationship in the responsible way that God designed. This warning is for Americans as well as Corinthians.