Dear friends,
A church established through missionary work has many basic Christian morality issues to resolve. The old culture, not built on the gospel, will have practices inconsistent with the gospel. But as with most cultures, these practices are assumed rather than thought out. The gospel revolutionises all cultures, and Paul the Apostle is dealing with the marriage cultures of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 7. This episode of Two Ways News is a difficult unravelling of Paul’s advice on several complex issues.
Yours,
Phillip
Phillip Jensen: The King’s Birthday long weekend is soon with us, on the second weekend in June. As usual, we will be holding our conference at Moore College on the afternoon of Monday 8th. This year, we will be looking at the topic of ‘Prophecy Today’. This is a great topic which teaches us how God relates to us by his Word.
Are there prophets today?
Why should we seek to prophesy?
What is it to prophesy?
If prophecy is preaching, should women preach?
If prophecy is not preaching, what is it?
Friends, we will be pursuing many questions as we explore this topic.
Registrations are now open – go to phillipjensen.com and register now; we reserve seats in the hall by registration number. For those living outside of Sydney we have a live stream you can register for, so why not get a group to come and watch with you?
Last week, we spoke on marriage, but we only looked at the first 6 verses of 1 Corinthians 7, which is just the beginning of a long chapter on the subject. It is important to look beyond these verses into the rest of Paul’s teaching about marriage and the complexities of married life.
Peter Jensen: 1 Corinthians 7:7–16
I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
Phillip: We’re tackling a mountain in teaching this passage. It’s a key one for biblical teaching on the subject, but we’re not helped by some of the translation problems here. There has been (and rightly so) a push for ‘dynamic equivalence translation’, which looks for and translates ideas rather than simply words. It is helpful to convey one idea written in Greek into the language of the same idea in English, but it does require an accurate understanding of the original ideas. A failure to properly understand the original ideas in Greek will lead you to a translation which is inaccurate, and a failure there leads to compounded failure in our English translations.
But please do not be worried about your translations as if they’re done in mischief. Though there are some that have been done in mischief, such as the Jehovah’s Witness Bible, in general our translations are done in sincerity by a large and very skilful scholarship behind them. But professional Bible teachers need to know enough Greek and Hebrew to understand and evaluate the translation. I don’t think that every congregation member needs to, but certainly those who would be Bible teachers do, for theological education requires a proper understanding of the original languages. I say this because this passage is one in which I personally failed.
Years ago, in a book I wrote with Tony Payne called Guidance and the Voice of God,1 we failed to check the Greek properly. Some years later a great friend, John Richardson, corrected us in his book, God, Sex and Marriage.2 If Matthias Media ever reprints our book, we’re going to correct our errors.
Peter: What was the problem?
Phillip: It wasn’t just a single problem, like a mistranslated word—though there are several in most modern English translations. It’s the problem of us not travelling from Paul’s context to our Sydney context via Corinth. In other words, we didn’t take into account that the church in Corinth had many unsorted problems, common in missionary churches where the old culture hasn’t yet been Christianised. We live in a very Christianised culture, even though we’ve got so many non-Christians pushing against it. This means that we are familiar with our Christian words and concepts; but when you go back to a non-Christian culture such as in Corinth, when people become Christians, it takes time for them to sort out the false view of life that they have previously held.
Peter: This helps us to understand how we should approach the passage. What are the issues being dealt with here?
Phillip: There are 3 issues brought up: extramarital sex, separation and divorce, and marriage with unbelievers. They all require a Christian view of marriage, which values faithful, monogamous, lifelong families. How the Corinthians wrestled with these topics is slightly different to how we’re dealing with it today, but nevertheless what Paul tells us here, gives us the basis for how we’re to do so.
Peter: Paul gives us principles which we can apply in other situations as well, but we must see them in the light of what he’s talking about. Before coming to these issues, he starts us off with 1 Corinthians 7:7
I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
Usually, people understand the first part as referring to Paul being single, but we know that it’s not his wish that all people should remain single, because he encourages certain people—for example, the younger widows—to get married. He’s not saying that singleness is the ideal Christian pattern, because marriage is also something that he recommends.
Phillip: Telling young widows to get married in 1 Timothy 5 is almost a command. At the end of 1 Corinthians 7, he talks to widows generally about marrying only in the Lord. But what we have here in verse 7 is a general statement.
Peter: Yes; in the first half of the verse, “I wish that all were as I myself am,” we see this distinction between ‘all’ and ‘each’. What Paul wants for all is going to be spelled out for us in verses 17–24, which is best summarised as ‘contentment in Christ.’
But in the second half of the verse, he poses the question as to whether singleness is a gift, or if the gift is marriage. He is not talking here about an internal desire to be single or married. The gift is contentment in the station of life God has given you, whether that’s being single or being married.
Phillip: Contentment is the right way of living, but surely the situation is the gift in a sense, rather than the contentment which we should have with our gift.
Peter: God is in charge of your life, and he has brought you to the state that you’re in at the moment. This is the gift of God, and so he tells us to be content. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get married if there’s an opportunity.
Phillip: No. Verses 17-24 talk about being content in slavery, but that part also tells you that if you get the opportunity for freedom, by all means take it. But Paul also has to learn contentment, both when he has plenty as well as when he has very little. It’s something to learn, and that’s what he’s talking about here.
I agree with you about verse 7 in that the ‘all’ is different to the ‘each’.
Peter: Yes, it doesn’t mean that Paul is saying here, “I have decided I will never get married.” Rather, singleness is in the role to which God has called him, and in the life experience he’s had, so he learns to be content within it.
Peter: What does he mean by, “I wish that all were as I myself am”? Does that mean ‘contented’?
Phillip: Yes. But then we turn to 3 particular problems.
The first is the issue brought up in verses 8–9 of extra-marital relationships, addressed to the unmarried and the widows. 1 Corinthians 7:8–9
To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
But the original Greek says, “But if they’re not exercising self-control, they should marry. For it’s better to marry than to burn.” So the key here is the mistranslation of the verb, and the addition of those two final words, “with passion.” Paul is not talking about people being unable to exercise self-control, but about people who are not exercising self-control. It’s not a hypothetical problem about an internal struggle; in Corinth, there were unmarried people and widows, and possibly widowers, who were having extra-marital sex. Why they weren’t getting married, we don’t know. It is possible that remarriage was considered to be ‘unspiritual’, as we talked about last week regarding asceticism. But Paul’s direction is that, if you’re in a sexual relationship already, you should get married. For it’s better to do that than to burn.
What could he mean by “burn”? Our translation adds in “with passion”, but that’s because they’ve already added in the concept of lacking self-control and being tempted internally. It could mean “burn with shame,” or “burn in punishment.” But it’s extraordinarily helpful advice for pastoral decisions in an evangelistic setting. Here in Sydney these days, many people who get converted are already in sexual relationships. What do we say to them? Do we tell them to separate? Do we tell them to stop it? Do we tell them to get married? Or do we say, “It’s all right, stay the way you are”? In previous generations, it wasn’t really a pivotal issue; but today, any pastor who’s in an evangelistic church will see couples who are living together. What should they do? Paul’s advice is to get married.
Peter: How about the second issue of separation and divorce?
Phillip: 1 Corinthians 7:10–11
To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
Again, the rise in divorce in our society over the last 50 years has made this a much more pressing issue for us pastorally. The troubled waters of Christianity in this new age have made it one of the most painful and difficult pastoral areas within congregational life. Here are 7 points that I would like to raise:
This is addressed to Christians who are already married. It’s not to divorcees or to the unmarried. The unmarried have been dealt with in the previous verses.
This is a command from the Lord. Paul is not saying that his other points don’t matter; in fact, he later on goes to say that he has the Spirit of God. But this is something that he has a clear word on, for we know from Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 that Jesus says you should not divorce.
The command, according to the Greek, is “not to separate,” or “not to put away.”
There are occasions, such as in cases of domestic violence, when it’s the right course of action to separate.
The word ‘divorce’ in English means ‘the right to remarry’, whereas the phrases ‘to separate’ or ‘to put away’ do not necessarily convey that idea. Here in this passage, it is explicitly stated that separation does not mean that you have the right to remarry. The phrase he uses for the husband is ‘not to put away’ which is slightly different to the phrase used for the wife, ‘not to separate’. Maybe that is because the husband had greater financial legal responsibilities or different rights within Roman law. But given the rest of the New Testament, it cannot mean that either the husband or the wife have the right to remarry.
Therefore, the purpose of the separation is not for marrying somebody else. It does not mean you can say, “Husband A is not doing too well for me, so I’ll drop Husband A and move to Husband B.”
When you separate, you are to stay single; if singleness is too hard, then you’re to seek reconciliation with your husband. So the concept of divorce in the modern English sense of the word is not what is lying in front of us in the passage. It talks of separation. The question of divorce and the right to remarry is an important subject, but this is not the passage to find it in.
Peter: You haven’t mentioned adultery. If a husband leaves his wife and then marries someone else, is she free to remarry?
Phillip: Yes, but that’s because of Matthew 5, not because of 1 Corinthians 7.
Peter: That’s why you’ve got to look at the whole subject, not just this passage.
Phillip: Yes. When Christians are married to each other, they shouldn’t separate. But if they do—for there are some relationships that can’t be sustained—then they should stay single. If they can’t stay single, then they should get back together rather than seeking another partner. Because marriage is a lifelong commitment, whether you are conducting it while separated or while being together.
Paul accepts the fact that there are some relationships that can’t be mended, but each party still has responsibilities. There are still the oaths that you’ve given, which you should stick to even if you can’t work out how to be reconciled with your spouse. It’s a hard passage.
Peter: Indeed, and we probably need to think through this independently because the passage doesn’t answer every question.
Phillip: No, but it is central to the whole subject, for it answers the question of what we say to Christians who are married. The answer is, “don’t separate,” because marriage is for life.
However, what do you do when the marriage is between a believer and an unbeliever? Especially in an evangelistic context, one spouse may get converted while the other spouse remains unconverted.
Peter: I’ll follow your example by providing 5 points:
Paul’s advice is given because, as he is at pains to points out, Jesus didn’t speak of this situation. This doesn’t mean that his advice is not the word of God, but he carefully distinguishes between what he says himself and what Jesus has said.
The fact that there is an unbelieving spouse is not grounds for separation, so we’re told not to initiate it.
Rather than the contamination of defilement flowing from the unbeliever to the believer, as it would if you were attached to a prostitute, it is a real marriage and it must be treated as such. Marriage is universal; it’s all around the world, and whether it occurs in a Christianised society or not, it is a valid marriage and must be thought of in those terms. So even if you become a believer and you are married to an unbeliever, your marriage is valid and must be conducted in the way that the Bible teaches us. So in that sense, Paul is saying that the holiness flows from believer to unbeliever. That doesn’t mean that the unbeliever is suddenly saved without even knowing it—it’s only that the marriage is still valid. Consequentially, your children are holy; that is to say, your children have access through you to the gospel and possibly to the church.
If you are married to an unbeliever, your children are not illegitimate. That may strike those who listen as odd, but there have been occasions in previous generations of children being labelled as illegitimate when they weren’t. For instance, in our family 100 years ago, a marriage was conducted between a Catholic and a Protestant, and their little boy was told by one of the grandparents that he was illegitimate, because it wasn’t a ‘valid marriage’. But what the Apostle Paul tells us here is that, even if an unbeliever is married to a believer, the children are not illegitimate, and they do have access to the gospel.
If the unbelieving spouse wishes to separate, then it is permissible to do so. You are not legally bonded under those circumstances, because God has called you to peace, not to warfare. You have no knowledge of whether your spouse will be saved or not, therefore you are entitled to do so if the marriage breaks down, and if that is the wish of the spouse. If you are a Christian and your unbelieving spouse leaves, are you free to remarry? It seems as though the idea of not being enslaved allows us to say that you are free to remarry, but we need to be careful here as usual, because Pharisaism is close to the surface, and some people declare their spouse to be an unbeliever so that they can marry another. But what he is saying here is that if a spouse is truly an unbeliever, and then leaves, you are free to remarry.
Phillip: You may argue that, in the case of the marriage between the Catholic and the Protestant, the marriage was invalid. The Catholic view of marriage being sacramental means that it would have had to be conducted in the Catholic Church, and so a marriage like this, conducted outside the Church, was not a marriage. But the Bible would say that creation is the basis of marriage, rather than church and sacraments.
Peter: Yes, and I’m not sure that too many Catholics would take this line these days. But in those days, they did. Nevertheless, a marriage, even if it’s between two unbelievers, is valid and should obey the laws of marriage.
Phillip: Then there’s the point you mentioned about the unbeliever wanting to separate. I can well remember a situation in which one of my alcoholic friends, after finally getting sober, went home rejoicing to his wife and she was pleased. Through the process, he became a Christian, but when he told his wife that he’d become a Christian, she said, “I’ll put up with you as an alcoholic, but I’m not going to put up with you as a Christian,” and walked out.
Peter: What an awful story.
Phillip: Indeed, it is. You see, Paul is writing about a real church in Corinth that has only been going for a little while. The more you’re involved in evangelism in a fresh new church, and in a very pagan culture, the more you see that 1 Corinthians is very important to understand and to analyse carefully.
So what we’re told about this issue is, “Don’t hang on. You’re not called to warfare. You can’t know whether they’re going to be converted or not, for that’s beyond your knowledge.”
Peter: Remind us what the general teaching here is.
Phillip: The general teaching is monogamy. Its application in the situations of life which are so varied and diverse requires wisdom: the wisdom of God given to us here in this scripture.
The other general principle, which we’ll go into next week, is the one in verse 7 that you spoke of: contentment. My singleness, or my marriage, is part of God’s sovereignty, part of the gift of God. How do I live in contentment with that?
Peter: I believe that is based on the end of 1 Corinthians 6, “For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Phillip D. Jensen & Tony Payne, Guidance and the Voice of God, 1997 (Matthias Media).
John Richardson, God, Sex and Marriage, 1998 (St Matthias Press).
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Links & Recommendations
For more on this topic, check out this talk on Marriage from 1 Corinthians 7.
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