without distraction (dchang ch. 7)

I do realize that it has been quite a gap since I've last written from 1 Corinthians. Part of this is because, honestly, 1 Corinthians 7 is a little hard to write about, especially from someone who doesn't seem all that socially inclined and is still rather young compared to who Paul is probably writing to.

Anyways, the opening lines of chapter 7 are "Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me," so Paul is probably responding to what he has been told about the Corinthians.

Paul proceeds to talk about sexual immorality and, for people to keep themselves from it, that it would be good for "each man to have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband" (v 2). From the preceding chapter, we find that there has been sexual immorality named upon the believers in Corinth that is alarming and not even named upon the Gentiles. so Paul is probably just trying to clear some things up - that it would be good for a man to have a single wife and for a woman to have a single husband. i think that is what he is saying, but obviously i'm biased. let me not turn this into some kind of political or spiritual debate, in which i will probably lose, but i just think things are right with man married to woman, and when man is only married to one woman and vice versa.

The next lines explain that, in marriage, a husband is no longer his own: "Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does" (v. 3-4). i had read this several times before, but this was the first time that something really stuck out. That the husband has authority - pretty much possesses - his wife's body, and the wife has the authority of the husband's body. They are not their own anymore.

That's the same set up as Christ and the church, which is the relationship that is attempted to be mirrored by husband and wife marriages. The church is - the body of Christ - and in return, the church receives Christ. i would not go as far as to say that the church has authority over Christ, because i don't think the two are equal, but it is certainly a trade. a Jars of Clay song contains the lyrics, "All I am for all You are because what i need and what i believe are worlds apart." it is that we are small and minuscule, just tiny points in time, and yet God loves us. and by His love and grace, we are allowed to trade. we trade who we are for who He is, and He lifts us up to be with Him.

The next lines in chapter seven read, "Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control" (v. 5). i don't have that much to say about this, but from my singular past relationship experience, i would say this is a good idea, but i would hesitate before completely cutting off all communication with the other person, and i would really make sure that you are turning from the other person momentarily for God and not for the world. i think turning away for the sake of becoming closer with God will bring both of you closer together, and yet, if turning away does not result in intimacy with God, then i think things can get screwed up.

i heard of a relationship where a guy realized that for the time that he had been going out with a girl, he hadn't really experienced God that much - that his relationship with God had been dwindling. anyways, he made the commitment that we would no longer hold hands (which, believe me, is actually a huge deal) as a kind of commitment to God. i think this could be an accurate interpretation or extension of what Paul says in this verse.

and he goes on to say it more in verses 32 through 35. paul is single and i kinda think that he wants other people to be single like him, but he admits that God has specific callings for everyone uniquely, so he doesn't say marriage is bad. he even says that it "is better to marry than to burn with passion" in verse 9. but i think he clearly thinks that it is better to be unmarried if that is your calling because then one can be very clearly focused on God and pleasing God, whereas if one is married, then that person may be focused on pleasing that person's spouse, which is the wrong idea. at the end of the paragraph, he says: "and this i say for your own profit...and that you may serve the Lord without distraction." i think it is totally possible to be with someone and yet for both to completely yearn for the Lord - i think that is what it means to be without distraction.

i think that it makes sense that two people shouldn't marry in hopes of completing each other, because then one will be dependent on another, and i don't think any mortal man can truly eternally satisfy the desires in anyone's heart. but one should be completed by God, and then if that person becomes in covenant with another who has been completed by God, then both can seek God together. also both can serve as encouragements to one another and usually their gifts will complement each other in a way that they work well as a team and can be used by God with perhaps more versatility. but i think paul's point remains - that it is incredibly important to "serve the Lord without distraction."

the only other real thing that jumped out to me were verses 12 through 16, which say that if an unbeliever is in covenant or headed towards covenant with an unbeliever, the unbeliever should not divorce the unbeliever. "For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?" reads verse 17.

the only thing i would say is that if the unbeliever has such an influence on the believer that the believer is essentially becoming an unbeliever, i would break it off. because serving the Lord should be the primary focus. as long as you can continue to serve the Lord with all your heart. but if the other person has such an influence that it is unhealthily rubbing off on you, i would at least take a break and try to seek God again.

Paul lays out a lot of church organizational things, things that don't really jump out at me. i guess they're pretty important, but they don't really resonate within me. he talks about how a wife is bound to her husband, but if her husband dies, then she could remarry, but Paul thinks it would be better if she just didn't marry. and how a husband should not divorce his wife, and a wife shouldn't either, but if the wife does, then she shouldn't remarry. things like that.

another verse that i thought was great was the last part of verse 15. Paul is just talking about an unbeliever being in relationship with a believer and says that "if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases." and the only reason i think that is cool is because the very next line is "But God has called us to peace." and that really is a great line - because if the unbeliever walks away from the relationship with the believer, you can imagine the tension and the heartache. you can imagine or maybe you have even experienced the pain, a frantic internal fight of arguments going on and finger pointing and name calling going on within someone's head. you can imagine the amount of sleep one might lose over a broken relationship, even on both sides - for both the nonbeliever and the believer. and Paul says, "But God has called us to peace." i think that is so true. and that is our hope. that God will complete us.

on a final note, as Paul was mostly talking about relationships in chapter seven, i think it should be stressed that God orchestrates our stories - even our love stories. God has set us up with someone perfect, someone who is such a tremendous fit that it wouldn't be so shocking or boring to spend the rest of your life with just one person (though, really, we'll spend eternity with God. now that's a perfect and tremendous fit as well). anyways, i really can't social advice, but i would still say that God is good and God will give to us the desires of our heart if we lay them down at our feet and give Him the keys to our lives.