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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday December 3, 2017
INSTRUCTIONS
ON MARRIAGE
1
Corinthians 7
In 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9-20, the
Apostle Paul focused on the spiritual perils involved in sexual behavior
outside of marriage, and outside of the laws and restrictions of GOD the
CREATOR. There he gave us his exegesis on the “spiritual link” in sexual
intercourse that most people are not aware of.
Through the act of coition, or, the
exchange of bodily fluids during sexual intercourse, a man and a woman become
one in spirit, and are “consummated” becoming “complete” in one body and one
spirit, whether they are married to each other, or not. And since a Christian
is also spiritually one body with CHRIST, when we commit an immoral sexual act,
we also cause CHRIST to suffer in spirit in our offense against our own bodies,
which we share spiritually, with HIM.
We should also keep in mind that, as
Christians, our bodies are the temple of the HOLY SPIRIT, as GOD gives HIM to
us as a gift to help us defeat our own “sin nature” and re-gain control over
our own minds and bodies. HE helps us to win the battles between “reason” and
“passion” that, wages on, each minute of each day, inside of each of us.
Whenever we resist the council of the HOLY SPIRIT and persist and continue in
immoral sexual behavior, or any other type of sin, we are also guilty of
grieving the HOLY SPIRIT in the omnipresence of GOD the FATHER.
In 1 Corinthians 7, verse 1, the word Paul
uses for “touch” in his original Greek rendering is “haptomai” (hap-tom-ahee),
and it means “to touch sexually”, or “to have sex with”. Here Paul is
attempting to answer a question that has been posed to him by the Church at
Corinth, who were struggling with making the transition from their old worldly
behavior of sexual immorality, to the new GODly way of viewing sexual behavior
that the Christian Church requires, if they are to become, and remain, a part
of the Body of CHRIST.
In this passage, Paul attempts to explain
the benefits of living single, without discouraging those who wished to be
married. Some people, Paul says, are gifted with “singleness” (the power of
sexual self-control), and those who can control themselves have an advantage of
being able to devote themselves entirely in service to GOD, full time. Single
people don’t have to divide their time and attention between “spouse”, “family”
(their earthly responsibilities), and “GOD”.
However those who can’t control their
passion should marry so that they will be better able to keep themselves from
sexual immorality. In such cases, each man, who is not able to control his
sexual passion, should have his own wife, and each woman, who can’t control her
sexual passion should have her own husband. And they must not deny their spouse
sexual intercourse, unless it is by mutual agreement for the purpose of prayer
and fasting, because each spouse has authority over the other’s body (Vs.3-7).
Those who are not wanting to get married,
or, are widowed; Paul suggests to them that they continue on being unmarried,
if they can control their sexual urges. However, if they can’t control their
sexual urges, they should marry, if they are single, or re-marry if they are
widowed, rather than to engage in sexual immorality, which will certainly come
by way of temptations from satan (v.9). Paul also admonishes that those who are
married should stay married, “till death do you part” (Vs.10-11).
Even if one’s spouse is an unbeliever, and
is willing to stay in the marriage with the believing spouse, the believing
spouse should not end the union. The Believer in the marriage brings “holiness”
to the marriage, and has an opportunity to sanctify the marriage by leading the
unbelieving spouse to CHRIST, by way of their GODly behavior towards them, and,
around them. Then too, if there are children involved, the Believer in the
family is the only GODly influence that those children have in the home
(Vs.12-16). And so, if you were married to an unbeliever when you came to
CHRIST, GOD expects you to continue on in that marriage.
I know by now some
of you may be thinking, “Well what if your spouse commits adultery? Isn’t that
an acceptable way of getting out of your marriage? The answer is no, and JESUS
faced that same question from the Pharisees in Mark chapter 10, and HE
explained HIS FATHER GOD’s point of view to them with the same response, “No”.
After JESUS and HIS
disciples had left Galilee heading south toward Judea to HIS final stop and
appointment with death in Jerusalem, they are met by a group of Pharisees who
sought to tempt HIM with this question regarding the subject of divorce, “Is it
lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Since here it says
that the Pharisees sought to “tempt JESUS”, it may have very well been that
they were seeking to get HIM to contradict HIMSELF from what HE had stated
earlier in HIS “Sermon on the Mount” regarding divorce (Matthew 5:31-32). Maybe
they hoped, perhaps, that JESUS would give a self-incriminating answer that
would help them to be able to mount some sort of opposition against HIM.
The Pharisees, and
most Jewish men at that time, believed that a man could not commit adultery
against his wife, and that, only the woman could be guilty of such an offense.
They also held out hope that JESUS would take sides on this issue, or maybe
they could cause a degree of dissention among JESUS’ followers, that might
divide them doctrinally.
But, whatever
their underlying motives were, they were, once again, about to be disappointed,
because JESUS counters their question, with a question of HIS own. In this
passage HE asks them, “What did Moses say about divorce?” JESUS evidently was
taking this opportunity to clear up their misunderstanding of this ancient
Mosaic Law regarding divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1-4.
In Deuteronomy
24:1, GOD explains the only biblically allowable reason for a man to divorce
his wife. Here HE says that the woman would have to have committed “undisclosed
fornication” (ervah in the Hebrew) at some time prior to their marriage. In
other words, she would have to have had pre-marrital sex with another man, and
then later, not disclose it to the man she intends to marry. However, if she
does disclose it to him before they are married, and then, he decides to marry
her anyway, he cannot later use it as a reason to divorce her, but rather, he
must remain married to her always, for GOD hates divorce, period (Malachi
2:16).
Here in this
passage of Mark, JESUS explains, that, while divorce may be lawful in cases of
undisclosed “pre-marrital sex” (“porneia” in the Greek), it is not permitted
for cases of “adultery” (“Moicheia” in the Greek), which is sex with another
person, outside of marriage.
JESUS had already
explained this to the religious leaders in HIS, now famous “Sermon on the
Mount”, but just like most of us today, we still don’t get it, simply because
“we SO want to do what we want to do”. However, we need to know that, within
our sinful nature there is housed, “a lying spirit” that sometimes blocks us
from accepting the “things of GOD, and until we release that spirit from our
life, we won’t ever come to grips completely with the finer points of GOD’s
Word.
In Matthew chapter
5, in JESUS’ teachings about divorce, in verses 31-32, HE clearly explains
GOD’s position and law regarding this topic. There HE first gives them the
misconceived or misunderstood version of “what man would like for the law of
GOD to mean”. Then, HE carefully explains to them what GOD truly says regarding
divorce. What followed was perfectly in line with the concept of Deuteronomy
24:1.
JESUS, WHO is the
Word in the flesh (John 1:1), says that, “You have heard that the Law of Moses
says, “A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a letter of divorce”.
Now, since JESUS really is the WORD in the flesh, coming from HIM, this is what
HE may as well have been saying, “You have heard that “I said”, a man can
divorce his wife by merely giving her a letter of divorce, and that is not
true”.
Then, in verse 32,
JESUS rebukes that notion and even denies that HE ever made such an ungodly
statement that was now accredited to HIM. There HE says that, “A man who
divorces his wife, except she commit fornication (porneia), which can only be
committed by an unmarried person, who has no need of divorce, causes her to
commit adultery (moicheia) (sex outside of marriage) by sending her away.
This tells us
plainly that GOD doesn’t release us from our marriage vows because of adultery,
but only for undisclosed fornication. If we divorce a spouse because of
adultery, as far as GOD is concerned, the two are still married and are
committing adultery with the next person that they engage in sexual intercourse
with.
Divorce, in GOD’s eyes, only serves to show
how far we’ve fallen short of the glorious standard that HE originally set for
the institution of marriage. And therefore, in GOD’s eyes, divorce is always
sin, except for undisclosed fornication.
JESUS goes on to
explain further to HIS disciples, after they had returned to the house where
they were staying, that, “Any man, who divorces his wife, and remarries,
commits adultery against the wife whom he sent away, and any woman, who
divorces her husband, and remarries, commits adultery against the man whom she
leaves” (Mark 10:10-12).
JESUS CHRIST gave
up the comforts of Heaven and came down to earth to unselfishly sacrifice
HIMSELF for all of our sins, past, present, and future, including sexual sins,
and we can be forgiven for whatever sin we commit. HE bought us at a high
price. And so, if HE can stay with us, and forgive us for absolutely anything
sinful in life that we can ever do, then, why can’t we do the same for our
spouse.
Christians are called
to a high standard in married life, and, in single life, and our bodies belong
to CHRIST forever, because, as I said, HE bought us at a high price. For human
beings, and especially for the Christian, to forgive, is always divine. And if
we are, in any sense, to be called “a follower of CHRIST”, then, we must
indeed, try and follow HIS examples to the letter, forever incorporating them
into our lives, so that we may be shining examples to others, for all time.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
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