1 Corinthians 7:25-40

Wow. As a recently married man I am not sure quite how to respond to this. “From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not.” Not exactly going to go over well with the wife. Not gonna mention that while she’s cooking dinner. Holding that butcher knife.

For a casual believer or someone not too familiar with Paul and his lines of thought, this passage may come across contradictory to what most know the Bible says of marriage. Where we normally think marriage is exalted in the Bible and designed by God to help man and woman come closer to Him, we see Paul pushing people back from the altar, and the “I do’s.” 

 But that’s not what he’s meaning. Exactly. He’s talking about distractions from God. Away from God. And Lord knows our society is filled with them already. You can’t go a day without some magazine, some TV show, some celebrity, some…friend, whether intentionally or otherwise, trying to lead you off the path. An “about face” to God, or at least a crooked detour.

In this particular passage though, Paul is talking about the distraction of marriage. That, for some, it can be something we think we need, something we strive for or linger on or get bogged down in, that we forget to focus on God and His son, Jesus Christ. We get so tied up in making our unions perfect on our own that we fail to see that only through Jesus can that be accomplished.

For the singles, or as Paul calls you, “virgins,” there is an alternative to the additional labor that goes into a marriage. You can simply remain single. However, there is an asterisk right behind the word “single.” Some fine print you may not have read. Single means waylaying your urges, your yearnings, your desires that you would ordinarily act out with your spouse and instead turning that passion into praising God and Jesus. And that could be amazing because you may have a lot of passion stored up. Great for, say, becoming a missionary abroad since you have no spousal ties, and seek no permission, to leave at a moment’s notice. On a whim, or on a Calling.

Paul tells us that Salvation comes to the married and the unmarried. It makes no distinction. Jesus is the way to Heaven, not being hitched. That being said, married or not, Paul warns the married and the on-the-fencers to beware the marital distractions, the constant attempts to please your mate and have the best marriage in the room – or simply one where the two spouses can stand to be in the same room – and not forget that the glory and pleasure-seeking should be directed first towards God. All else is secondary.