Paul proceeded to give guidelines to the married or formerly married. The statement "It is good for a man not to touch a woman"(v. 1) may well have been a Corinthian slogan.164Paul responded to that view in all that follows in this section.
Paul advised married people not to abstain from normal sexual relations.
7:1 Again Paul began what he had to say by citing a general truth. Then he proceeded to qualify it (cf. 6:12-13). The use of the Greek word anthropos(man generically, people) rather than aner(man as distinguished from woman) indicates that the statement pertains to human beings generally. To "touch a woman"(NASB) is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.165Evidently the Corinthians' question was something like this. Isn't it preferable for a Christian man to abstain from sexual relations with a woman? This would reflect the "spiritual"viewpoint of the Corinthians that held a negative attitude toward the material world and the body (cf. 6:13; 15:12).
"Some difficulty is alleviated if these words are regarded as a quotation from the Corinthian letter, and this is a hypothesis that may very probably be accepted [cf. 6:12-13] . . ."166
Another view is that "touch a woman"is a euphemism for marrying.167However this meaning is difficult to prove, and I do not prefer it. If this is what he meant, Paul's advice was to abstain from marrying. Paul wrote later that because of the present distress his readers would do well to remain in their present marital state (v. 26). Nevertheless throughout the passage Paul viewed marriage as God-ordained and perfectly proper for Christians.
7:2 This verse probably begins Paul's extended qualification of the Corinthians' view of marriage. He proceeded to urge them strongly that the type of abstinence that they were arguing for within marriage was totally wrong. Notice the three sets of balanced pairs in this verse and in the two that follow. In this verse Paul urged married couples to have sexual relations with one another because of the prevalence of temptations to satisfy sexual desire inappropriately.
The view of verse 1 that understands Paul to be saying that it is better to avoid marrying sees Paul making a concession to that statement here. Those who hold this view believe that Paul was saying that it is better to marry since many single people cannot live in the single state without eventually committing "immoralities"(fornication, Gr. porneias). This is obviously not the only reason to marry (cf. Gen. 2:18-24), but it appears to have been an important consideration in Corinth where temptations to fornicate abounded. As noted above, I do not favor this interpretation.
"This [i.e., "each . . . each"] forbids polygamy, which was advocated by some Jewish teachers."168
7:3 In view of the temptation to commit fornication, each partner in marriage needs to fulfill his or her sexual duty to the spouse. Part of the responsibility of marriage is to meet the various needs of the partner (Gen. 2:18) including sexual needs.
7:4 Moreover in marriage each partner relinquishes certain personal rights, including the exclusive right to his or her own body, to which he or she gives the mate a claim. Neither person has completeauthority over his or her own body in marriage. Note that Paul was careful to give both husband and wife equal rights in these verses. He did not regard the man as having sexual rights or needs that the woman does not have or vice versa.
7:5 Evidently the Corinthians had concluded that since they were "spiritual"they did not need to continue to have sexual relations as husband and wife. Another less probable situation, I think, is that there were some married Christians in the church who were overreacting to the immorality in Corinth by abstaining from sexual relations with their mates. For whatever reason Paul viewed this as depriving one another of their normal sexual needs and urged them to stop doing it. Husbands and wives should commit themselves to honoring the spirit of mutual ownership that these verses describe.
There are legitimate reasons for temporary abstinence, but couples should temporarily abstain only with the agreement of both partners. When there are greater needs, spiritual needs, the couple may want to set aside their normal physical needs. However they should only do so temporarily.
"Three conditions are required for lawful abstention: it must be by mutual consent, for a good object, and temporary."169
Normally we think of sexual activity as an indication of lack of self-control, but Paul also viewed the failure to engage in sex as a lack of self-control for a married person.
7:6 Paul's concession was allowing temporary abstinence from sex. The concession was not having sex. He did not command abstinence. He viewed regular marital relations as the norm. Paul was no ascetic who favored as little sex as possible. Abstinence was the exception to what was normal in his view.
7:7 Paul evidently was not a married man when he wrote this epistle (v. 8). We do not have enough information about his life to know whether he had never married, had become a widower, or if his wife had left him.
To Paul the single state had certain advantages for a servant of the Lord such as himself. He had to put up with many hardships in his ministry that it would have been difficult for a wife to share. Moreover God had given him grace to live as a single person without feeling consumed by the fires of lust (cf. v. 9).
He wished everyone could live as he did, but he realized that most could not. Each person has his or her own special gift (Gr. charisma) from God, some to live single and some to live married (cf. Matt. 19:12). These are spiritual gifts just as those gifts listed in chapters 12-14 are. The gift of celibacy is a special ability that God gives only some people to feel free from the desire or need of sexual fulfillment in marriage.170
Paul moved from advice to the married regarding sexual abstinence to advice to the unmarried. He advised this group, as he had the former one, to remain in the state in which they found themselves, but he allowed them an exception too.
7:8 Who are the "unmarried"(Gr. agamois) that Paul had in view? Most interpreters have taken this word in its broadest possible meaning, namely all categories of unmarried people. Others, however, take it to refer to widowers since Paul also specified widows in this verse and since he dealt with males and females in balance in this chapter.171I prefer the former view.
The unmarried state has some advantages over the married state even though it is better for most people to marry (Gen. 2:18). Since it is not a sinful condition, married people should not look down on single people or even pity them because they are unmarried. Sometimes married people tend to do this because singles do not enjoy the pleasures of married life. Notwithstanding they enjoy the pleasures of single life that married individuals do not. Married people should not pressure single people to get married just because they are single.
7:9 However if a single person cannot or does not control his or her passions, it would be better to marry than to burn with lustful temptation (cf. v. 2). If a single has very strong sexual urges that may very well drive him or her into fornication, he or she would be wise to get married if possible. Of course a believer should marry a suitable Christian mate. This may be easier said than done, especially for a woman. The Lord has promised to provide the basic needs of those who put Him first in their lives (e.g., Matt. 6:33). I believe He will do so in answer to prayer either by providing a suitable mate or by relieving the sexual passion. In either case He gives more grace (10:13).
Again Paul advised remaining as they were, but he also allowed an exception.
"While Paul displays ambivalence toward whether widowers and widows should get married (vv. 8-9), he consistently rejects the notion that the married may dissolve their marriages."172
7:10 The Lord Jesus Christ gave instruction concerning what believers are to do in marriage when He taught during His earthly ministry (Matt. 5:27-32; 19:3-12; Mark 10:1-12). Paul cited some of this teaching and added more of his own.173Of course God's instructions through Paul are just as inspired and authoritative as His teaching through Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. This is one of Paul's few commands in this chapter (cf. vv. 2-5).
The main point of Paul's advice is that Christians should not break up their marriages (Matt. 19:4-6; Mark 10:7-9). "Leaving"and divorcing (vv. 12-13) were virtually the same in Greco-Roman culture.174In our day one popular way to solve marriage problems is to split up. Nevertheless the Lord's will is that all people, including believers, work through their marital problems rather than giving up on them by separating permanently.
7:11 If separation (divorce) occurs, they should either remain unmarried (i.e., stay as they are) or reconcile with their mate. Paul said this was to be the wife's course of action because if she left her husband she would be the mate who had to decide what to do. However the same procedure would be appropriate for the husband.
I believe Paul did not deal with the exception that Jesus Christ allowed on the grounds of fornication (Gr. porneia; Matt. 5:32; 19:9) because it is an exception. Paul wanted to reinforce the main teaching of Christ on this subject, namely that couples should not dissolve their marriages.
The Corinthian Christians appear to have been separating for ascetic reasons, to get away from sexual activity. In modern western culture the reason is usually the opposite; people usually divorce to marry someone else. Regardless of the reason for the temptation, Paul commanded Christian husbands and wives to stay together and to share their bodies as well as their lives with each other. It is impossible for a Christian husband and wife to provide a model of reconciliation to the world if they cannot reconcile with each other.
In this situation, too, Paul granted an exception, but the exceptional is not the ideal. He also reiterated his principle of staying in the condition in which one finds himself or herself.
". . . one of the great heathen complaints against Christianity was exactly the complaint that Christianity did break up families and was a disruptive influence in society. Tampering with domestic relationships' was in fact one of the first charges brought against the Christians."175
7:12-13 "The rest"refers to persons not in the general category of verse 10. Paul had been speaking of the typical married persons in the church, namely those married to another believer. Now he dealt with mixed marriages between a believer and an unbeliever, as the following verses make clear.
For these people he could not repeat a teaching of Jesus because He had not spoken on this subject. At least as far as Paul knew He had not. Nevertheless the risen Lord inspired Paul's instructions on this subject so they were every bit as authoritative as the teaching Jesus gave during His earthly ministry.
The Corinthians may have asked Paul if a believing partner should divorce an unbelieving mate rather than living mismatched with him or her. This is the problem he addressed. He counselled the believer to go on living with the unbeliever if the unbeliever was willing to do so.
"The point is clear: in a mixed marriage the Christian partner is not to take the initiative . . . in a move towards [permanent] separation."176
In Judaism, wives could not divorce their husbands, but under Greek and Roman law they could.177
7:14 Even though an unbeliever might affect his or her mate negatively morally or ethically, it was still better to keep the marriage together. This was so because the believing mate would affect the unbeliever positively. "Sanctified"(Gr. hagiadzo) means to be set apart for a special purpose. God has set aside the unsaved spouse of a believer for special blessing some of which comes through his or her mate (cf. Exod. 29:37; Lev. 6:18). God will deal with such a person differently than He deals with those not married to Christians.
I do not believe Paul would have objected to a couple separating temporarily if the believer was in physical danger from the unbeliever (cf. v. 15). What he did not want was for believers to initiate the termination of their marriages for this or any other reason.
Likewise the children in such a marriage would enjoy special treatment from God rather than being in a worse condition than the children in a Christian home. This probably involves their protection in the mixed home and the supply of grace needed for that sometimes difficult situation. "Holy"(Gr. hagios) means set apart as different.
I do not believe Paul was saying unsaved spouses and children of mixed marriages are better off than the spouses and children in Christian families. His point was that God would offset the disadvantages of such a situation with special grace.
"This verse throws no light on the question of infant baptism."178
7:15 On the other hand if the unbeliever in a mixed marriage wants to break up the marriage, the believing partner should allow him or her to do so. The reason for this is that God wants peace to exist in human relationships. It is better to have a peaceful relationship with an unbelieving spouse who has departed than it is to try to hold the marriage together. This is true if holding the marriage together will only result in constant antagonism in the home. However notice that the Christian does not have the option of departing (vv. 10-11).
When the unbeliever departs, the Christian is no longer under bondage (Gr. douleuo, lit. to be a slave). Does this refer to bondage to hold the marriage together or bondage to remain unmarried? Most of the commentators believe it means that the Christian is free to let the unbeliever depart; he or she does not have an obligation to maintain the marriage.179Among these some hold that the believer is not free to remarry (cf. v. 11).180Most of these believe that the Christian is free to remarry.181The Greek text does not solve this problem. I think Paul was not addressing the idea of remarrying here.
I would counsel a Christian whose unsaved spouse has divorced him or her to remain unmarried as long as there is a possibility that the unsaved person may return. However if the unsaved spouse who has departed remarries, I believe the Christian would be free to remarry since, by remarrying, the unsaved partner has closed the door on reconciliation.
7:16 It is possible that Paul meant Christians should not separate from their unbelieving spouses because by staying together the unbeliever may eventually become a Christian (cf. 1 Pet. 3:1).182However he may have meant the believer should not oppose the unbeliever's departing because he may become a Christian through channels other than the witness of the believing spouse. Both possibilities are realistic so even though we cannot tell exactly what the apostle meant here what we should do is clear. The Christian can have hope that God may bring the unsaved spouse to salvation while the believer does the Lord's will.
Verse 16 is a positive note on which to close instructions to Christians who have unsaved spouses.
