In last week's lesson on I Corithians 7:17-24, the apostle Paul, recognizing the discontentment that was prevalent among the new believers in the Corinthian church, urged them to live, and remain, and to be content in whatever situation they were in when the Lord called them to salvation!  And so, whether one was married or unmarried, or married to a believer or to an unbeliever, he (or she!) should regard his (or her) current state as the place where God--in His sovereignty--had placed them, for the time being, and concentrate on serving the Lord in that state rather than spending their time and energy trying to change it!  Likewise, that "if a man was called when he was already circumcised," he was not to become uncircumcised (as some apparently tried to do), and if uncircumcised, not to be circumcised!  Because, as he later wrote in Galatians 5:6, "neither circumcision means anything (to a believer under the 'New Covenant'), but faith working through love"!
 
Even slaves, Paul noted, "shouldn't worry" about their state, because if they were called in the Lord while a slave, they were actually "the Lord's freedmen"!  And if one was "called while free, he was Christ's slave"!  In fact, all believers, Paul emphasized, should see their station in life, including their occupations, and their relationships, as "Divine appointments" and their vocations as "vocations of God," and therefore not only remain in the places where they were called, but to "bloom where they were planted"!
 
And, most importantly, they were to always remember that they were "bought with a price," and so therefore shouldn't allow themselves to (again!) become "slaves to the ways of the world"!
 
We were reminded about how much the Bible has to say about our "freedom in Christ"!  Paul wrote in Romans 8:1-2, "Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has made you (us!) free from the law of sin and death"!  And in Galatians 5:1 that, "it was for freedom that Christ has set you free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery!"  And how about the beloved disciple John's words in John 8:38, that "if Christ has set you free, you are free indeed'!  Hodge, the Bible commentator, added that "they are only free whom Christ makes free!  Christ, our Redeemer, and the author of our salvation"!  (And so, you may want to shout, as Martin Luther King, Jr. once did: "Freedom now!")
 
But all that was last week!  But the apostle Paul was finished with his "words of wisdom" concerning the marriage relationship, and so had more to say on the subject in our lesson last night on I Corinthians 7:25-40 (in answer to questions the Corinthians had apparently written to him about!)--where he again shows his personal advocacy (and perhaps a bit of "bias") for "some brothers and sisters" to remain unmarried!  Like him!
 
"Now concerning virgins..." the NASV begins! (ESV says, "the betrothed"!  Phillips, "young unmarried women"!)  Having already established "his opinion" in the preceding verses that both marriage and singleness are "good and right," he expresses his opinion again that--"in view of the present distress"--it is good for one to "remain as he (or she!) is!  Are you bound by a wife?  Don't seek to be released!  Are you free from a wife?  Don't seek a wife!  But if you (a man!) marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin (ESV says, "betrothed woman"!) marries, she has not sinned!  Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you!"
 
And so, Paul says that it's better to remain single!  First of all, because of the "present distress"!  (Phillips says, "amid all the difficulties of the present time"!)  None of the commentators seem to know for sure what the "present distress" was, but Constable notes that it may have been some kind of crisis in the Corinthian church, or in the city of Corinth!  MacArthur thinks Paul may have had a sense of the terrible Roman persecutions that would begin with Nero some ten years after Paul's epistle to the Corinthians!  
 
Paul certainly knew what it was like to live in times of great distress!  In II Corinthians 6:4 he describes himself, along with other believers, as living "as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger..." and he goes on!  And he seemed to be making references here as well to the "last days" when there would be even greater hostilities toward believers, along with an increasing apostacy in the church!  Jesus told the disciples (in John 15:18-20) that they were going to suffer persecution and that "if the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you! If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you..."  And then Paul wrote in II Timothy 3:1-5, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come! For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable...lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding a form of godliness, while denying its power"!  
 
Persecution is difficult enough for a single person, but the problems are multiplied for one who is married!
 
Then, another reason for remaining single, Paul writes, is because of "the trouble in this life!  Some versions call this "problems of the flesh"!  MacArthur notes that "it's hard enough for a sinner to live by himself, let along with another sinner..." and, when you have children, with a bunch of "little sinners"! Not to mentions grandchildren! And so, when two people are bound together in marriage the problems of human nature are multiplied!  Marriage involves conflict, demands, hardships, sacrifices, and adjustments that singleness doesn't!  And though ordained by God, good and holy, and fulfilling, there's still the problem of the fallen flesh"!  Gordon Fee writes, that "with all the troubles that the Corinthian believers were already experiencing, who needs the additional burdens of marriage as well?"
 
Then there's "the shortness of time," and the "passing of the world"!  I Peter 2:24 says, "All flesh is as grass, the glory of man is like the flower of the grass; the grass withers and the flower falls away!"  In verses 29-31, Paul says that marriage and all human relationships, emotions, possessions, and pleasures are passing away, should not be "overvalued," and become sinful when they dominate our thoughts and behavior, and detract us from serving the Lord!  And so, even though marriage is God-ordained and sacred, and a picture of Christ's relationship to the church, and blessed, it is not an eternal relationship and only becomes what it ought to be when two people are solely devoted to Jesus Christ! Note what Jesus said, in Matthew 22:30, in answer to a question raised by the Sadducees: "For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven"!
 
Then, relatedly, Paul suggests that, in his opinion, it's better for one to remain single because of the "preoccupations of marriage"!  Both husbands and wives tend to be "overly concerned with the things of the world"!  The husband, "that he might please the wife, and the wife that she might please the husband"! And Paul says in verse 32 that he wants them to be free from the anxieties that go with that kind of lifestyle!  MacArthur notes, however, that "marriage doesn't prevent great devotion to the Lord, and that singleness doesn't guarantee it either!"  But that singleness has fewer hindrances and results (supposedly!) in fewer anxieties!
 
In verses 36-38, Paul appears to be giving advice to fathers who are making vows to keep their daughters as "virgins," and free from marriage (at least as it's interpreted in NASV), while the ESV (and other translations) seem to see Paul giving the same advice to men who are considering marriage to virgins to whom they are betrothed!  MacArthur notes that in the Jewish culture of that day, parents, and particularly fathers, played a dominant role in deciding whether, and to whom their children should marry!  Arranged marriages were the norm!  And so, some fathers in the Corinthian church were apparently committed to dedicating their daughters to the Lord as permanent virgins! Constable notes that the fathers may have made this vow because of what Paul had written or otherwise taught about singleness as the preferable state, or because of the "ascetic influences" in the church that gave a false sense of "spirituality" for remaining celibate!  Or, because of the "present distress"!  (This kind of thinking, in controlling who our children would marry would probably not work so well in the culture of our day!)
 
In any event, the bottom line was that Paul seemed to come to his senses and write that the fathers noted should feel free to change their minds and allow their daughters (who were of age and desirous of getting married!) to marry!  And, if the context is that of a fiancé, for the man to consider marrying the woman to whom he was betrothed!  
 
And finally, the apostle Paul seems to be giving one more reason why it might be better for singles to remain single!  And that's because of the "permanency of marriage"!  "A wife is bound to her husband as long as her husband lives," and likewise for the husband being "bound" to the wife!  Implying that this might be a good reason for a man not to marry!  Ha!  Remember how the disciples responded to Jesus' teaching, in Matthew 19:19, about the permanency of marriage!  "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this," they responded (implying "being stuck" with her for life!), maybe "it's better not to marry"!  
 
And with that, Paul ends his "discourse" on marriage, and divorce, and singleness, with one final shot (giving his own somewhat "biased" opinion) as to why it might be better for some to remain unmarried!
 
Constable sums it up by writing that "his chapter (chapter 7 of I Corinthians) is one of the central passages about marriage in the Bible (the others being Deuteronomy 24, Matthew 5 and 19, and Mark 10).  And it reveals that Paul was not a hard-nosed bigot and advocate of celibacy as some have accused him of being!  He was extremely careful to distinguish his personal preferences in non-moral aspects of this subject from the Lord's will.  Even when the will of God was unequivocal (as in verse 39) he did not 'pound the pulpit' but simply explained God's will objectively!  May all of us who preach and teach on this subject follow his example," Constable concludes!
 
As a sidenote, this passage (and all of I Corinthians 7), at least in my observation, gives a lot better understanding as to why the Catholic church might have chosen to require its priests, and monks, and nuns to live a life of singleness and celibacy (although I could never agree with their judgment)!
 
Marriage is ordained by God from the beginning, for all the right reasons, and what a blessing it is to married to another believer who wants to join in serving and being devoted to the Lord, having a Christian home, and raising children to honor and follow Jesus Christ!  But then too, some may be called, and given the gift of singleness!  Thank God, not me!
 
Men, love your wives!
 
Lowell

"For he who was called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman; likewise, he who was called while free, is Christ's slave!" (I Corinthians 7:22)
 
In last week's lesson, on I Corinthians 7:1-16, the apostle Paul gave instructions and guidelines to the Corinthian believers on marriage and divorce, but also his personal views on the benefits of remaining single (like him!) in order to be unencumbered in serving the Lord.  But because of the immorality that pervaded the Corinthian culture, he called for "each man to have his own wife and for each woman to have her own husband...and for each one to fulfill his or her duties to one another...and, in particular, not to deprive each other (speaking of their sexual relations), except by agreement for a time to devote themselves to prayer; but then to come together again," so that Satan wouldn't tempt them with infidelity!  He also urged the unmarried and widows to remain unmarried, even as he was, but to marry "if they lacked self-control, noting "it's better to marry than to burn"!
 
Moreover, he wrote that "the wife should not leave her husband, but if she did, to remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband...and that the husband should not divorce his wife"!  And, more specifically, that "if any brother had a wife who was not a believer, but consents to live with him, he must not divorce her; and likewise, "if a believing wife had an unbelieving husband"!  For the unbelieving wife or husband "is sanctified through the unbelieving partner," and even the children (he said) are somehow protected in that kind of situation by God "who gives the grace needed"!
 
But Paul also added, that "if the unbelieving one leaves, let him (or her) leave, in which case the brother (or sister) is not under bondage, because the Lord has called us to peace"!  In other words, as MacArthur notes, "the believing brother or sister is then free to remarry another believer"!
 
Jesus, we recalled, addressed the issue of marriage and divorce head-on, in Matthew 19:3-9, in response to a question raised by the Pharisees about "whether if was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?"  And how can we ever forget His timeless reply: "Have you not read (he said) that He who created them made them male and female, and that for this reason a man shall leave his mother and father and be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh!" To which the Pharisees asked: "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and send her away"?  And He answered: "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way!  And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery!"
 
Then we ended last week's lesson by looking at some other timeless principles, in Ephesians 5:22-33, that the apostle Paul gave to believers in the church of Ephesus about how Christian husbands and wives should live together in harmony and peace, and particularly in a troubled world like theirs then (and ours today!) where immorality and family conflict and all kinds of related evil continue to reign: "Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord...and husbands, love your wives, just s Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she might be holy and blameless.  So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies...This is a great mystery; and I'm speaking with reference to Christ and the church.  Nevertheless, each individual among you is also to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband!"  Wow!
 
And that set the tone for our lesson last night, on verses 17-24, where the apostle Paul gives another great principle for living the Christian life, a principle that's just as pertinent for us today as it was for the Corinthians when Paul wrote it; and has to do, basically, with being content "to remain in the place where God has called you"!
 
As background for this lesson, MacArthur writes that "discontent was prevalent among the new believers in the Corinthian church (as noted in verses 1-16) and that, as a result, some wanted to change their marital status, some were considering celibacy, some were slaves who wanted to be free, and some wanted to use their 'freedom in Christ' to rationalize sinning"!  Bremmer adds that "to many Corinthian minds, Christianity must have appeared to be revolutionary in its tendencies! It proclaimed the equality of all men in the sight of God, the temporary nature of earthly things, the approaching advent of the Lord, when a new advent would dawn...and so they were ready to cast off their family obligations, disrupt social ties, and break up every earthly relationship"!  It was in response to this predicament and outlook that Paul gives the basic principle stated in verse 17 (and repeats it for emphasis in verses 20 and 22!), that believers should willingly accept their marital conditions and the social situation into which the Lord has placed them, and where they were when they were called (or saved), and be content to serve there until He would lead them elsewhere!
 
I Corinthians 7:17 begins with, "Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk..."!  And he repeats it again, for emphasis, in verses 20 and 22!  The NIV says "...to live in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them..."!  And Phillips says, "I merely add to the above (i.e., referring back to verses 1-16) that each man should live his life with the gifts that God has given him and in the condition in which God called him" (thus making a connection with last week's lesson)!  And, in making that connection, Constable writes that "whether a person is unmarried or married, or married to a believer or to an unbeliever, the Christian should regard his or her current state as the place where God has placed him or her for the time being...and that he or she should concentrate on serving the Lord in that state rather than spending most of one's time and energy trying to change it!"  And, in that same connection, Paul said that "if a man was called when he was already circumcised, he is not to become uncircumcised (as some apparently tried to do, to be accepted by their Gentile brothers), or if called while uncircumcised, not to be circumcised! "For in Christ Jesus (he adds in Galatians 5:6), neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love"!  
 
And so this principle of "remaining in one's present state applies to being circumcised or uncircumcised as well as to being married or unmarried was (and still is!) secondary to following Christ obediently," according to this passage! (Interestingly, despite this admonition, and to show that there were sometimes exceptions to the rule, Acts 16:3 says that "Paul wanted Timothy (whose father was Greek) to be circumcised when Paul took him with him to minister to the Jews in Derbe"!)
 
"Were you called while a slave?" Paul asks, in verse 21! "Don't worry about it, but if you are able also to become free, rather do that!  For he who was called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman; likewise, he who was called while free, is Christ's slave!"  Wow! What a change in perspective for the believer, regardless of his position, or the circumstances of his (or her) life!  Paul would later write in Ephesians 6:5-8, "Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart!  With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free!"  And, in this same light, we can't leave out Paul's epistle to Philemon, which centers on the runaway slave Onesimus, whom Paul had led to the Lord while in prison!  And as it happened, Oneimus'' owner was Philemon, who was also a Christian, in whose home the church of Colosse met!  And so Paul makes a strong appeal for Philemon to accept Onesimus back, not as a slave but as a Christian brother! 
 
All believers, Paul invokes, should look at their station in life, their occupation, and their relationships as "Divine appointments," their occupations as "vocations of God"!  And therefore "to remain in the place where they were called!  And 'bloom where they have been planted!"
 
And so, Paul is saying, we can live contentedly as Christians in a dictatorship, in a democracy, or even in an anarchy!  We can be Christians whether we are men or women, children or adults, married or single, Jew or Gentile, slave or free!  Whether we live in the United States, Russia, Cuba, or China!  His purpose for believers is not for them to revolutionize society but for Him to revolutionize their hearts and lives, and in that way be an influence it the world around them!  Whoever we are and wherever we are, we can be Christians and serve God's purpose! 
 
We have been "bought with a price," so we shouldn't allow ourselves to be slaves of men,"--meaning "slaves to the ways of the world, according to verse 23, which is the only slavery really "worth worrying about"!
 
Hodge writes that "they are only free whom Christ makes free!  He our Redeemer, and the author of our liberty"!
 
Romans 8:1-2 says, "Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death!"
 
Galatians 5:1 says, "It was for freedom that Christ has set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery!"
 
And John 8:36 caps it off with, "If Christ has set you free, you are free indeed!"  Yea!  Hallelujah!
!
In closing, here are the words to an old Christian hymn that's seems to aptly fit this passage (You may want to sing along with me!):
 
"Free from the Law, O happy condition!  Jesus has bled, and there is remission;
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall; Christ has redeemed us, once for all!
 
(Chorus)  "Once for all--oh, sinner receive it; once for all--oh, doubter believe it; 
cling to the cross, the burden will fall, Christ has redeemed us, once for all!"
 
"There on the cross your burden upbearing; thorns on His brow your Savior is wearing; 
never again your sin need appall; you have been pardoned, once for all!"
 
(Chorus)
 
"Now we are free--there's no condemnation; Jesus provides a perfect salvation;
'Come unto Me, oh hear His sweet call; come and He saves us, once for all!"
 
(Chorus)
 
Children of God--oh, glorious calling; surely His grace will keep us from falling; 
passing from death to life at His call; blessed salvation, once for all!"
 
(Chorus--one more time!)
 
May "the God of all comfort" comfort you all, indeed!
 
Lowell