[Steve Myers] Good to see all of you. This is Epistles of Paul. We left off last time right at the very end of 1 Corinthians 6. As you recall, Paul is giving instructions to the Corinthians about a number of different issues. And as he gets to the end of this particular chapter, he talks about the importance of who we are as God's people. He really gets into the fact that in everything that we do, we belong to God. And so if you take a look at verse 19 of 1 Corinthians 6.

1 Corinthians 6:19 He says, "Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit that is in you?"

And, of course, you could imagine what that would have brought to mind for the Corinthians. There are temples all over the place. And so you're not in any connection to those pagan idols, those pagan temples. Your body, you, your being is connected to God's Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:19 It says, "You have from God, you're not your own."

You don't belong to anybody else. You belong to God. You house the Spirit of God. And so he draws that connection here, not only collectively as the church. I think last time we pointed out the fact that when he says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and you are not your own, that's not the royal you. That's not the collective you. That means you as an individual, distinct individual, you house the Spirit of God. And so this is a singular you in this particular passage. And so some powerful things that he's saying here.

I mean, when you really think about this, it kind of ties in what Apostle Peter said. Hold your place here and go over to 2 Peter 1 and in verse 4, Peter says the same thing, just a little bit differently and I think in such a powerful way. Take a look at the way that Peter describes this in 2 Peter 1 and beginning in verse 4. Well, maybe we even back up to verse 3. Back up a little bit to verse 3. 1 Peter, or I'm sorry.

2 Peter 1:3 It says, "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness."

So when Paul says, you don't belong to yourself even, you're not your own, you belong to God. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, he says, you've got divine power. How awesome is that? Divine power. Power to overcome sin in your life.

2 Peter 1:3 And then he goes on to say, "He has given us exceedingly great and precious promises," that's verse 4, "that through these, you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that's in the world through lust."

So we have the nature of God. We have divine nature. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we have divine power. I mean, that's phenomenal when you think of the implications of that. We have divine nature. The nature of God is in us. Should we have the ability to overcome sin? Should we have the ability to succeed spiritually? Should we be able to grow in grace and knowledge? Yeah, we've got the divine nature in us. Of course, the challenge is, and part of the challenge for the Corinthians, you've got to choose to follow that. You've got to choose to submit to the divine nature.

If we've been given it, when do we receive that divine nature in us? When does that happen? At baptism, right, at baptism. We have hands laid on us and we receive the Holy Spirit. So we've been given the Spirit of God. We've been given as it says here in verse 3, divine power. And verse 4, we are partakers, we're participants. We share in other words, in the divine nature. God's given us His nature by His Spirit. So Paul is emphasizing that very fact. So if you head back to Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 6, as he concludes this thought, we're reminded of that very fact that our body contains the divine nature through the Holy Spirit of God. And look at how important this is then. As he concludes this chapter in the letter here.

1 Corinthians 6:20 He says, "You were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

You know, we had talked earlier about the human spirit, the spirit in man, what gives us the ability to think and to reason and create. All of those things, we combine together at conversion with God's Holy Spirit. So he says there should be fruit, there should be results. There should be evidence of the fact that we have God's spirit. So he says glorify God in your body and your spirit, your thinking, your being, and it defines who we are then and it changes everything. In fact, Peter wrote about this too. Go back to 1 Peter this time. If you take a look at what Peter writes, kind of interesting the connection between these two apostles and some of the things they wrote. Here in 1 Peter, the first chapter, notice what Peter writes about as we look down to verse 18. Remember, Paul had just said, "You were bought at a price." This is something that was costly. Well, Peter writes about this, 1 Peter 1:18.

1 Peter 1:18-19 He says, "Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things..." You weren't purchased, you weren't bought with things that wear out. You weren't bought with physical things, "...like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by the tradition from your fathers." Yeah, by the way this world lives. But what does he say in verse 19, 1 Peter 1, but you were bought with the "...precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

You see, for us to have the ability to have God's Spirit, to be converted, to have forgiveness, to have the opportunity for salvation only comes because of the sacrifice of Christ. We would have no possibility of that without Christ. And so when Peter says we were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ when Paul says we were bought at a price, this cost God the Father something. cost Him the life of His son. His son had to die so that we'd have that possibility. In fact, as we head back to Corinthians, maybe we stop along the way here at Ephesians for a moment. Paul wrote a similar concept to the Ephesians in Ephesians 1, notice verse 7.

Ephesians 1:7 Says a similar thing here. He says, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace."

And so that bought at a price, that payment was the death of Christ. And then, of course, that shed blood is by His blood that we find forgiveness. Our sins can be forgiven because Christ sacrificed His life for us. So when they talk about the blood of Christ, they're using that as a metaphor, a metaphor for His life. He paid His life so that we could have a relationship with God so that we could be forgiven, so that we could receive the divine nature. We can participate by receiving the Spirit of God. And so head back to Corinthians here and we'll notice that powerful statement as he concludes that thought.

He says, "You were bought at a price." So Christ paid the price with His life. God offered His Son for us to pay that penalty that we deserve. We're the ones that deserve death, right? Our sins deserve death. And so by the sacrifice of Christ, by His blood, that penalty was paid. And so ultimately, then, we should show the fruit of that, that we've been given the Spirit and so we don't belong to ourselves. We belong to God and that should reflect in our thinking. It should then reflect in our actions. And so by God's Spirit, we can overcome the influence of the world. We can overcome our own selfish desires. We can overcome Satan the devil and the demonic influences around us by the power of the Spirit. If we get ourselves out of the way and we're not our own and we submit to God's Spirit, that's what makes it possible. Now one of the things that Paul does here is he's setting up the next question that he needs to answer. Remember he's talking about, if we back up just a little bit here in verse 18.

1 Corinthians 6:18 He says, "Flee sexual immorality."

And that was certainly an issue in Corinth. And as he emphasizes that point, how can we successfully do that? By the power of God's Spirit, by submitting to God, by not doing the things that we want, you know, just physically. He says this is what we need to do. And so as He concludes this idea, he leads into the next. So if you turn over to Chapter 7, we'll see another issue that had been raised that Paul wants to address. So beginning Chapter 7.

1 Corinthians 7:1 He writes, "Now concerning the things of which you wrote me." So they had written to him about certain questions they had. And what does he tell them? "It's good for a man not to touch a woman."

So guys don't get anywhere near them, right? He's saying pretty clearly here, right? Don't touch them. Don't bump into the, well, is that what he's saying here? "It's good for a man not to touch a woman." Bring up any questions? Concerns? Well, what is he getting at here? You don't even want, well, you guys are holding hands during prayers. Uh-oh, look out. It says, don't touch a woman. Hands off, right? Is that what it means? Why not? Don't even get near them? Well, we've got to dig into what was the issue, what's the problem, and what is he really saying here? Interesting word that he uses here. Haptomai is the word for touch, haptomai. "It's good for a man not to haptomai a woman." Some translations actually mistranslate this verse.

Now, New King James says that. King James has a similar thing. "Good for a man not to touch a woman." Other translations? They'll put the word marry in there. It's good for a man not to marry a woman. That word is not there. The Greek text does not have the word marry. Some translators kind of assume that that's what he's talking about here. But he's not. Instead, he uses this word, haptomai, touch. Yeah, it can mean to touch, but the connotation here and the way they would use it idiomatically, it would be, don't touch a woman in a sexual way. He gets at this idea, don't have that kind of contact. It's good for a man, and in this case, a single man, not to touch in a sexual way a woman. Now is that a biblical principle?

Yeah, absolutely it is. So what we find as Paul sets up this next question that he's answering, this whole chapter is going to deal with sexual behavior. And so he begins by pointing out this fact. If you're single, man or woman, we don't want to just section off the men, men or women, it's good not to touch in a sexual way unless you're married. That's the implication that he's making here and we see that that is the case. A good example, drawing from the Old Testament. If you hold your place here, go to the Song of Solomon for a moment. In the Song of Solomon, we see a similar expression that is made. So if you get back to the Song of Solomon, get past the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, oh, it was before Isaiah. Oh, you know where I am, don't you? And get to chapter 8 in the Song of Solomon.

Here, we see something very critical. Song of Solomon deals with marriage and it has a lot of connotation of sex in marriage. And one of the points that is made here that becomes very evident in verse 4 of Chapter 8. Look at the instruction here.

Song of Solomon 8:4 It says, "'I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.'"

Or in other words, don't have sexual contact. Don't wake up those kinds of feelings before marriage, before you're ready for marriage. Don't awaken love. Don't get into that type of behavior. Don't get into that mindset because it's going to lead you in a bad direction. Marriage was the means that we have sexual expression, but not before that. And so when we put that context into what Paul's writing in 1 Corinthians 7:1, "It's good for a man not to touch a woman," in a sexual way. Don't awaken love before it's time, before it pleases. No, that's not it. And, of course, put yourself in the situation of Corinth. Boy, sexual distraction was everywhere. It was a part of their worship of the pagan gods. But Paul is setting the biblical expectation, God's expectation for that. And so he says, this is our perspective. This is God's perspective when it comes to sex. Should be within the bounds of marriage. And so let's see how that connects then if we head back to 1 Corinthians. Well, in fact, maybe let's go right by there and head to the direction of 1 Timothy 4 because there's a little bit of a misunderstanding here. Some could misunderstand, well, that you never should have sex in marriage. Even in marriage, you should be, you know, a way that, okay, no sex within marriage.

You should be celibate within marriage. Yeah, there were false teachings that were going around during the first century that promoted that idea that even within marriage, you should be celibate. And so some might even take what he says here, it's good for a man not to touch a woman in a sexual way, even within marriage. Is that what Paul intended? No. And we can see that when we go over to 1st Timothy because there are certainly times that he instructs something very different. So when we look at what he says in 1st Timothy 4, notice verse 3. Here in this section, in fact, just backing up a little bit, he talks about the "...latter times some will depart from the faith...." So he begins to talk about false teachings and false doctrines and false concepts. And he talks about a lot of different things. Verse 2 “speaking lies and hypocrisy.” And notice what they say as well. “Forbidding to marry.” Forbidding to marry. And so that was a false teaching that was going around. And Paul is saying, wait a second, no, that's not the case. And so he's zeroing in on our behavior in connection to what's proper behavior, sexually speaking, in marriage and as singles. You know, as being a single, what should our perspective be? And so Paul gets right down to it and begins to discuss that issue back in 1 Corinthians 7. So let's head back there now. 1 Corinthians 7 he begins to explain this idiom. All right, how is it good for a man not to touch a woman in a sexual way? What does that mean? How does that apply to us as Christians? Well verse 2.

1 Corinthians 7:2 He says, "Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband."

Now he's not saying, well, just because there's immorality, you should get married. I mean, that's not the implication here. He says, you know, in Corinth, there's so much porneia, so much sexual immorality. And if you remember our word there for sexual immorality, it comes from the idea of porne. Porne is the word that can point to a harlot or harlotry. We know there's a vast array of sexual impropriety that this is pointing to, not just fornication, not just adultery, but immorality that could cover all kinds of different things. And he says, there is so much sexual immorality. I remember Corinth was famous for the temple to Aphrodite with the 1000 temple prostitutes, male and female. We know to be a Corinthian girl meant you were a harlot, you were a prostitute. To Corinthianize took on the meaning of practicing this porneia, sexual immorality. And so here Paul is pointing out that God's perspective on marriage is that you have a wife. If you're a woman, you have your own husband. You were created incomplete. Part of what Adam learns is that he needs someone that completes him. So we'll talk about that a little later as well because we're given those guidelines. I mean this brings us back, one man, one woman, that's what constitutes a marriage. And if we go back to the institution of marriage, where do we find that? Yeah, go all the way back to the beginning of Genesis. Genesis 2, we find that delineated for us. God has Adam name the animals, he realizes there's nobody for him. There's no one like him. He recognizes that, you know, there's something missing. And so what does God do? Puts him to sleep, takes a rib and He makes it into a woman.

Genesis 2:22-24 “The rib which the Lord God had taken from man, He made into a woman and He brought her to the man. And Adam said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.’” And then we have the institution of marriage. So verse 24, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh."

And so Paul is referring right back to Genesis 2 when he says we should have a wife as a man, one wife, and as a woman we have one husband. And so he's backing up the creation story that we have one man and one woman. Today, boy, there's all kinds of crazy interpretations. But if we're going to have a biblical worldview, this is it. This is the only... So Paul's reminding us of that. It's good not to touch a woman outside of marriage. So head back to 1 Corinthians 7. Yeah, don't, off base. But what about within the bounds of marriage? He says that's a whole different story. You should have one wife. You should have your husband. And within that connotation, it's fulfilling what God intended that meant the two should become one. And how completely different was that from the Corinthians' perspective, the city that these Christians were called out of. It was a total different story. And so no wonder some of these questions came up. Well, what about this Paul? And so he's addressing those problems that the church was facing in Corinth. So if you're back there in 1 Corinthians 7, he builds on that very point that within the bounds of marriage, sex is very good. Isn't that what Genesis 2 talks about, the creation story? When God created something, it was good. It was very good. And so here in verse 3, what does Paul say?

1 Corinthians 7:3 He says, "Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband."

And so Paul reflects what God said right from the very start, the two shall become one flesh. And as he mentions here, as husbands and wives, do we have any responsibilities to each other? Even when it comes to sex and affection? What's the answer? Yes, absolutely. God created men and women with normal sexual desires. That's the way God made us. And so Paul is emphasizing we have mutual obligations to each other within marriage. This word for do is kind of an interesting one. It can mean obligations and it can mean there's a duty or in a sense within marriage we owe each other. And so it emphasizes the fact, yeah, in Corinth, you guys, that town is a mess. There's all crazy ideas out here from every kind of sexual impropriety that you can imagine. Yeah, it was there in Corinth. But within marriage? Does that mean that sex is bad? Paul says no. These desires, they're not within the bounds of marriage. He says, that's not shameful. That's not improper. But he says we better control it. We better be careful. He's saying that within the bounds of marriage, there is an expectation that there should be sexual fulfillment. And so sexual intercourse, the two shall become one flesh as Genesis said. Yeah, is that an important part of marriage? Absolutely. Is it the ultimate only thing? Well, no, no, not at all.

Here, it's interesting. Paul goes as far as saying that it is a duty and a responsibility. I mean, it's not the be all and end all. The two shall become one, not only physically, but in heart and mind and spiritual direction. I mean, within the marriage, that should definitely be the case. And sex can be that glue that kind of binds things together, draws us together. In fact, look what he says in verse 4.

1 Corinthians 7:4 He says, "The wife doesn't have authority over her own body, but the husband does." Drop the hammer. All right, guys, we are charged within marriage, right? Hang on just a second. Hang on, what does he say next? "Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does."

So within marriage, I don't have exclusive claim over me. Why not? What did God say back there in Genesis? The two shall become one. The two shall become one. In a sense, God is looking at this married couple within the faith as one entity. As one entity in that sense. Am I responsible for my wife? Absolutely. Is she responsible for me? Absolutely. So sometimes my wife and I will have some fun and I'll say, "I own you." Yeah, I can say that "I own you." You know what a response is? "Yeah, but I own you." And in a sense, that is true. That is true. And so we don't have that authority to totally have what I want because we belong to each other. In fact, the Proverbs remind us of that. Hold your place here in 1 Corinthians. Go back to Proverbs 5 for just a moment. I think it emphasizes that very point. Proverbs 5, let's notice verse 15. Proverbs 5:15 delineates this idea of the proper affection and sexual fulfillment within marriage.

How does that work? It's not like this Corinthian perspective outside the church where it was a free-for-all all and any kind of sexual deviation that you want. That was Corinth. But within the church, we have one man and one woman. That constitutes a marriage. Of course, in our society today, can we define marriage? Well, we define it in all kinds of crazy ways. Doesn't matter. You can marry whoever you want, two men, two women. And now our country has fallen to that level of degradation. I mean, it doesn't matter. And they expect us to celebrate that? It's perversion. That's what it is. And so God calls them out and says, okay, within marriage, that's the proper context for sex. And that's a very good thing, a very good thing. But you don't spread that around. It's good to touch your husband or your wife. That's it. And so Proverbs is speaking to that. Take a look at verse 15, chapter 5. Here we have a metaphor being used to make that point.

Proverbs 5:15-16 It says, "Drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well." Yeah, within marriage, that's the context for sex and that's the implication of what's being spoken here. "Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?"

Yeah, you're going to run around, you're going to just have sex, whatever, adultery, fornication, any of that. It's all acceptable in our world today, whatever makes you happy. But here we're told, no, no, it's good for a man not to touch a woman in a sexual way when you're single. It's good for a man not to touch a woman outside the bounds of marriage. You're married, you belong to each other. You belong to each other. And so, verse 17.

Proverbs 5:17 He says, "Let them be only your own..." That's the proper perspective, "...not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth."

And so it's just beautifully expressed here, you know, kind of in a poetic way. And he uses that metaphor to really express that same thought that the apostle Paul was driving home to the Corinthians. And so that's the proper context. And so head back to 1 Corinthians 7 as well because he further defines this. It would have been interesting to see that letter that the Corinthians wrote him. What exactly did they write about? You know, when you get back to 1 Corinthians 7. Remember at the beginning of that verse he says, "Concerning the things which you wrote me..." What were exactly the questions that they wrote him about marriage and about sex? Well, how did they express that? Yeah. I don't know, we don't know. But Paul gives us some perspective on this is addressing some of those issues that they brought up. And it's interesting after saying there's obligations, there's mutual obligations within marriage, even when it comes to sex, and that we owe each other and we have a marital duty to each other that way. After saying, you don't own your own body, he does come back and deals with some of the issues that were probably also questions because this false teaching of this idea that, well, even within marriage, you should be celibate. Would that make you more spiritual in that way? You know, some of that crazy idea that sex is bad, were probably floating around as well. Well, because there's so much sexual immorality in Corinth, we'll just avoid sex altogether, even if we're married. That seemed to be part of the problem here as well. So notice what he says next in verse 5.

1 Corinthians 7:5 He says, "Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time..."

So it seems like, well, maybe some of this depriving may have been going on in Corinth that somehow that was better. And he says, well, hang on. He says it should only be with consent for a time. Well, what would be an appropriate time not to have sex? What would be that time? He says, well, you should agree on it, right? Husbands and wives should agree on that. And then he says, "...that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer." And so there are times within marriage that this is appropriate because you want to more fully focus on the spiritual side of your relationship, your spiritual connection with God, your relationship with... Yeah, that's a good thing. We draw closer to God when we fast and we pray and that's a very good... So you get some of the distractions out of the way so you can focus on the spiritual side of this. But then it's also interesting he doesn't say, well, keep living like that. Now what does he say next? He says, give yourselves to fasting and prayer for a time. And then he says, "... and come together again," and come together. So it would be a time. Well, how long a time?

Well, let's go months and months without having sex in marriage. Is that a good thing? No. Bad thing, very bad thing. Well, is there a way we could say this is so long a time? Any way to judge that? I think so. How long can you fast? Don't have too many examples of long periods of fasting in the Bible, are there? I mean, we've got a couple of examples of 40 days, which are phenomenal. It could probably only be done by miraculous intervention. You know, if you go a couple of days without fasting or without eating anything, you're going to wear down pretty quickly. So you can begin to see this can't be an extended period of time. Can't be. It's got to be a short amount of time for fasting and prayer. And so we see the emphasis then on that, that you're one, you're one and you belong together. And so, yes, you emphasize the spiritual side here.

1 Corinthians 7:5 And then he says, "...and come together again..." And then he even gives a little reason why here he says, "... so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control."

Yeah, we know. Peter talked about the fact that the devil is prowling around looking for ways, you know, to guide us and lead us and pull us the wrong direction. Yeah, He's prowling around. And of course, He points to this idea of lack of self-control. If within marriage you're not together, and especially in such an immoral city as Corinth, you could get pulled somewhere else, get into bad things. And so it's interesting here that not only does he say it's important to be together, he says, you've got to watch out for those spiritual attacks. Satan's on the prowl and he'll get you if you're not careful. And so make this short, make it meaningful, but come back together again. And so that kind of feeds that same implication that this time is a rather short time. And also gets back to this idea that some of them were actually celibate in marriage. If you look at the Greek here in verse 5 at the very beginning, yeah, it says in the New King James, "Do not deprive one another..." But it's interesting if we literally looked at the Greek there, it's much stronger than just don't deprive one another. The Greek carries the connotation of stop depriving each other. Don't do this. Don't do this. Celibacy within marriage is unacceptable in God's eyes. And so he makes that point, stop doing this. Fasting and prayer is an exceptional situation. Yeah, that's a good thing. That's a good thing. But then come together again. Otherwise, you could be subject to the influence of Satan because he's going to be out to get you. No doubt about that. And so Paul gives this as a general instruction. He even says that next, verse 6.

1 Corinthians 7:6 He says, "But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment."

So this is Paul's advice. This is his instruction. Yes, it's biblical instruction. It's not just Paul coming up with something on his own. He's saying in a sense here, what's the concession? What's the advice? What's the general instruction? Well, this is only a time. Am I going to tell you exactly, well, for three days, this would be appropriate? Well, he's not saying that. He said, well, this is up to you. You're married. You guys within marriage, the two of you decide how this is going to work, what this is going to look like. You judge for yourself the appropriateness of how long you're going to fast and how long you're going to take time for prayer and then come together again. And so he gives that advice, that instruction, and guidance for them so that they can make sure they're following the biblical instruction. And so you can see that this is a big subject. And he's going to take this entire chapter to talk about the various aspects of sex within marriage, sex overall, what it's like to be single, married, that whole perspective. And so after saying these things, I'm sure it would probably come to mind for some, "Well, I'm not married. What about me? What about me as a single person?" Well, Paul begins to address that.

1 Corinthians 7:7 He says, "For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and one in another."

So he's talking about being single. Is he saying being single is awful, it's terrible, it's a punishment? No, he's not saying that, not at all. So we don't want to get in that perspective. I think sometimes today we think that or we kind of fall into that wrong way of thinking that, well, if you're not married and you're in the church, something's wrong. That's just a punishment or some kind of a sin. No, here Paul says, I wish everybody was like me. And Paul was single at this time. He was single. Why would he say that? That sounds kind of odd after just kind of promoting Genesis 2 and the idea of man and woman together and all these great things and this is wonderful. Why would he wish that everybody were like him? He doesn't say they have to be. He says each has their own gift for different situations. But why would that be? Well, you think of the apostle Paul. Yeah, was he very dedicated? You know, was he attuned into the mission that God had given him? Yeah, what was he doing? Well, you've looked at the maps, you've looked at the journeys of Paul. He's traveling all over the Roman Empire. How well would that have suited a marriage? That would have been pretty tough. That would have been pretty tough to fulfill your duties as a husband and traveling all over the empire, fulfilling God's calling as an apostle of Jesus Christ. That would have been pretty tough. And so he could be focused. He could zero in on doing and accomplishing God's will. Is that for everybody? No. No. If there were more people that could do that, I'm sure he's thinking, wow, the gospel could go out even more powerfully.

But the responsibilities in marriage would have certainly been a challenge if you had a spouse and trying to accomplish that job. And so that can certainly be one of those challenges. And, of course, when you're married, you got other things to think about as well. We've got to make sure we provide for the family. That's a husband's responsibilities. We'll talk a lot about that when we get into Ephesians and look at chapter 5 and some of the instructions that God gives for men and women. But we see that Paul could serve without the distractions. He could serve without worrying about the cares of this life and really zero in on the responsibilities. And so I think that's why he mentions what he does. He certainly doesn't give that as a command in any way because he says we serve God in different ways, in different manners. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing. Now, of course, he returns then in verse 8.

1 Corinthians 7:8 He says, "But I say to the unmarried and to the widows." So unmarried would be those that are single and then there are those whose mates have died. He says, "It's good for them if they remain even as I."

Sometimes it brings up the question, was Paul ever married? We don't know. We don't know. Maybe, maybe he was. It's hard to say, but there is a comment that he makes. If you turn over to chapter 9, just for a little sneak peek ahead here, in chapter 9:5, he's talking about job's and duties of an apostle. He's been sent forth by God with a duty and a responsibility and authority as a representative of Jesus Christ and God the Father. And he makes this comment in verse 5.

1 Corinthians 9:5 He says, "Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?"

Or Peter? So we know Peter was married. Is Paul just making a point or was it possible that maybe at some time he was married? Not really sure. It could be possible. Might be possible that he was married at one time. We just don't know. So certainly can't be absolutely positive of that. But he does certainly make the point, if we head back to chapter 7, that it's good to be single. It's not a disease to be single. Sometimes we think of it that way. No, it can be a very, very good thing. The word for good here can actually mean honorable. It's not a dishonor to be single. We looked at 1 Timothy a little earlier. Yeah, Paul oftentimes counseled people to marry. Ephesians shows the high standard that follows within marriage. So we see that all fits together. And so this encouragement to remain single is a good thing. I might say, well, is that always the case? Is that the case today as well as back then? Why would he maybe be saying that at this time? That kind of fits in with what he writes just a little bit later in the chapter. If we skip down just a little bit, we see something that may be connected here as we look at what he writes in verse 26. It's a little bit farther along in the chapter.

1 Corinthians 7:26 He says, "I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress, that it's good for a man to remain as he is."

So if you're single, this might be a good thing. Why? something was going on. There was some type of, well, he calls it here, distress, some kind of circumstances that were difficult. I mean, can you think of circumstances in our time that could make it very difficult to be married or to have children or to have nursing babies? There were any warnings about those kinds of things, comments, but Christ said that, didn't He? Talked about how difficult in the end times it would be to be a nursing mother. That's going to be tough. It's going to be difficult because of the times, because of that circumstance. Now, we're not told what exactly that is here, but he definitely gives that indication. There was some kind of distress, something that was happening then. And so for that time, this was a good thing. Not that Paul's saying marriage is a bad thing. No, he's saying just the opposite. Marriage is a good thing, but don't get upset if you're not married. There's some tough stuff going on and it might just be for the best. So he makes that emphasis there in verse 26 as well. Okay, so head back just to verse 8 once again. Interesting that as he emphasized this is honorable to be single, he also emphasizes the importance of marriage. Continuing that thought in verse 9.

1 Corinthians 7:9 He says, "If you cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. It's better to marry than to burn with passion."

So he's not saying if you're passionate, get married. We don't want to take it to that extent, but he's also recognizing the fact people have different desires, different levels of desire. Some could be quite happy to remain single and it works for them. Others would find that very frustrating. And so he's saying here, control yourself sexually. And if, you know, if you've got a man or a woman that you're with, and in some cases they were committed to be married, he's saying, get married. If you can't control yourself sexually, you better get married. Now, of course, you've got to take that within the context of what he's saying here. It always reminds me of a saying that my grandmother had. Let me see. What did I do with my pen? She would say...it's actually an old Yiddish proverb and it went something like this. I might be spelling this wrong, but go with it. That may be totally spelled wrong, but it's Yiddish so I don't know who will know the difference. But she would say, "No chuppah, no shtupa". You know what that roughly translates to? Actually, I think this is an H, so let's fix that. Probably a T in there too. "No chuppah, no shtupa." What did it mean? Roughly translated. No wedding, no bedding. No wedding, no bedding. That's what it's... And this is what Paul's saying here, right? The chuppah is the canopy in a Jewish wedding, the canopy. No canopy, no wedding, no bedding. And so it certainly points to that very fact that, yes, marriage is a good thing and sex within marriage is the connotation that God always intended for married couples and so this is a very good thing.

So that's probably a good place to pause for today. And what we'll do is we'll plan to pick it up as Paul then begins to talk to those who are married. He dealt with those that are single. Now he's going to turn and begin to discuss this connotation of marriage. What about marriage? What about those that find themselves in different situations? He's going to begin to talk about that and we'll address that next time.