1 Corinthians 7: Sex, Singleness, And Contentment

We read 1 Corinthians 7 and slow down to wrestle with what Paul says about sexual purity, marriage, and the value of singleness without swinging to extremes. We also talk about contentment, how discontentment becomes a temptation, and how to apply Paul’s principles wisely while still prioritizing safety in harmful situations. 
• why 1 Corinthians feels messy and relatable 
• your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit 
• sex in marriage as a good and protective gift 
• mutual responsibility and self-control for spouses 
• singleness and celibacy as a focused calling 
• divorce, separation, and peace in mixed-faith marriages 
• remaining in your situation without glorifying harm 
• discontentment as a tactic that derails trust in God 

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Corinthians Matters

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Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Podcast. This is Mike. We're reading through Paul's letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians specifically, which doesn't seem to be the first letter he wrote them, and it's certainly not the last as we have 2 Corinthians, and there could have been more. But we do see that Paul here is referring to a letter that they had written him, because it's an early church that he helped plant and and he had to go on his missionary journeys. And then issues came up, as as it does in church, you know, as issues come up when people get together and are people. And uh 1 Corinthians has a lot of issues, and we've talked about how it's kind of a kind of a messy church, uh, but we don't want to poke fun at them. Uh, you know, we don't we don't want to compare ourselves to them and think that we're any any better off. We have our own issues. And so we get to learn secondhand about how to deal with some of the issues and and what the the biblical responses, what God's heart is on some of these matters that yeah, maybe some we relate to on a corporate level, some we relate to on a on a personal level. And I think it's fair to take what we learn here from Paul's letter to the Corinthians and just kind of hold ourselves up to it like we do, like this is what we got to do with the Bible, right? We gotta not assume we're the good guy doing the good thing all the time. Let's hold it up and just see, okay, I can see what God's heart is here. I can see what needs to be done in the in the event of any sin or any mindsets that that aren't aligned with God. And then just hey, God, pray, God, can you help line my life up with this? And so that's what we've got to do here in First Corinthians. And uh, there's kind of a laundry list of issues, and Paul's kind of going through, it's like he's reading his letter or the the letter that he received from them and saying, okay, and this, and you mention this, all right. Well, here's my response to this, and you mentioned this. Well, that's a little off. Let me let me tell you what what's true here. And so today in chapter seven, and we'll read chapter eight, we come in right after Paul had been discussing in chapter seven, which of course he didn't break it down into chapters, it was just kind of one long letter, of course. Uh, but when we last left off at the end of chapter six, he was bringing up this topic of sexual immorality, and he's kind of laying the foundation that look, your body

Setting Up Sex And Marriage Themes

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is not your own. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you. God gave you the Holy Spirit, God gave you your body, it belongs to him. He bought you at a price, he says, which is the blood of Jesus. So we have a responsibility of glorifying God with our body. That is just a general note for everyone, whether you're married, whether you're not married, uh whatever the case may be, glorify God with your body. Your body is a temple, and so we need to live sexually pure, sexually moral lives. He's gonna go into this now in the topic of marriage and the idea of celibacy, because some people are like, oh, so we just should we just not have sex at all? Okay, well, hold on. Let's before we swing the pendulum over to one extreme or the other, let's talk about this. So that Paul's gonna get into that in chapter seven, and we're gonna start into chapter eight talking about food sacrificed to idols, which is not exactly an issue we we necessarily have now, um, but I'll let him explain more, and that's gonna be a bit more of a theme that will come up later in the chapter. So we'll let him get into that here in 1 Corinthians 7 and 8 today in the New English Translation. Now, with regard to the issues you wrote about, uh, it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. I because of immoralities,

Reading 1 Corinthians Chapter 7

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each man should have relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. A husband should fulfill his marital responsibility to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. It's not the wife who has the rights to her own body, but the husband. And in the same way, it's not the husband who has the rights to his own body, but the wife. Don't deprive each other except except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourself to prayer. Then resume your relationship so Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I I say this as a concession, not as a command. I I wish everyone was as I am, but each has his own gift from God, one this way, another that. And to the unmarried and widows, I say that it it's best for them to remain as I am. But i if they don't have self-control, let them get married. For it's better to marry than to burn with sexual desire. To the married, I give this command. Not I, but but the Lord. A wife should not divorce her husband. But if she does, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband, and a husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest, I say this I, not the Lord. If a brother has a wife who's not a believer, and she's happy to live with him, he shouldn't divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who's not a believer and he's happy to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they're holy. But if the unbeliever wants a divorce, let it take place. In these circumstances, the brother or sister's not bound. God has called you in peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will bring your husband to salvation? Or how do you know, husband, whether you'll bring your wife to salvation? Nevertheless, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches. Was anyone called after he had been circumcised? He shouldn't try to undo his circumcision. Was anyone called who is uncircumcised? He shouldn't get circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. Instead, keeping God's commandments is what counts. Let each one remain in that situation in life in which he was called. Were you called as a slave? Don't worry about it. But if indeed you're able to be free, make the most of the opportunity. For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freed man. And in the same way, the one who is called as a free person is Christ's slave. You were bought with a price. Don't become slaves of men. In whatever situation someone was called, brothers and sisters, let let him remain in it with God. And with regard to the question about people who have never married, I I have no command from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one shown mercy by the Lord to be trustworthy. Because of the impending crisis, I I think it's best for you to remain as you are. The one bound to a wife shouldn't seek divorce, and the one released from a wife shouldn't seek marriage. But if you marry, you haven't sinned. And if a virgin marries, she hasn't sinned. But those who marry will face difficult circumstances, and I I'm trying to spare you such problems. And I say this, brothers and sisters, the time is short. So then those who have wives should be as those who have none, those with tears like those not weeping, those who rejoice like those not rejoicing, those who buy like those without possessions, those who use the world as though they were not using it to the full. For the present shape of the world is passing away. And I want you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the things of this world and how to please his wife, and and he's divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord to be holy, both in body and spirit. But a a married woman is concerned about the things of the world and how to please her husband. If anyone thinks he's acting inappropriately toward his virgin, if she's past the bloom of youth and it seems necessary, he should do what he wishes. He does not sin, let them marry. But the man who's firm in his commandment, and is under no necessity, but has control over his will, and he has decided in his own mind to keep his own virgin does well. So then the one who marries his own virgin does well, but the one who doesn't does better. A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she's free to marry anyone she wishes, only someone in the Lord. But in my opinion, she'll be happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God. Okay, I changed my mind. I'm not going to go into chapter 8 right now. I think there's enough to talk about and chew on right here in chapter 7. Because Paul talks about uh a couple different contexts for

Pausing Before Chapter Eight

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sexual morality and and just how to live as I mean, God created us as sexual beings, right? So how do we live in light of this? Because we want to be fully committed to the Lord as a believer, right? Like we we we know that our our body and our soul uh are the Lord's, and yet being sexual beings, there's a very physical component to this, a very emotional component to it that that is tied to other people, and and so it can get a little confusing. How are we supposed to live? Especially with this early church and these kind of newer believers that are like, uh, wait, how what what do how do I I want to do what's right? How are we supposed to you know navigate this? And so Paul talks about celibacy and marriage and really enforcing what God had decreed from the beginning. Look, husbands and wives,

Marriage Intimacy And Self Control

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like your sexual relationship should be uh integral to your relationship as a couple. And so don't you don't avoid the sexual relationship just because you think you know other people are saying that it's bad or something. No, no, like please do. In fact, uh make sure you're you're consistent with that so that Satan doesn't come and and try to lead you astray. Like Satan has a foothold there if you try to swing in the opposite direction of just, well, I'm just gonna avoid that for whatever reason. But Paul is a big advocate here of remaining single. He's he's saying, like, look, I there's not one that's I don't know, like according to God, a better than the other. There's not like a right way and a wrong way, or a more holy way or a less holy way to live. But I gotta tell you, as a single person, if you can, if you can keep your sexual desire in check, you know, and and not lose your self-control, then stay unmarried. Because frankly, it's hard to fully serve the Lord when you also have a responsibility to serve and love your spouse. And it's like, look, if if you can be in a situation where you can avoid that responsibility, you're probably better off in terms of being single-minded, focused on the Lord. But again, Paul's like, but but don't go and and like you know, break up relationships and get divorces over this. Like you can kind of feel how this church, and it's very relatable to us, with a desire to follow the Lord, right? And and be 100% committed to to

Singleness As Focused Devotion

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him, we might have a tendency to say, like, all right, I'll whatever you want me to do, I'll just do it. Just tell me, and I'll just do this. I'll just I'll I'll go all in. And and I I think that the heart is good there, but Paul knows a couple things. One, uh we we can get all pumped about pumped up about going all in. And it's like, all right, I'm doing this. Like, and and that's a we can kind of overcommit to to live a lifestyle or to start some habits that isn't really sustainable. We might be about it right now if you know we get pumped up, it's like, all right, yeah, let's do this. I'll I'll make all the changes, I'll do all the things I can. And that's not sustainable, and that's not even necessarily good or better. And and secondly, uh, Paul also realizes, and he's teaching us through him teaching the Corinthians here, that you know what? Why don't we just learn to be content in our circumstance? And and verses 17 through 24 is a really interesting piece of scripture here where it's like, look, if you've been circumcised, if you're a Jew and now you're hearing about like, oh, well, we don't need to be circumcised anymore, like obviously that's something physical you you don't have any control over at this point, but you don't try to undo anything. And and and then don't

Stay Put Unless Freedom Opens

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try to also do the circumcision thing if if you feel like that's not what's important. Really, keeping God's commands is important. So, whatever situation in life you find yourself, uh learn to be content in that one because you can follow the Lord where you are. And I I think that is an important takeaway for us here, because I I believe it's a it's a tactic of the enemy to get you discontent in your current situation. Now, listen, if you are in some abusive or toxic relationship with someone, like this is not this is not the Lord saying, I'll just stay in your situation. Look, like be safe, right? And and make whatever changes are necessary to your life so that you're in a safe place where you're not continually uh abused or taken advantage of. I don't think that is more holy or honorable to willingly stay in that situation. Like he said, even, like as a slave, and and you know, it's a little different circumstance, but I think the principle still applies. If you're able to be free, go like go do that. Don't just say, oh, well, I guess I'm a slave, so I'll always be a slave. Oh, I guess I'm in an abusive relationship, I'll always be in an abusive relationship. No, like even he says, like, if you can be free, I mean, take advantage of that opportunity, that's great. But that aside, Satan will try to just get you to be discontent with your situation or think that you deserve some better situation, or yeah, you may be happy now, but you'll probably find more happiness over here. Like, that's that that's his the his shell game, right? That he he always plays with us. And Paul is saying, hey, look, just remain in the situation in life in which you're called. Uh, do you like trust your relationship with the

Discontentment As A Real Temptation

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Lord? Where he's brought you, just remain in that situation. And look, if you have an opportunity to kind of, you know, take a step in a a bold step in a in a new direction and you feel like the Lord is leading you that way, go great, go do that. The Lord can change your circumstance or kind of bring you into a new season of life. Great, go along with that. Don't cling on to what you were doing just because, yeah, well, that's where I belong. I look, look, let God move and change and work in you and go with the flow, you know. But just whatever situation someone is called to, remain in it. And he even really gives this reminder to us who have friends in these situations. Let him remain in it. Like, let's not try to call someone out of a situation that God has called them into. Encourage, yes. Strengthen, yes, but let's not breed discontentment in ourselves or other people when we look at circumstances. Overall, really interesting chapter here and a really great example of how there may be discussion here in the context of sexual morality, but yet we find principles that can be applied to broader contexts that we can find ourselves in. So I hope there's something useful and valuable here in this conversation for you in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Maybe want to go back and read it again, check it out, and uh see what the Lord may be speaking to you today regarding your situation. I love you. Thanks for being here and part of this Out Loud Bible podcast. And I'll see you next time as we continue Paul's

Key Takeaways And Goodbye

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letter to the Corinthians.