If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
It is amazing how practical God’s word can be in any era. No matter what book we read in the Bible, God seems to touch our lives and speak to us in the most practical moments. In the early church there was apparently a question about marriage. Paul starts out chapter seven with these words:
1 Corinthians 7:1 (ESV)
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
Corinthian, in Ancient Greece, was known of its worship of the goddess Diana. In that worship of her it was typical to include sexual perversions of all sorts. This religion was a concoction of man to allow him, under the guise of worship, to do whatever he wanted. When people in Corinth began to come to Christ, this created all types of strife and stress in the marriage union. The church at Corinth had apparently written to Paul to ask for guidance about sexual areas in the marriage. Men were leaving wives and wives were leaving husbands. Throughout the chapter Paul gives the church practical guidance about these things. In the above passage he is coming to the end of his answer and gives them a general principle to follow about some of these day-to-day issues. There was an argument in the church about whether they even should be seeking marriage. Paul was single and does express his personal views throughout this work. However, the principle is clear from Paul: If you can’t control your sexual desires get married. If you can you can stay single. Both honor God. This is NOT the only passage in the Bible to read about marriage and/or celibacy. But it is a good principle for the church to follow. The marriage union has many advantages. Paul stresses those in other areas of his writings. But, here, he is only concerned about the backdrop of the sexual perversions of the day. His statement is in essence, if you are compelled with sexual desires, fulfill them in the marriage union. If you are not, you don’t need to marry and can be married for other reasons. Either is pleasing to God.
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