1 Corinthians 7 presents some interesting challenges. It has been widely misunderstood throughout church history, often with terrible consequences. If not read carefully it can sound like Paul is against marriage, despises women, and sees sex as dirty and defiling.
But a closer reading reveals that, far from being bossy and close-minded about sex and marriage, Paul is actually quite flexible and humble regarding these matters. And this brings us to the odd dimension of this chapter: Paul is very careful to distinguish when he is delivering commands from the Lord and when he is delivering his own convictions and opinions.
In other words, Paul holds space open for the Corinthians to exercise discernment in the Spirit over these matters for themselves.
New Testament scholar Richard Hays describes 1 Corinthians 7 like this:
This chapter, perhaps more than any other in the New Testament, actively invites us into he process of moral deliberation.
Part of the key to a close reading of this chapter is realizing who Paul is addressing throughout:
1 Cor. 7:1-7: Paul’s advice to married couples 1 Cor. 7:8-9: Paul's advice to widows and widowers 1 Cor. 7:12-16: Paul addresses Christians married to unbelievers 1 Cor. 7:25-38: Paul addresses engaged couples who are betrothed but not yet married 1 Cor. 7:39-40: Paul finishes with counsel to wives and widows
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the chapter is Paul’s conviction that, for Christians, the single life is not only capable of being a fulfilled life, but that it is actually the preferred way of life for Christians.
This is a challenge to our romanticized idealizations of marriage and the family. For Paul, marriage and the family are not the end-all, be-all of life. Paul’s argument challenges our idolizations of the biological family. Christianity has been (and still is) a challenge to the family and to family loyalties.
Stanley Hauerwas puts it like this:
When the church loses the significance of singleness, I suspect it does so because Christians no longer have confidence that the Gospel can be received by those who have not been, so to speak, “raised in it.” Put differently: Christian justifications of the family may often be the result that Christians no longer believe the Gospel is true.
In other words, our biological families are not the hope for our future. Jesus is.
We finished the class discussing the difficult issue of divorce and remarriage. What has to be remembered in these discussions is that the acts of Jesus are how we interpret the words of Jesus. Jesus’ words can be easily abstracted from his actions and turned into heavy laws that we have control over and then drape around the necks of other people.
As Ray Anderson puts it:
Jesus said that if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. But he never mutilated anyone. He healed broken hands. Jesus said that if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. But he never plucked any eyes out. He healed blinded eyes.
The actions of Jesus show us that all his words and teachings must be understood as bringing wholeness, healing, and liberation. And Jesus is alive today! Jesus is still ministering among us, still bringing healing and restoration, still making all things new. We have to interpret Jesus’ teachings through his actions of ministry and healing.
Ray Anderson gives us a strong warning:
We dare not use the word of God to nullify the works of God.
Sex Ethics: Singleness, Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage