This sermon explores how believers can live faithfully for God’s glory in all circumstances, focusing on marital status, worldly concerns, and undistracted devotion amidst life’s challenges and impending distress.
Transcript
Context of Distress
We began this chapter a few weeks ago, and I pointed out when we did, at the beginning of this, that that little phrase that’s translated “now concerning” (in this Bible at least, but concerning or now concerning) is introducing a new topic that has come up as a question, basically, from the Corinthians, and Paul in writing this letter is responding to these concerns. And so we are introduced to another topic.
Previously, we’ve looked at the idea: Is it right to abstain from all sexual relationships, to touch or not to touch? You know, the verse phrase is,
Is it good for a man not to touch a woman?
And as we looked at that, we pointed out that Paul, the question itself, is very likely arising from the kind of Greek thought that was prevalent throughout Corinth, not through a study of the Old Testament for example. It’s not coming directly from the Lord in that way. The idea is coming from Platonic and gnostic philosophies, or incipient Gnosticism, as in the first century.
And so, these ideas thought that the material world was evil in itself. And so, they would take a couple of different slants on it. One would be that if the material world is doesn’t matter at all, then you can do what you like with it. And others would say, “No, you have to restrain from it in every kind of way.” So they proposed all sort of all sort of ascetic practices.
And so, he deals with that question: Is it right for a person to just remain single and never get married, a man or a woman? And so you have to deal with it in a couple of ways when the question is framed that way. Paul himself not married, as he writes this, he’s writing with **dealing with the Christian life**, and so he’s giving counsel and advice for people to live in this sinful world to the best of their ability to the glory of God.
And so, one of the ways this was framed is with the question of **singleness**. And it’s a question that Paul has to take with **care**, because there are some benefits in ministry for a person to remain single. They’re not encumbered by a lot of the preoccupations with this world and provision for their family, so they can devote themselves more directly to the service of the Lord. And so he acknowledges these things throughout this chapter.
But, you know, what about **married relationships**? That’s what comes up next. Is it better to if you’re a married couple, would it be better to restrain from sex? Is there any benefit to that ascetic practice of just restraining from sex? And the answer to that is no. As he develops this, he makes it very clear that a husband and a wife are to honor each other, and that the marriage bed is honorable. It’s not something that is, there’s nothing wrong with marriage and the marriage relationships. God created it. It’s something that is good and wonderful. So there’s nothing those Greek ideas are completely dismissed when he is discussing that.
And so, you know, you have these questions, some of the benefits of singleness in ministry, which we’ve already dealt with all of that. I don’t have to go over that ground much again today. But it is something that we should consider and think about. In the culture that I grew up in, and I don’t know how things are exactly today, but there if in the Protestant side of the Christian world, singleness was something that was not, you know, was to be avoided. When I was doing candidating as a single man in churches, I was completely turned down a couple of times simply because I was not married. And that was the main reason given.
And so, there’s, you know, the idea is is a bit out of balance considering what Paul has to say in this chapter about singleness. There is benefit to living a single life. A person who is single can serve the Lord in a more, has the opportunity, at least, to serve the Lord in a more direct way without being encumbered by a lot of the things of this world. And so we see a little bit of that in this next section. But we need to recognize that a celibate life requires a special gift from God. In verse 7 he said,
However, each has his own gift from the Lord, one this way and another in that.
And so he doesn’t command a celibate life. Even if you have the capacity to do it, it’s not a command anywhere in this passage. And nor is it, you know, should anyone do that, practice that if they don’t have such a gift. It would lead to sin in their life.
The point is that for those whom God has enabled, who want to devote themselves to the Lord in this particular way, there are **advantages** to that. But the whole point of this passage and section has to do with **sexual purity**, either in marriage or through the purity of celibacy. And in doing so, you honor the Lord. Throughout this whole passage, the mandate that God gave when he created Adam and Eve, that stands true. He just cited it in the previous chapter, and that’s the norm. That’s the ordinary way that we are to bring glory to God, and so we shouldn’t lose sight of that as we explore these verses.
Freedom From Concern
So let’s look at this next section, beginning in verse 25, and notice that it begins with a new topic. He’s dealt with the issue of singleness, and this is something that is **obviously related**, but it’s not exactly the same. It’s a somewhat different issue. And so he’s introducing this, addressing again the subject that has been brought up to him. One of the reasons we have trouble, you know, in passages like this is because we’re listening like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. You have to make sense of it without knowing what the other side of the conversation is. And so we have something of that in this passage. We have to reconstruct what is in view and what the question may have been.
And so as we do this, it’s, it’s it leads to multiple kinds of interpretations of the passage. My text reads, in verse 25,
Now concerning virgins,
so you have this, this idea, this word “virgins.” Some translations say “betrothed” or something like that, implying engaged couples. And the idea being that we’ve applied this principle to marriages, to singles. Now, what about people who are engaged? Should they follow through?
But the word, you need to know, does not mean “betrothed” in itself. That’s that’s constructed from their interpretation. The word is *parthenon* or *parthenos*, and we get the word, you study biology, you might have come across that word, *parthenogenesis*. It comes from that word. It means **virgins**. It means a person who is, you know, is sexually pure, never engaged in sex in their life. That’s the idea.
And so,
Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.
The Lord Jesus didn’t have anything to say about this particular question. Now, the Lord Jesus, if you remember, did have something to say about the question of **singleness**. If you remember, in Matthew 19, when he’s talking about divorce and remarriage, his disciples, his opinion about divorce is so harsh, “Maybe you shouldn’t get married at all!” And he says for some, that’s, that would, that would be right. For some people, you shouldn’t get married at all. And then he talks about eunuchs that are made so by men, eunuchs that devote themselves to the Lord spiritually, they they simply devote themselves to the Lord and remain celibate in their life. So he does talk about singleness in that way, but he hasn’t talked about *this* question. And so that lets us know that there’s something that’s a little bit broader than this question of just whether a person should remain single or not.
And so he says in verse 25,
of no command of the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.
He’s not saying here that this is just an opinion. Some translations say “opinion” here. It’s not just an opinion. All the way through here, he mentions he says, you know, I think, I also have the Spirit of the Lord in this. He’s an apostle who’s giving us **godly counsel**, and what we’re about to read is **wisdom literature**. You read this in the same way that you would read a proverb in the Old Testament, or a proverb in the New Testament. It’s not something that applies to every situation. You have to take this passage and see if the circumstances of your life fit this. Then you have to make a reasonable judgment as to whether this application of this fits. That’s the way all proverbs are, and that’s the way all wisdom literature is. It doesn’t fit every circumstance, every situation, but should, should it apply to you, then you have some wisdom to make a choice, to make a decision, to be pleasing to the Lord. And one of the ways that you know this is true is because it’s clear that whatever you choose, in either way that you the choice that you make in the things that he’s just outlined in these verses, **either way, you’re not going to be in sin**. You have latitude in your choice, but in under certain circumstances, you can, if you understand this passage, you can be equipped to make a wiser choice.
And so, it is **Spirit-led wisdom** for a particular circumstance. The issue isn’t just celibacy, it is something a little bit more, it has to do with the particular circumstances that were true in Corinth.
Undivided Devotion
So what are they? What is one of the things that’s shaping the circumstance in Corinth? Is this issue of **distress or trouble or tribulation**? There’s a, there’s a time of distress or trouble. He says in verse 26,
I think then this is good in view of the present distress.
Verse 28 it says,
Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I’m trying to spare you.
I think, you know, what you have is Paul dealing with the circumstances of the people living in Corinth during that particular time, that’s primary. And what we have to read here has to take those things into consideration in this section especially.
Think about the Apostle Paul’s ministry, his own life and experience, his own experience of devotion, his own experience of suffering for the Lord. You know, the countless times that he was arrested, the times that he was threatened. If you read through Acts, you know, in Acts 22, 27, talk about people. He’s arrested, he’s beaten in Acts 21, many times he’s arrested in 21, 33, 22, 24, and verse 31, and 33, and 23, 35, and 28, 16. Those are times when he’s arrested, and and he’s they bring him before the courts multiple times. He goes through interrogations and ridicule. He’s treated in just horrible ways, beaten, stoned, left for dead, just an incredible thing, the persecutions that he suffered. And all of these persecutions, that we’re describing here, pretty much all of these things that we’re talking about, are things that came about as a result of the **Jewish persecution** that took place in the early part of the church. The Jews hating Christ. The Jewish people who hated Christ, they, thank goodness, they all didn’t. There was the remnant, and they who came into the church in wonderful numbers in the early, in the early church history. But there are those that were the enemies of Christ and they hated the church, and so they persecuted the church even as Paul did in his early ministry.
So you have all of that taking place. But now there’s something **new**. Nero has been the Emperor for, these are the early years of his of his reigning as the Emperor of of of Rome, and things are beginning to change. And Paul, who, you know, I, I read that list of of of suffering that Paul, Paul had from some of those closing chapters in Acts and beginning at 20. But at the beginning of that, the Apostle Paul said,
The Holy Spirit testifies to me that imprisonments and persecutions are waiting for me.
That’s something to consider. Before he had even goes to a city, before he enters into one, the Holy Spirit testifies to me that in every city, that imprisonments and persecutions are waiting for me. He knew what life was like for him as a minister of Jesus Christ, as he devoted himself completely to the service of the Lord, to serve the Lord in such a difficult world.
So Paul’s writing this letter to the Corinthians in the early years of Nero’s reign as Emperor of Rome. And I think that Paul certainly had a prophetic gift, but I don’t think you would necessarily need a prophetic gift to be able to to be able to read the **signs of the times**. And he has a good sense of the things that are coming. And as he warns the Corinthians, as he deals with them out of love for them, he wants to spare them of some of the suffering that they’re, that they’re going to, uh, because they’re going to go through a very difficult time in the very near future. It wasn’t that long after Paul wrote these words that he was executed. It wasn’t that many years after he wrote these words that he came to the end of his ministry at the command of Nero himself. So the Roman persecution is right at hand.
So,
In view of the present distress,
he says, I think it, it’s good for a man to remain as he is. And when he says that, he’s going back to that principle that we’ve already seen. If you, if you’re bound to a wife, don’t seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Don’t seek a wife.
But if you marry, you have not sinned.
Paul’s reason for for not advocating marriage has to be because of the the many troubles that the married couple will face in a time of persecution. But he didn’t talk about the very nature of it. He says that the they would, he wants to spare them of of the trouble that would be awaiting them. You know, a person that has a wife and and a child in a time of persecution enables his persecutors with, you know, you can basically hold your wife and child as a hostage. It’s one thing to endure the suffering yourself. It’s something else to see your wife and children suffer. And so it makes the misfortune considerably more bitter, more difficult.
You know, marriage means responsibility. Marriage in times of distress has to lead to some kind of trouble. You know, it’s a difficult problem. It’s a difficult situation, be going and undergoing persecution and have to have the extra burden of having to deal with a family. See, Paul is thinking about himself. The things that he suffered, recognizing that it’s very likely that they’re going to be going through a suffering in a similar way. And so he’s giving them some guiding wisdom to navigate the circumstance that they’re in. Some wisdom to help them to be devoted to the Lord in a very difficult time.
Navigating Worldly Concerns
And so I think that when you understand it in that light, this passage makes a lot more sense.
If you marry, you’ve not sinned,
he says.
And if a virgin marries, she’s not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I’m trying to spare you. This I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on, those who have wives should be as though they had none, and those who weep as though they did not weep, and those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, and those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it, for the form of this world is passing away.
So he’s giving guided wisdom for a balanced Christian life. The time’s been shortened.
You know, I think that you can take these principles and the outlines in 19 to 31, and apply them. We can apply them very directly to ourselves, because there’s a lot of wisdom in in this passage that we could apply directly. But I think that especially in light of of the Corinthian circumstance, this passage would particularly resonate. You know, if you, in a time like that, you’re called to live as if you have not, if you’re married, you have a wife and children. And and that is put to the test. It’s put to the test, you’re to live as if you did not have a wife and child. That has to be an incredibly hard thing. I think I mentioned last week, but if you read Fox’s *Book of Martyrs*, one of the things that comes up more than once is when they parade the person who is about to be burned at the stake before his family and children. And they see them, and they’re trying to be brave and not break down as they look into the faces of their family and children, their wife, their children, knowing that they’re going to be bereft, they’re going to leave their children as orphans and his wife a widow, and who’s going to care for them. It’s hard things, it’s hard enough. And Paul is saying, such a time, such difficult times, it’s you have to live as if you had no wife, no child, because your faithfulness has to be to the Lord himself. Has to be to God first. You trust your widow and your children to the Lord, but you don’t deny Christ for their benefit. You stay true to the Lord in such circumstances. You have to be faithful to him first. So he’s talking about being occupied with the things of this world in such, and such a, you know, this isn’t, not dealing with things that’s like normal worldliness, which is always a sin. Dealing with something that wouldn’t otherwise be sinful at all.
If you marry, you’ve not sinned. There’s no problem with any of these kinds of things, but the time’s been shortened. And so you should live as if you had no wife. And those who grieve, as though they did not grieve. You get caught up in mourning and grief. I mean, if, when you, when we go through such experiences, it is all consuming, isn’t it? How do you think about anything else? You’re going through a time of grief. How can you put your mind on anything else? But he says, times when you need to make sure that your focus is on the Lord, so that you can stand true to him. Stand strong for the Lord. He says, if you rejoice, as though you did not rejoice. Be caught up in all kinds of things. Pull yourself away in that, in that moment. You know, it’s the same, same kind of thing. Are you absorbed in this thing? Is it occupying your mind? Can you stay faithful, or will this pull your heart away?
Those who buy as though they did not possess. You know, you make a purchase. You, you, you purchase a new house. And you’re occupied with your new possession. You know, you immediately start thinking about, I can do this and this and this. And I’ve got all these things that I’m going to be able to do here, and it’s like a brand new avocation that’s easy to get totally absorbed in. Well, we’re not to do that exclusively at any time. But in a time of testing, in a time of difficulty, we can buy the house, but we can’t be so taken up with it that we neglect the Lord and our responsibility before the Lord, or to compromise our testimony for him. So we’re not to be engrossed and caught up by the things of this world, so that we’re caught up in them and we forget that these things, all these things, even the marriage, marriage relationship itself, is a temporary thing, and eternity is before us. We need to keep our mind on the Lord himself, and on everything that is eternal.
Faithfulness in Adversity
So, we can’t, can’t have our minds taken up, devoted to all these things that could preoccupy our thoughts. He wants us to be free from concern, verse 32. Man who has, I was looking at a one of the commentaries by Lightfoot, when he was talking about the the issue of the present difficulty. He said that a man who’s a hero in itself becomes a coward when he thinks of his widowed wife and orphaned children. I think that’s true. That’s concern, isn’t it? It’s Paul, in light of what is about to befall, is giving advice to this early church, and he’s telling them that in their circumstance, in the situation where they happen to be living, he wants to spare them from suffering, undue suffering. And so he’s giving them the advice that he’s given.
Verse 33, he’s saying that the married man, if you get married, then it’s just natural that you’re more occupied with the things of the world. It’s not worldliness. It’s just the natural outworking of a marriage relationship. You know, it’s, it’s normal and right to take interest in your family, to encourage them, to bless them, to do things for them, to show them love, to provide for them. All those things are good and necessary. He’s not describing anything that is sinful here. It’s just the situation. The married man is concerned about the things of the world, and how he may please his wife. It’s just the general principle that he’s applying in this circumstance. And he’s and and then notice verse 35. He says,
I say this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint upon you.
Literally, I’m, I’m not trying to bind you to something. I’m not trying to lasso you or limit your options or anything like that. Just
I want to promote what’s appropriate and to secure the undistracted devotion to the Lord.
And then verse 36, on this question of of of virgin daughters. He says,
If a man thinks that he’s acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter, if she’s past her youth,
it’s an interesting phrase, isn’t it? That means what he’s describing here is, apparently, she she comes, she’s come to the place of marriageable age where she’s expected to be married, or maybe just beyond that. And if it must be so, that is, she probably doesn’t have the gift of celibacy,
let him do what he wishes, let her marry.
You know, it’s not let her marry, let them, let them marry. But if,
firm in your heart, if you’re under no constraint, if you have authority over, the person who has authority over his own will, decides this in his own heart to keep his daughter virgin daughter single, if it works out that way in this present time, it’s probably better that you do that. It’s well that you do that.
These are unusual circumstances that he’s describing. This isn’t ordinary Christian life. There are all of that goes back, what we’ve talked about before, goes back, it’s true for those who have the gift of celibacy and singleness, so that in ordinary times he’s describing in these last verses of this chapter. So I think that it’s only in that light that this makes the most sense. There are lots of views on this passage. If you don’t like mine, you can read somebody else’s.
This passage is is is difficult, you know, to interpret because we don’t have all the information. But but some of the things such as the betrothal view, translating virgin as the betrothed, I don’t think hold up. I can’t see how it could. You had betrothals in in in Jewish culture, but in the Greek culture, there were no formal betrothals. So it doesn’t exactly make sense that you would be talking about that here. Um, and there are lots of other reasons that I’m not going to go into them, but there’s a lot of other reasons why I think that it’s talking about a father, his his his the decision that he’s going to make about his his daughter, whether she should be married or not, and uh, and that there’s nothing that’s already bound that. Such as if you were a Jewish family, you were already betrothed, well, it’s done. You don’t really have a choice in that matter, the father wouldn’t. It’s already, it’s already in the process. He doesn’t have the liberty. He’s he would be under constraint in that case. If he’s a slave, he doesn’t have the liberty to to make a decision. But if he’s able to do that, and his daughter is okay with that, you know, it’s, it’s not, it’s not something, it’s not going to to be doing an injustice to her. He’s saying in this particular case, it would be wiser that she remain single, because she would suffer less in her life, and be able to devote herself more directly to the Lord in a very difficult time.
So finally, he closes this, you know, pointing out that a wife’s bound to her husband, but her husband dies, she’s free to be married to whomever she wishes, only in the Lord. So there’s limits, of course, to to the bond of marriage. And there’s principles right here for for for all kinds of, you know, principles for making decisions. You know, one of the things that’s interesting in this, in verse 39 is that the widow is free to be married to whomever she wishes. She’s got a lot of latitude. But only in the Lord. That’s what constrains it. And I take the phrase “only in the Lord,” especially in light of chapter 6, considering the body of Christ. And so I think the primary idea is that she’s to marry a believer in Jesus Christ. Someone who is a believer, and so it’s that would restrict that. There was probably other restraints only in the Lord. When it, when it comes to discerning the will of God, we should seek the Lord. We should seek wisdom passages in making difficult decisions. We should pray for God’s direction and guidance. We should get counsel to those who’s given you, who’s given to us for counsel. And we should feel free to do what we want to do in that decision, giving all of that kind of enlightenment. But we need to stay true to the Lord in the decisions we make. And then he closes out the chapter with
In my opinion, she’s going to be happier if she remains as she is, and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.
It’s wisdom counsel. It’s wisdom counsel for difficult situation, a difficult circumstance. And we can be guided by it. I don’t know what the future holds for us. You know, I’m, I’m certainly know that there’s nothing in this passage. Paul was absolutely consistent from the beginning of this chapter to the end, to not, to, to never say that the, that a person who is single is more holy than a person who is married. It’s never the picture here at all. Uh, you, you get nothing like that in this chapter.
Uh, the, the principle of marriage is always held up as the norm, and it is the norm. Under certain circumstances, there can be a special wisdom in singleness. You’re not, you’re not going to be encumbered by certain things that would make your, your unique ministry to the Lord, that could encumber it and hinder it, especially in times of persecution. But we need to be careful about the application as well. Now, sometimes, uh, you hear things like, should I bring a child into the world, the way the world is now? It’s such evil. It’s such an evil world we live in. You know, how can you be faithful to the Lord and bring a child into such a world? Well, you know, you start thinking about church history, and thinking about history in general, it’s hard to find a time when you would feel free to bring a child into the world. You know, I think about my own parents in the middle of uh, the 20th century. World War I, World War II, you had Hitler killing his millions of people. You had the Communist multiplying that many times. It was a dark world. Kind of grateful that my parents didn’t say, I don’t think I want to bring a child into this world.
God blesses. And one of the greatest blessings in life is uh, children. If you’re married, you know, I think that it’s absolutely normal and right to have children if you’re married. If you’re single, and God calls you to singleness, you have a unique opportunity to to serve the Lord. And you can, you know, we’re looking at the eternal state. When the great blessings of marriage, though, is that you do have the opportunity, if God blesses, and God’s discretion, to be able to bring life into this world and to be able to shepherd a child toward toward godliness. So that’s a privilege, and a way to serve God as well. It’s not that one is better than the other, it’s just which is right for you under certain circumstances. I would never counsel a couple not to get married, who loved each other and desired to get married, unless things were a lot different than they are today. But this wisdom passage, we should keep in mind. I don’t know what the future holds for any of us. And so God gives us his word as a grace, as a blessing to us, so that we can gain wisdom from it. Let’s look to him now as we sing our final song. To be obedient. And in the responsibilities that we currently have.