1 Corinthians 7,8

Hey everyone!

Once again, in lieu of my normal commentary I present my sermon for church tomorrow. You know the drill - if you're likely to be there, consider this a SPOILER WARNING. Everyone else: if you see an asterisk in the text, that's there as a signal for to advance the slides (which I might see if I can put into the text tomorrow evening).

Last time I spoke on 1 Corinthians, I believe I had one of the most difficult passages to speak on that I’d ever approached, simply because of the distastefulness of the topic. Nobody EVER wants to talk about casting out another believer!

This week’s topic is challenging too, but for very different reasons. As I see it there are two reasons that this is difficult.

1) We are dealing with two chapters that are very diverse, and contain a stack of information of various kinds.
2) As it happens, many translations of the Bible (including the NIV, which we prefer to use when preaching at Sanctuary) can be a little tricky on this passage. When reading them it can be hard to figure out exactly what Paul thinks you should do!

It is for this reason that, whilst I am really happy to examine two chapters with you today, I wish to stress that everyone needs to give them a good going over themselves. I wish to state straight out that the best I can do today is to pick the eyes out of the two chapters, and give you a simple overview of some of the important themes.

From the outset, though, I can see a theme running through the whole thing, and it is this: Now that I know myself to be free in Christ, how do I actually live that out? In what ways should that freedom spill over into my everyday life? In what ways should I still discipline myself?

Part of the problem with tying these chapters together into a coherent sermon is that they’re really not intended to be read this way. Whilst it’s sometimes difficult to discern a writer’s intention with a particular section of text, that is not the case here. Paul even starts the section with “Now for the matters you wrote about.” In other words, when the Corinthian Christians wrote to Paul, they asked his advice on a number of matters.

We have a problem here, in that we don’t have their letter; so the best we can do is to do what the technical people like to call “Reverse engineering”. When you engineer something, you create it from scratch, leading to a finished product; reverse engineering is taking the finished product apart so that you can build copies. Just after WW2, the Russians were really good at this – when three American B-29 bombers, like * this one, force-landed in the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin gave his engineers the instruction to copy them precisely. The result was the Tupolev Tu-2 which you * see here. Apparently the engineers doing the copying were so meticulous that as a joke they even carefully drilled bullet holes in parts of the wings where one of the American planes had been damaged and put patches over them!

In a similar way, we’re going to * try to use the passage to reverse-engineer the questions that Paul was asked in 1 Corinthians. * And it’s actually not too hard to get the general shape of the questions. We know right away that in chapter 7, Paul is answering a question about Marriage, and in chapter 8 he is talking about meat sacrificed to idols.

Being more specific than that is tricky, but it’s fairly safe to suggest that the first question was something along the lines of * “Should a Christian be married?”

Now it might puzzle us to ask where a question like that might come from, but when you consider the religious attitudes around at the time, there’s no real difficulty there. Especially among Greeks, many philosophical and religious groups taught that the physical world was somehow evil, or at least unimportant; to them, marriage (or any other physical or emotional attachment) was considered to be incorrect.

*Among the Jews, Pharisees and Saducees would generally marry, but there were even some jews (for example the Essenes) who viewed marriage as an unhealthy focus on the physical world rather than the spiritual.

So it isn’t really surprising that people were asking about this issue. There was also an added complication – *the first Christians (including Paul, by the looks of things!) had believed that Jesus was coming back very soon – perhaps within a couple of years. And indeed, it was only just becoming apparent that the second coming of Christ wouldn’t be for a while. So for some there was a question of whether or not there was enough time for marriage to be meaningful.

So it is with all these questions buzzing around that Paul comes in and starts trying to make some sense of everything.

Despite the fact that these questions were perhaps a digest of what was bothering people in a random church, we’re fortunate (or perhaps blessed, depending how you see it!) to have some really good, solid and applicable teaching on marriage.

Now, in this room we have a mixture. We have some people who are currently married. To us, this passage could serve as a reminder about how you should be operating. We have some who have been married in the past, and may be married again in the future. To you, this could be seen as a reminder of how to operate, or perhaps a remedial course to prevent repeats of past mishaps – it’s your business to work out which it is for you! And, of course, there are some who have never been married, for whom this is seemingly theoretical right now – but there may come a time when the theory needs to become practical, so make sure you pay attention as always!

We’ll go through this in the order Paul treats it.

* Firstly we have a general principle – verses 1 – 7 tell us that Paul believes that staying single is a good deal.

Much is made of Paul’s attitude towards marriage from this – some people even make him out to be some kind of intolerant misogynist from just this. But I think that’s a long way off base. Paul DOES see * singleness as a blessing, one which allows him the ability to concentrate more on one’s work for God. But he certainly sees marriage as something * honourable and worthy. In any case, he sets out the principle that sexually, a man and wife belong to each other, and are responsible for the * fulfillment of each others’ sexual needs. This is at odds with many of the philosophers and rabbis of the time, some of whom even taught the concept of a celibate marriage as being ideal. By contrast, Paul suggests that whilst a married couple may * abstain from sex for a time for purposes of prayer and fasting, this shouldn’t be the normal way that a marriage operates.

* Verses 8 – 11 take this further: unmarried people shouldn’t be in a hurry to get married, but once again there’s absolutely * no problem with marriage. In fact, if someone is sitting there obsessing about their state of singleness or * struggling with sexual temptation, verse 9 suggests that marriage may well be the best option.

In any case, Paul reveals part of his caution for marriage here – Marriage is * intended to be permanent, “Till death do us part.” This is something that is definitely counter-cultural today, and even many Christians find it a hard teaching; although I may suggest that people who have been through a divorce would be the first to tell you that there’s logic to this idea! The objective here isn’t to say “If you’re stuck in an abusive marriage, tough luck, you can’t get out”; it’s more to do with a healthy attitude going in to a marriage. If someone goes into a marriage with an “escape hatch,” it is likely that it will be used. Yes, bad things can happen to good people. Yes, they do happen to Christians. Yes, Christians sometimes DO end up divorced. We know that. We’re not trying to deny reality. We’re simply talking about the attitude someone needs to have when they get married.

Verses * 12 – 16 talk about the case of the person who becomes a Christian when married to someone who is not a believer. What Paul suggests in this case is that it should be evaluated on its merits. * If the unbelieving spouse is willing to cope with this change, then the believer is still bound by their marriage vow. But Paul also acknowledges that this is a * big change, and for some non-believers it could even be a deal breaker. In that circumstance, Paul suggests that the Christian should let them go.

People often get a bit worried about what Paul is saying in the next passage, from *17 – 28. Some have suggested that they show Paul to be Anti-semitic (which is very odd, considering that he’s a Jew himself!), or even in favour of the slave trade. But that’s * not what he’s saying at all. What he is saying is that becoming a Christian doesn’t give anyone the right to opt out of whatever situation they are in in life. If you’re legally a slave, suddenly becoming a Christian doesn’t * overturn that legal situation. When we become a Christian, we are * STILL RESPONSIBLE.

Paul is using slavery as an example, here, so it’s not the main point. However, it is worth mentioning that Paul doesn’t counteract another principle here – if a slave can achieve their release, then they can certainly do so. And it is my belief that Paul would enthusiastically support the end of slavery brought by brave Christians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Paul finally wraps all this up by talking about WHY he has this view. His view is that * time is short (he still probably believes that Christ will return in his own lifetime). Therefore, he summarises all that he has said by repeating that for the unmarried and for widows or widowers, it is perfectly acceptable for them to marry, but given the situation in which they find themselves, remaining single could well be a good option.

As I said at the beginning, this is a very brief summary of Paul’s teaching. It’s worth reading and studying carefully.

Turning to chapter 8, we have the second question: * “Are we allowed to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols?”

This was an important question in any Greek town. Much of the meat that was sold in the market place was *sourced from the local temples, who needed to kill animals for their ceremonies. Obviously, they didn’t need the carcass once the ceremony was over, so it was common practice to sell it off to the public.

This was therefore a ubiquitous question among followers of any non-Greek religion.

However, when Paul is answering it, he seems to start with a little bit of a stern reminder. It’s hard to know the context, but at a guess, I’d say that there was some hint of *defiance in the question. Maybe it was pointed at the fact that Paul ate at someone else’s home where such meat was served.

We don’t know the context, but Paul provides us with two answers. The first * (verses 4-6) is that the eating of food sacrificed to idols is of * no consequence – the idols aren’t * real, so who cares? *But he then takes it further than that. On the other hand, there are some * new Christians for whom those idols have for years been symbolic of their gods. For these people, something which may be of no concern to others may well be a big problem. So Paul’s statement here is that we need to consider the conscience of the newer brother as being most important. As Paul says, rather than cause a * newer brother to sin (i.e. by eating meat that he fervently believes to be cursed), he would never eat meat again. (* This doesn’t mean that Paul turned vegetarian, and those who say it does have completely missed the point!).

* An important thing to grasp here is that Paul is saying to carefully avoid CAUSING SIN in the * weaker, or newer, believer. He is NOT demanding that we bend over backwards to avoid UPSETTING established believers! So if a new Christian believed that this meat was “polluted”, then the experienced Christian should stay clear. But there is no requirement for that person to bow before criticism of a person who has been a Christian for as long or longer, although in one’s freedom they may choose to do so.

Now, the issue of meat sacrificed to idols isn’t really a big deal today! But there are * issues that are similarly divisive – issues ranging from cigarettes to Swearing, from Cards to Koran burning and from Homosexual marriage to Harry Potter. And when we deal with those issues, it is most important that we take care of the consciences of the most vulnerable Christians. Don’t worry so much about the grizzled veterans; they can take it! But do take care that the exercising of your freedom doesn’t lead someone else to sin.

It’s time to wrap up here, and I’ll say again – read this passage! But let’s make sure we know * what it’s telling us, and I’ll go backwards here.

* Firstly, the passage tells us that our freedom is not to be abused. We are free to do all kinds of things, but that doesn’t mean we just go crazy. Rather, we need to take care to preserve the consciences of the weakest of us.

* Secondly, the chapter’s import to us depends on where we are on the chart from single to married. If you are married, check out your marriage in comparison with what Paul describes here. Are you committed to each other in the ways he says?

* On the other hand, unmarried people, there is something for you to consider too. Before you end up marrying, it’s always a good idea to do a careful costs/benefits analysis. Are you better off single or married? And if it’s hard to answer, ensure that you discuss it with other Christians you respect!

(pray)