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Citywide Baptist Church
1 Corinthians 7: Marriage and the tension between Truth and Grace
This Sunday we are back into our engagement with 1 Corinthians and looking at what chapter 7 means for those who are married what it means to live in our world with its many different views on sex and sexuality.
Locations & Times
Citywide Baptist Church (Mornington)
400 Cambridge Rd, Mornington TAS 7018, Australia
Sunday 10:00 AM
Paul starts chapter 7 by referring to a letter written to him by members of the Corinthian church.
It seems there were people in the Corinthian church who were teaching celibacy. Paul is saying that its better if sex is not a driving factor in a person's life, because if it is, its going to be a barrier to their spiritual growth. but he's also pointing out that for a lot of people, sex is a big thing - so they need to get married and place sex into its correct context.
There’s nothing wrong with sex. In fact it’s a beautiful thing. If we think back to what Paul says in chapter 6, he talks about how when two people have sex they become one flesh. And then he talks about how sexual sins are actually sins against our own body.
ts easy for us to read scripture through our 21st century lens and to miss out on what this actually meant to the people it was specifically written to.
In the First century, women did not have many rights. For Paul to tell women that their husbands had authority of their bodies was nothing new. That was expected.
However, for Paul to tell men that their wives had authority over their body - that was revolutionary and pretty confronting. This was a very counter-cultural thing.
In the First century, women did not have many rights. For Paul to tell women that their husbands had authority of their bodies was nothing new. That was expected.
However, for Paul to tell men that their wives had authority over their body - that was revolutionary and pretty confronting. This was a very counter-cultural thing.
When it comes to sex, our 21st century culture constantly tells us that its all about ourselves. Sex is about what I want and what makes me feel good.
But Paul is telling us very clearly - sex is not about you at all.
But Paul is telling us very clearly - sex is not about you at all.
Wrapped up in this notion of authority is the idea that your role - in terms of sex - is actually to take care of the wellbeing and needs of your spouse. Not your own needs.
You shouldn’t be withholding sexual affection from your spouse - that will actually damage your marriage.
Paul is assuming that you and your spouse are actually talking about sex.
If You’re single, Paul is saying you’re actually blessed, because you have the freedom to say yes to God - and you don’t have the anchor of a marriage or children. Some of the greatest servants of the kingdom - both in biblical times and in later periods - did their work as single people.
Marriage matters to God - a lot.
Divorce happens, and it's always a sad outcome, and it's something God doesn’t want for us.
Divorce happens, and it's always a sad outcome, and it's something God doesn’t want for us.
What do you do when we’re married to someone who isn’t a Christian? This is a topic Paul also covers in 2 Corinthians where he warns Christians not to be “unequally yoked” with non-believers.
The reason Paul says this isn’t because Christians are better than non-Christians. The real issue here is that if you aren’t on the same page as your spouse about important things, you’re going to have conflict in your marriage.
The reason Paul says this isn’t because Christians are better than non-Christians. The real issue here is that if you aren’t on the same page as your spouse about important things, you’re going to have conflict in your marriage.
Paul is telling us, if you find yourself married to someone who doesn’t share your beliefs, leaving isn’t an option. He’s saying: stay in because you’re actually bringing a blessing into your spouse’s life.
“When Jesus touched unclean people, rather than becoming unclean himself his own holiness proved to be contagious, making the unclean clean. So also in Paul's view, perhaps due to the example of Jesus, holiness is more powerful than impurity, at least the holiness that comes through Christ's sanctifying work.”
- Roy E. Ciampa And Brian S. Rosner, Pillar New Testament Commentary
- Roy E. Ciampa And Brian S. Rosner, Pillar New Testament Commentary
None of this guarantees that our spouse or children will automatically choose to follow Jesus, but it does mean that you as a Christian spouse and parent can wield a large amount of positive influence in their lives.
Discussion Question:
Discuss how our culture impacts the way we think and talk about sexuality
Discuss how our culture impacts the way we think and talk about sexuality
Part 2 - Matt Garvin
The love life of a Christian is a crucial battleground. There, if nowhere else, it will be determined as to who is Lord: the world, the self and the devil, or the Lord Christ.
Elizabeth Elliot
Elizabeth Elliot
It would be easier not to talk about sex and relationships but the bible is clear that they matter.
The world tells a story about sexuality and relationships that says you should follow your instincts.
When I was a youngster, all the progressive people were saying, “Why all this prudery? Let us treat sex just as we treat all our other impulses.” I was simple-minded enough to believe they meant what they said. I have since discovered that they meant exactly the opposite. They meant that sex was to be treated as no other impulse in our nature has ever been treated by civilized people. All the others, we admit, have to be bridled… But every unkindness and breach of faith seems to be condoned provided that the object aimed at is ‘four bare legs in a bed.’ It is like having a morality in which stealing fruit is considered wrong – unless you steal nectarines.
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
At the heart of Christianity is the paradox that we will actually find our life when we die to it. It is a deeply personal wrestle.
Trying to live from a biblical moral framework without a calling that is worthy of dying for is unworkable
The essential thing about chastity is not a renunciation of pleasure but an all-encompassing orientation of life toward a goal. Where there is no such orientation, chastity inevitably deteriorates into the ridiculous.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
It is easy to want to avoid the difficult work of dying to ourselves and opt for the easier work of judging others who don't believe what we believe.
We are invited to live in the tension between the truth of God's word and the grace that can be the only real answer to the complex reality of people's lives.
The Christian Vocation is to be in prayer, in the Spirit, at the place where the world is in pain, and as we embrace that vocation, we discover it to be the way of following Christ, shaped according to his messianic vocation to the cross, with arms outstretched, holding on simultaneously to the pain of the world and the love of God.
N.T. Wright
N.T. Wright
Jesus didn't avoid people who didn't live up to the biblical moral standard... he loved them and gave them a work to do...
We are called to embrace and not condemn other people who might hold different moral understandings than we do.
We are also called to die to ourselves and hold ourselves to God's teaching in the bible.
It is never either-or.
We are also called to die to ourselves and hold ourselves to God's teaching in the bible.
It is never either-or.
Small Group Questions:
1) How do you respond to Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 7:4-5?
2) Discuss how our culture impacts the way we think about our sexuality.
3) How do you respond to Paul's encouragement to people who are single?
4) Read 1 Corinthians 7:12-16. Discuss times when you have witnessed or experienced to kingdom rubbing off on people, even when they are not (yet) Christians.
5) Read the Elizabeth Eliot quote. Do you think she is right?
6) Read the C.S. Lewis quote. Do you think he is right that sex gets treated as no other human drive?
7)Matt talked about living in the tension between biblical morality and loving people. Do you find that a tension? Have there been times when you have gone too far one way or the other?
8)Do you think the woman at the well would be chosen by most churches as an evangelist? What is the difference between how Jesus relates to someone with her background and how the church sometimes does? What should we learn from that?
1) How do you respond to Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 7:4-5?
2) Discuss how our culture impacts the way we think about our sexuality.
3) How do you respond to Paul's encouragement to people who are single?
4) Read 1 Corinthians 7:12-16. Discuss times when you have witnessed or experienced to kingdom rubbing off on people, even when they are not (yet) Christians.
5) Read the Elizabeth Eliot quote. Do you think she is right?
6) Read the C.S. Lewis quote. Do you think he is right that sex gets treated as no other human drive?
7)Matt talked about living in the tension between biblical morality and loving people. Do you find that a tension? Have there been times when you have gone too far one way or the other?
8)Do you think the woman at the well would be chosen by most churches as an evangelist? What is the difference between how Jesus relates to someone with her background and how the church sometimes does? What should we learn from that?