In these chapters,
Paul begins to respond to questions of practical Christian living raised by the
Corinthians themselves: re marriage and sex (ch 7), food offered to idols (ch
8) and money (ch 9). All life is here…
At first reading,
chapter 7 is the sort of passage that gives the Apostle a bad name among his
critics. Frequently Paul is (wrongly) accused by some of having a low view of
marriage and an even lower view of women, and the present chapter is said to
justify and fuel such antagonism.
However, Paul is answering a query (v1) asked by a 'pro-celibacy' group
in the church who seem to be arguing that those who avoid marriage, or at least
refrain from sexual activity within marriage, are more 'spiritual' than those
who live as husband and wife. There may be more than a hint of the common but
unhelpful pagan Greek notion that the 'spirit' was more important than the
'body' lurking in the background.
While Paul concedes
that there may be some advantages to the believer living the single life for
the sake of the Kingdom - they are freed up from fulfilling necessary domestic
priorities and responsibilities - he is in no way denigrating marriage. Balance his cautious and contextual response
here, with his wholehearted endorsement and encouragement of marriage in
Ephesians 5:21-33.
Rather, Paul's
emphasis throughout this chapter is to help the Corinthians see that the most
significant matter about being a Christian is not our marital status, cultural
background, whether slave or free, or anything else like that (v17-22); but
that we belong to Christ and that we devote ourselves wholly to Him in whatever
circumstances we live as God has given them (v7,35). This is why Paul can commend the single life
to some and married life to others.
Positively, God can
use marriage to further His redeeming purposes in people's lives: humanity's
instinctive (God-given) sexual desires are fulfilled and temptation to sin is
avoided ((v2,5,9,36); children are brought up within a loving covenantal family
framework to know and love the Lord (vv14); and unbelieving spouses may be
reached with the Gospel as the believer wisely and prayerfully lives out the
Gospel before their eyes (v16). But all believers - whatever their marital
status or circumstances - and this is the important thing - are called and
equipped by God to advance His life-giving, loving purposes to those around
them.
Regarding the eating
of food that has been previously offered to idols in pagan rituals (chapter
8; see also Romans 14, for this was a
regular issue among the churches), Paul affirms that idols are 'nothing' (8:4),
and therefore, eating such food is not a sign of brash spiritual recklessness
or immaturity. However, those converted
believers who are sensitive to this matter, especially because of their Jewish
background, may well initially struggle to accept this change of approach that
the Gospel now allows. Paul's overriding
concern is that no Christian brother or sister should be tripped up in their
walk with the Lord by another believer's selfish - if permissible - behaviour
(v11-12). The real question to ask as a
Christian is not: What am I permitted to do? The correct question is: What, out of love, will I do or stop doing, for the
good and blessing of others? As
the Gospel transforms us, then loving and building up our brothers and sisters
In Christ becomes more important than personally indulging and fulfilling our
own rights and privileges as believers.
Jesus gave up what He was entitled to hold onto for us (see Philippians
2:4-8).
In that light, Paul
also foregoes his legitimate, apostolic rights (9:4,6-12) for the good and
upbuilding of others. Such intense and
sustained selflessness arises when we are gripped by Jesus' love for us. As the athlete trains hard to compete to win
the prize, so Christians are motivated and sustained in their love for Jesus
(v24-26) so as to complete the race marked that He has marked out before them
in order to win the final victory of resurrection life that awaits (v25).
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