Chronos 1 Corinthians 7 Series

This week we continue our series called Chronos. A term which means time. We have decided to study the scriptures this year in the order they were published. It gives us a very unique insight into the early church and the struggles of a growing movement. This review of history is important because The Center’s leadership believes we are on the cuspid of a great awakening in America. An awakening that will challenge the status quo of the current Christian industrial complex. An institution more concerned with Attendance, Buildings and Cash than the Gospel, Grace and Growth of the kingdom.

This week we also continue in the book of the first Corinthians. It’s another book written by Paul around 25 years after Jesus' earthly ministry. Corinth is the original sin city. It was a transitional city and as such there was a lot of anonymity. As a Coastal town people were always coming and going. Some for vacation, most for business. The community was know for their worship of the goddess of sex. They had one of the largest temples devoted to her and the idea of fertility. You can see why when you called somebody a corinthian back then, you were saying they were living without morality. After his 1 ½ years planting the church, Paul left behind Apollos who was an amazing preacher/teacher and yet, we can see from this book the people still had questions. The immorality of the culture was so rampant that Paul had to address everything from why church potlucks should not turn into drunken frat parties and worship of the one true God should not look like a kids first birthday party at a chuck e cheese restaurant.

Last Sunday, we dove head first into the book. Last week Paul encouraged us to remember we always represent Jesus in all our affairs. We must be ever cognizant of our witness and its reflection on Jesus Christ.

Until this point, Paul has been addressing some issues he felt needed to be corrected. Now, he jumps into some questions the new tribe in Corinth were asking. This entire chapter is about Christian marriage and singleness. Before we jump into this week’s issue, let me tell you a story.

For the last 37 years, I have been married to my college sweetheart. We were 22 years old when we were married. We were sure love was all we needed. We had no idea the challenges in front of us. We had skirmishes over almost every aspect of married life. One of the firsts came when we moved into our first two room apartment. I had spent our last $50 bucks on a keg and bucket of chicken to reward those who helped us move our bed, stereo, TV and kitchen utensils. We had no money until the next paycheck and only one credit card for gas. When I sobered up a bit after everyone left, we realized we needed food for the week. So we headed to the AMOCO gas station in Lombard and purchased pizzas, lunchables and some soda for the week. We were both worried at the time but we figured it out together.

Our mutual commitment to overcome anything life would throw at us would become our greatest strength. The hard truth is that marriage is simple but not easy.

The apostle Paul often gets maligned by those who fail to take all his writings and the context of his writings into account on this subject. Paul is often represented by these people as someone who was against marriage and women. However, this is simply not so. Today’s scripture is often pointed to as proof but in most cases Paul was only reiterating what Jesus taught (Check out Matt 5:31-32, 19:112, Mark 12:1-12 Luke 6:18). And when Jesus didn’t teach on a question that Paul was asked a question about, he tried to make a distinction between his opinion and God’s truth so nobody would get confused with the authority of God.

Let’s jump into 1 Cor 7 verse one

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

This is a perfect example of a line taken out of context. The quotation marks let us know that someone else asked a question. Paul did not make the statement. He is only answering a question.

2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.