Now kind discerning
the things of which you wrote me:
it is good for a man
not to touch a woman.
Nevertheless, because
of sexual immorality,
let each man have his
own wife,
and let each woman
have her own husband.
1 Corinthians 7: 1 --
2
It is
apparent that the Corinthian Christians wrote to Paul concerning many things
that were occurring in the church. It
is also apparent that the Christians in Corinth regarded the apostle Paul as
one who had authority and desired to have his decision on some questions. Now he proceeds to answer their inquiries
and in this case, the inquiry is about marriage. The reason for this inquiry in regards to marriage lies in the
fact that some had adopted the sentiment of the Pythagoreans. The Pythagoreans and their system that
consisted of esoteric, and metaphysical beliefs and were considerably
influenced by mathematics, music, and astronomy. Pythagoreanism was not
something new that developed during or after Jesus Christ for it originated in
the fifth century B.C. and greatly influenced Platonism. The Pythagoreans are
known for their theory of the transmigration of souls, also for their
theory that numbers constitute the true nature of things. They performed
purification rites and followed and developed various rules of living which
they believed would enable their souls to achieve a higher rank among the
gods. One cannot help but notice that
those who are greatly influenced by some mystical or secret aspect of numbers
in the Bible are simply following that system of Pythagoras, and even with
great emphasis upon purification rites in various rules of living are also to
be seen in many of our churches today who believe in special rites. One such is occurring at the Bethel Church
of supernatural ministry in Redding California where people run through a
"Tunnel of Fire" where people are supposedly getting drunk in the
spirit, and he been finding healing.
This is not only un-Biblical, it's demonic and no Christian should be
anywhere near this. This platonic
category and system it found its way into the Corinthian congregation and men
and women were falling for the folly to live in celibacy so that they would be
more acceptable by God. Does this sound
familiar? Yes it is good for one not to
marry and to spend their time in their life and teaching and preaching and
spreading the gospel. For one to do such a thing there must be first a
necessity that what they believe they should be doing is according to Scripture
and the call of God to them through Scripture.
We translate the Greek word "άπυεσθαι" Adds package and it is not a bad translation
and of itself but the word in the Greek is more expressive than simply not to
touch. The Greek word in this case is
present in definitive and in the middle voice and carries this as its
interpretation into English. Number
one: to bring in contact, fit, fasten; to light, kindel. It is also used to state to meddle, venture
to partake, and in Colossians 2:21 it is rendered to have intercourse with or
to know carnally. And by implication to
harm which also can be seen in 1 John 5:18.
We need to learn to think like a Greek and I get to latch onto words
without doing the work study or we might misinterpret what the Greeks actually
heard or what the Bible writer was actually intending to teach. Paul in stating this in regards to marriage
is also implicating that one is to keep one from, and avoid all locations of
sin, and to flee from fleshly lusts.
While people like Pythagoras, and others who were already beginning to
cloister themselves in some ascetic religious system, it would be unfair to say
that God desires us to be single unless He determine and will through the
leading of the Holy Spirit to be celibate.
Man and woman are made by God to have desires for one another in asexual
and intimate way. It is when that
desire given to man by God to produce progeny is misused then it is
immorality. The flame of desire for a
woman or a man, cannot randomly be exercised.
Paul instructs that if this is the case then each man or each woman are
to have either a husband or a wife. It
must be noted here that Paul is talking about a woman having a man for a
husband, and a man having a woman for a wife. There is no doubt that this is the will of God there for those who
are living as husband and wife of the same sex are sinning. That form of marriage is nothing more than
immorality. The Greek word used in
verse two of this chapter that we render as immorality is: "πορνείας";
a word in which we get the word pornography and is understood by the Greek as
fornication. Fornication is immorality
and if one is involved in such an act needs to stop if they truly believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ is their Savior.
Taken from
the Barna report: Born again Christians who are not evangelical were
indistinguishable from the national average on the matter of divorce: 33% have
been married and divorced. The survey did not determine if the divorce occurred
before or after the person had become born again. However, previous research by
Barna has shown that less than two out of every ten people who accept Christ as
their savior do so after their first marriage. In fact, when evangelicals and
non-evangelical born again Christians are combined into an aggregate class of
born again adults, their divorce figure is statistically identical to that of
non-born again adults: 32% versus 33%, respectively. Here are some demographics:
Divorce Among Adults Who Have
Been Married
(Base: 3792 adults)
(Base: 3792 adults)
|
Population
Segment
|
Have Been
Divorced
|
No. of
Interviews
|
|
|
|
|
|
All adults
|
33%
|
3792
|
|
|
|
|
|
Evangelical Christians
|
26%
|
339
|
|
Non-evangelical born again Christians
|
33%
|
1373
|
|
Notional Christians
|
33%
|
1488
|
|
Associated with non Christian faith
|
38%
|
197
|
|
Atheist or agnostic
|
30%
|
269
|
|
All born again Christians
|
32%
|
1712
|
|
All non born again Christians
|
33%
|
2080
|
|
|
|
|
|
Protestant
|
34%
|
1997
|
|
Catholic
|
28%
|
875
|
George Barna, who directed the study, noted that Americans
have grown comfortable with divorce as a natural part of life. "There no
longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an
unavoidable rite of passage," [1]
This report
underlines that there still is a problem with Mary, not only with the secular
population, also with the Christian population. In the next blog were going to cover what it means Scripturally to
be a husband and to be a wife. Research
chapter carefully and see how it applies to you. I pray that you find yourself not wanting in the eyes of God and
if so that you are willing to deliberately return to the will of God.
I know that what ever God does,
it shall be
for ever, and nothing
can be added to it, and nothing taken from it.
God does
it, that men should
fear before him.
Ecclesiastes
3: 14
Hold fast to the wisdom of God
[1] Barna
Report: https://www.barna.org/barna-update/family-kids/42-new-marriage-and-divorce-statistics-released#.UzMn9qLCaPQ:
retrieved: March 26, 2014
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