Heaven's Point of View

1 Corinthians 7: 1-7, Part 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Tom Shepherd

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Series Code: HPOV

Program Code: HPOV000038A


00:16 Hello and welcome to Heaven's Point of View.
00:18 This is our series on Love, Marriage, Sex and Divorce,
00:22 from the New Testament perspective.
00:25 My name is Dr. Yvonne Lewis
00:27 and our featured host for this series is Dr. Tom Sheperd.
00:30 He is a Professor of New Testament interpretation
00:34 at Andrews University
00:35 and he's a Director for the Ph. D.
00:38 and Th. D. Programs there, did I get it all?
00:42 Yeah, that's fine...
00:44 it's more important... we talk about the Scriptures.
00:46 Amen... amen... you've been doing such a great job
00:49 on breaking down all of these elements within Scripture
00:53 on love and marriage and sex and divorce, I mean...
00:57 these topics are just so relevant
01:01 to what's going on today
01:02 and we've been looking at 1 Corinthians 7
01:05 and let's just kind of get back into that
01:08 because there are some juicy passages in 1st Corinthians 7.
01:12 We said... the last time we studied
01:15 verses 1 and 2, and we said that the Apostle...
01:19 he got this letter from the Corinthians,
01:21 a letter which we don't have any more
01:24 so, we don't know exactly what they said,
01:26 but he said, "I'm going to respond
01:28 to the things you wrote about" Hmmm... hmmm...
01:31 So it's like listening to half of a telephone conversation
01:34 where, you know,
01:35 you kind of try to piece it together,
01:37 as to what they were saying.
01:38 Paul gives us his reply in 1st Corinthians 7,
01:44 he begins by evidently quoting something from their letter
01:48 where it was dealing with the subject of "touching a woman"
01:53 is the phrase that he uses,
01:54 many people think that this was simply a euphemism
01:59 for sexual relations, however, as we studied last time
02:03 we noticed that it's actually probably
02:05 much more nuanced than that.
02:07 We reviewed how the concept of "touching"
02:11 was used as a euphemism in the ancient Greco-Roman world
02:15 and we concluded that Paul is talking about
02:19 men using women
02:21 or other men or boys
02:24 as an object for sexual gratification,
02:26 it's about the dehumanization of people
02:29 and using them as objects of personal pleasure.
02:33 You know, Dr. Sheperd, this is such an important point
02:37 because as I...
02:38 I don't listen to Rap music or Hip Hop music,
02:41 I just can't relate to that but...
02:45 but one of the things that is so prevalent in that
02:48 is the objectification of women,
02:51 violence, objectification of women,
02:55 and just using women as recreational sex objects,
02:59 like... when you want it, it's there
03:01 and it's just so prevalent today in today's Society
03:05 on television, in the music, this is...
03:08 Big internet issues... problems of pornography,
03:11 Yes...
03:12 This is all about objectification of people
03:14 and... as an object of desire instead of a relationship
03:18 and these kinds of problems...
03:21 we need to talk about it in the church,
03:23 Absolutely, because we can't just sweep them under the rug
03:27 and act as though they don't exist,
03:28 but we can go to the Word and find out,
03:31 "What does the Word say?" so we looked...
03:34 what we looked at was 1st Corinthians 7 verses 1 and 2
03:39 so what does Paul say,
03:41 how does he deal with verses 3 through 7?
03:44 Okay, so, we want to go back and read the entire passage
03:47 and it never hurts to get the context,
03:50 so we want to read,
03:51 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verses 1 through 7
03:57 so if you could just read that for us.
04:00 Okay, sure, "Now concerning the things
04:01 of which you wrote to me:
04:02 it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
04:05 Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality,
04:07 let each man have his own wife,
04:09 and let each woman have her own husband.
04:11 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her,
04:15 and likewise also the wife to her husband.
04:18 The wife does not have authority over her own body,
04:21 but the husband does.
04:22 And likewise the husband does not have authority
04:25 over his own body, but the wife does.
04:27 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time,
04:31 that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer;
04:34 and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you
04:38 because of your lack of self-control.
04:40 But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment.
04:43 For I wish that all men were even as I myself.
04:46 But each one has his own gift from God,
04:49 one in this manner and another in that. "
04:51 Okay, now this is a passage as I've said before
04:55 that is very misunderstood
04:58 and Paul has taken to say things actually...
05:01 that is just about the opposite of what he's actually saying,
05:06 in verse 1 we've already studied and we noticed that
05:09 Paul agrees with the people who are writing to him
05:13 and are complaining about this "touching of women. "
05:17 Now, this "touching of women" does not mean...
05:19 just simply... sexual relations,
05:20 in the studies that we've looked at
05:24 we found that in the Greco-Roman world
05:28 when they use this terminology, it was something men did,
05:31 it wasn't something women did. Hmmm...
05:33 A woman could be involved in "porneia"
05:36 immoral sexual behavior
05:38 a man could be involved in porneia...
05:40 immoral sexual behavior,
05:41 but touching was only something men did to women,
05:44 so, simply to say,
05:46 "This is having sexual relations... " is insufficient,
05:49 all right, it actually goes further than that
05:52 to say the objectification of a woman,
05:55 so Paul agrees with... there were some people
05:57 in the Corinthian church evidently who were...
05:59 who were objecting to men in the church
06:02 and it's so hard for us to understand the records of...
06:05 to even think that anything like this would happen in church,
06:08 but men were probably having sex with their slaves,
06:11 they were still going to the...
06:13 maybe they were going to the temple
06:14 and having sex with the temple prostitutes in Corinth
06:17 and this whole "touching of women,"
06:19 using them as a sexual object
06:21 then there were some people who were like...
06:23 shocked with this in the church
06:24 and said, "This is just wrong,
06:25 let's write to Paul and find out what he thinks. "
06:27 So Paul agrees with them... that's wrong...
06:30 you see, when we studied 1st Corinthians 6,
06:32 we saw that there was this whole thing
06:34 about sexual, immoral behavior
06:35 and going to prostitutes and Paul is opposed to that,
06:38 now we kind of turn to the other side in 1st Corinthians 7,
06:41 it seems as though he's talking to people
06:44 who were kind of prudish on sex,
06:45 and think of it as sort of a dirty thing
06:47 maybe that... you shouldn't do it
06:49 or you should limit its... you know...
06:51 how much you do it... and... you know...
06:53 but they are complaining to Paul and he agrees with them
06:56 but they seem to have even gone further and said,
06:59 "You know, maybe sex is just so powerful
07:02 that you just shouldn't have it at all,
07:05 just no sex at all even if you're married. "
07:08 So they went to the other extreme.
07:10 Yeah, yeah, so you can imagine
07:12 a church like this where if...
07:15 one Sabbath you get up and you preach and you say,
07:17 "Now, you ought not to be going to those temples,
07:19 you're not to be sleeping around"
07:20 and the people who are believing in Asceticism,
07:23 who are... you know... don't have sex with people,
07:25 they're saying, "Amen, preach it Paul, tell it"
07:27 And so Paul goes something like this,
07:30 he says, "Boy oh boy! now what am I going to say,
07:32 what am I going to say to these folks?"
07:34 so then he comes back the next week and he says,
07:36 "Now you know, sex is good"
07:37 and you can hear the people
07:39 that have been going off to the prostitutes saying,
07:41 "Preach it Paul... amen... "
07:42 so, he had to wind his way carefully
07:46 in between these groups who were libertine
07:48 and the groups here who were ascetics
07:50 and he does a very good job,
07:52 now, if we don't know the background
07:54 and we don't know the letter that he has
07:57 and some of the indicators that he gives here,
07:59 we can easily misunderstand this so in verse 2, he says
08:05 that because of the ubiquitous nature of
08:08 immorality in the pagan world, that you ought to be married
08:12 and you ought to have sexual relations in marriage.
08:15 Because he talks about sex in marriage,
08:18 it seems in...
08:19 he's talking about sexual relations
08:21 in the marriage relationship in verse 1,
08:23 that's also probably what he's talking about in verse 2,
08:26 all right, so then this brings us down
08:28 to verses 3 and 4, all right, maybe we should just read
08:34 verses 3 and 4 again... just to see...
08:38 Sure, "Let the husband render to his wife
08:42 the affection due her,
08:43 and likewise also the wife to her husband.
08:46 The wife does not have authority over her own body
08:49 but the husband does.
08:50 And likewise the husband does not have authority
08:53 over his own body, but the wife does. "
08:55 All right, now what in the world is he talking about?
08:58 Would you read verse 3 again,
09:01 I was interested in how the New King James put that.
09:04 Sure, "Let the husband, render to his wife,
09:07 the affection due her,"
09:09 The "affection" due her... Affection...
09:11 here in the ESV it says,
09:12 "The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights"
09:14 Hmmm...
09:16 Tom: It's talking about sex... Yvonne: Right...
09:18 Sex and marriage, and he says,
09:20 "The husband should give the wife her conjugal rights
09:23 and likewise the wife to her husband"
09:25 so,
09:26 this kind of strikes us
09:28 as a little strange,
09:30 you know, especially, young married couples,
09:31 they get this... and they look at this and say,
09:34 "You mean, you got to tell them to have sex?"
09:36 Yeah...
09:39 It's kind of like sitting young children down
09:42 and saying, "Now, eat your ice cream,"
09:44 you don't usually have to tell people to eat their ice cream
09:48 and you don't have to usually tell people to enjoy sex,
09:51 because it is such an enjoyable experience,
09:54 however, there's a sad thing that can happen in marriage,
09:57 where people use sex as a weapon.
09:58 Hmmm... hmmm...
10:00 Where it becomes something you withhold or give
10:05 in order to get something else and that's wrong.
10:10 Yes, and I think the Bible is basically saying,
10:16 if you're angry or if you...
10:20 if for some reason you're carrying some kind of grudge
10:24 or whatever against that spouse,
10:26 do not use sex as... you know things can build up,
10:30 tension can build up, don't use sex as a weapon.
10:34 Right... yeah so... if you have problems,
10:37 if you're facing some kind of issue, then talk it out.
10:39 Right.
10:40 And actually if you get to the place where
10:42 you can't talk it out, you're not fine...
10:44 that's obviously going to affect your sex life
10:47 but you should go to some trusted counselor
10:50 and be able to talk things through,
10:53 and try to work things out and get... you know...
10:55 and find resolution again but Paul says
10:58 that actually you have rights in marriage
11:00 now, the supporting reasons for verse 2 are found
11:06 here in these two verses... 3 and 4,
11:08 the first reason deals with your obligation
11:11 and the second reason deals with your authority.
11:15 So you have an obligation towards your spouse,
11:19 but you also have rights in relationship to your spouse,
11:23 he uses two different words,
11:24 the Greek words are opodidomi and exousiazó,
11:28 don't you love that Greek sound?
11:29 Wow! can I even say that? Don't ask me to repeat that.
11:33 All right, so "apodidomi" means to...
11:35 it's a word that's used in a number of ways
11:37 it means, to pay out wages,
11:39 to fulfill a duty, to render, to reward,
11:42 or to recompense,
11:44 so it's used here...
11:45 it gives the idea of what you owe your spouse,
11:48 so when you get married,
11:50 you owe something to your spouse,
11:52 see, it's quite different from before you're married,
11:55 before you're married, you don't owe them something,
11:57 but now you do,
11:58 you owe them their conjugal rights,
12:00 you owe them sexual fulfillment.
12:02 The other word, "exousiazó" has the idea of
12:05 to have the right to something, right, so,
12:08 it's the reciprocal side of the equation,
12:11 you have a right to sexual fulfillment in your marriage.
12:14 Paul indicates that the husband has rights with the wife's body
12:18 and the wife has rights with the husband's body,
12:21 it's a very mutual kind of relationship.
12:24 Mutuality is very important in this passage
12:26 you see, in verse one and two,
12:28 it was all about using somebody else as an object,
12:31 Hmmm... hmmm...
12:32 And when he turns to really talk about
12:34 how sex should be handled in marriage,
12:37 he says, "It's not about using a person as an object,
12:40 it's about treating them as a person
12:43 who has rights and privileges just like you do. "
12:46 Yes, yes, and that makes so much sense,
12:49 it's a mutuality involved here. Tom: Yeah.
12:54 So some people think that verse 5
12:58 gives you the right to kind of fast from sexual relations.
13:02 Hmmm... hmmm...
13:04 What do you think about that?
13:06 Well, now we'd better take a look at verse 5 again.
13:08 Okay, all right.
13:09 Let's read it again. Okay.
13:10 "Do not deprive one another, except with consent for a time,
13:15 that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer;
13:18 and come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you
13:22 because of your lack of self-control. "
13:23 Okay, very interesting verse.
13:26 So, don't deprive your spouse.
13:29 Your spouse of sexual relations, yeah,
13:31 now, he uses another Greek word here,
13:34 which is "Scolasete" which means to have time for
13:39 or leisure, to be able to devote yourself,
13:42 to give time over to something and he talks about
13:45 prayer, right,
13:47 so he talks about having time for prayer,
13:52 he says, "don't rob or defraud somebody"
13:56 now, who would you be... who would you be robbing
14:00 well, if you... just in the previous verses
14:05 if you read about the conjugal rights that a person has
14:09 and obligations that you have,
14:11 it's not hard to see that what he's talking about is
14:16 depriving somebody of their right,
14:18 so what the spouse has... is a right to sexual fulfillment
14:23 with their spouse, and it's a mutual back and forth
14:27 now, what if somebody says,
14:28 "No, I don't want to have sex, I want to spend time in prayer"
14:32 I think that the two are incompatible,
14:37 that they don't fit,
14:39 this is what.. maybe somebody was saying
14:42 that prayer is holy, and prayer is clean
14:45 and prayer lifts me up to God
14:46 and sex is dirty and takes me down.
14:48 See, now, that's of course a very mistaken view of sex.
14:53 Right...
14:54 When God created human beings,
14:56 he didn't do, you know, God created the head of the man,
14:59 He created the foot of the man, He created the hands,
15:01 He created the chest, He created the legs,
15:03 then He said, "Okay, Satan, you can create the rest,"
15:05 that's not what He did, God made sex,
15:09 He made it beautiful, He made it very enjoyable,
15:11 I mean, it's about the most enjoyable experience
15:14 that you can have in life, and He made that to be enjoyed
15:17 to bring people together,
15:19 so evidently he had people in this church
15:24 who felt as though they ought to hold things back
15:30 or maybe sex... maybe sex was so strong
15:34 that you ought not to have it even if you're married,
15:37 so now we've got to really take apart verse 5,
15:41 because he says,
15:42 "Don't deprive one another except... "
15:45 so, this seems to be some exception,
15:48 maybe there's a time when you can say, "No,"
15:51 and not have sex, now, I will just step back here
15:55 for a moment and say, again, kind of that
15:57 Public Health Hat I'll put on and say,
15:59 Paul is not talking about... if somebody is sick,
16:02 or, you're under a lot of stress or something like that
16:07 for you to insist that your spouse has sex with you
16:11 during that time period when somebody is ill or in pain,
16:15 something like that,
16:16 that's not showing kindness and concern and care for them
16:20 like they should
16:21 like we studied when we looked at marriage
16:23 and how the husband is to care for his wife...
16:25 the wife is to respect her husband,
16:26 so, sex always has to be placed within the context of the home
16:31 and where their setting is
16:33 and how they're doing in terms of time... and you know
16:36 if your life is so stressful and you don't have time
16:38 for sexual relationships with your spouse,
16:41 then you're too busy.
16:42 That's right...
16:44 Now, we say that about prayer,
16:45 if you're too busy to pray, you're too busy,
16:48 all right, now there's nothing wrong
16:50 with us saying... as Christians,
16:52 "If you're too busy to have sex with your wife,
16:55 if you're too stressed out, you're too busy,
16:57 you need to step back and say, "No" to something.
17:00 I know, you said, I'm the Ph. D. Director
17:03 and sometimes I have to talk to Ph. D. students,
17:04 I'll pull out a little Post-it note
17:07 and I'll write the word, "No" on it,
17:09 and I'll sign it and give it to them and I'll say,
17:11 you know, "Put this on your fridge
17:14 because, maybe you need to say, 'no'
17:16 so you can focus on writing your dissertation, you know,
17:18 and have enough time for that, just say, 'No,'"
17:23 so, there are times when you're getting too busy
17:27 if you don't have time for your family,
17:29 you have to say, "No" to some of those outside things.
17:31 Okay, so let's look, let's kind of walk through this,
17:34 the first thing Paul does is he talks about an exception,
17:36 he says, "Do not deprive yourself,
17:39 except perhaps by agreement"
17:41 so, he's rather hesitant about this exception,
17:46 except perhaps... perhaps... in case... you may,
17:51 so... Yvonne: For a limited time.
17:53 So that's the next thing, the mutual limitation,
17:56 he says, "There must be agreement. "
17:58 Yvonne: Hmmm...
17:59 So it's... he's not saying it has to be,
18:02 perhaps, he says, but it has to be by agreement,
18:06 the word for agreement is, "symphonou"
18:08 from which we get the word, "symphony,"
18:11 when all the music is being played together,
18:14 it's a symphony... beautiful sound together,
18:16 you see, the husband and the wife
18:18 both have to agree to this,
18:20 fasting this time, when you're not going to...
18:24 when you're not going to have sex, okay,
18:26 then he says, "it's for a time. "
18:30 Right...
18:31 It's for a limited period of time,
18:33 the terminology is "kairos"
18:35 which means "a specific span of time"
18:38 and with the preposition that it is put with,
18:41 it has the idea of, perhaps,
18:42 a view towards a short period of time,
18:44 you're not supposed to stay apart for a long period of time,
18:47 none of this "mud stuff" you know.
18:49 You know, Dr. Sheperd, I know of a couple of couples...
18:53 that... there's one couple that's married,
18:56 that has been married for several years,
18:59 and they never, ever have sexual intercourse,
19:03 which means that their level of intimacy
19:06 is so limited, because sex is that glue
19:10 also that helps to keep the couple together.
19:13 Yep, gasoline in the engine.
19:14 Yeah, and they never ever have sex.
19:17 They need to go see a counselor and work...
19:19 because there's obviously some kind of issues involved.
19:21 Yes...
19:23 You know, marriage is the place
19:24 where that's supposed to take place
19:25 so, a limited time, the purpose...
19:27 why are they not having sex? It's not a weapon,
19:30 it's not a weapon, it's to devote themselves
19:33 to prayer, it's unhurried devotion to prayer,
19:37 okay, so, first there's this hesitance,
19:39 then there's the mutual agreement,
19:42 then there is a limited time
19:44 then the purpose of it is
19:46 not to attack somebody or hurt them,
19:48 it is to devote yourself to prayer,
19:51 then he reiterates and he says,
19:54 but then, he says, "come back together again"
19:57 so, the purpose of prayer cannot override
20:01 the duty of sexual union.
20:04 Hmmm... that's a good point because some people
20:08 might try to say, "Well, I'm praying... "
20:11 and they might try to act too holy
20:13 for sexual relations within marriage,
20:16 that's the key.
20:17 Can you imagine, if a believer is married to an unbeliever,
20:21 and says this to the unbeliever,
20:23 there's almost no way that that person's going
20:26 to become a believer, they're like,
20:28 "Oh, is that what believing in Jesus does for you?"
20:31 you know, it makes it so that you're not going to have sex,
20:35 it makes it so that you use it
20:37 and the unbeliever would see it as a weapon,
20:40 right, so the believer... he's talking to believers here
20:44 but the believer should not use it as a weapon
20:47 against the unbeliever, now, he gives a moral support
20:50 of his temporal reiteration,
20:53 sometimes people misunderstand this moral support,
20:55 he said, "So that Satan may not tempt you
20:58 because of your lack of self-control"
21:00 now, Satan's temptation to sexual immorality
21:06 or... can you imagine if
21:09 somebody was praying, they had a sexual "fast"
21:12 and they were praying and they were tempted to immorality
21:18 and so they went off and had sex with somebody
21:21 that wasn't their spouse, see, the purpose of the prayer
21:26 is positive but if you allow Satan
21:29 to turn this into a temptation to immorality,
21:32 it becomes a negative, so he is reiterating,
21:35 he's giving a moral support... a moral reason
21:38 for why they should not do this for a long period of time,
21:45 so, he gives so many reasons, why?
21:51 You know, he says, "You don't have to do this
21:53 but here are all these reasons
21:54 that come on and on and on and on,"
21:56 so, that brings us to verse 6.
21:58 Yes and he says in verse 6,
22:00 "This is a concession
22:02 not a commandment" what does he mean by that?
22:04 Yeah, now, the important word in verse 6 is that the...
22:07 "as a concession not a command, I say this... "
22:11 Hmmm...
22:13 and the question is, "What does the 'this' refer to?"
22:17 And there are lots of different ideas
22:20 as to what the "this" refers to,
22:22 let me run down some of the options.
22:24 Some people suggest that the concession "this"
22:29 refers back to verses 2 through 5
22:31 and that marriage and sex is the concession.
22:36 Hmmm...
22:37 All right, this is not a very likely option,
22:41 praise God, since it makes it difficult
22:45 to see why the Apostle Paul would say in verse 2,
22:49 that because of sexual immorality,
22:51 that everybody should have a spouse
22:54 and then verses 3 and 4,
22:56 that "marriage brings it with it
22:57 the requirement of sexual fulfillment of your spouse"
23:00 and then to say, "Oh, all of that
23:02 is just a concession" when he said it was a command,
23:05 it was a right that the person has,
23:07 so that is one of the least likely options,
23:10 you see, some people get the idea
23:11 that Paul is against marriage
23:13 and that he's just saying, "Well, you know,
23:16 I really wish you could all just be unmarried
23:18 and, you know, I know...
23:20 some of you just aren't able to handle this,
23:22 so okay, I'll make a concession, so you go ahead, get married. "
23:26 What?
23:28 Well, that's so against what the Old Testament,
23:30 in particular, says about marriage
23:32 and what Jesus says about marriage
23:34 so, it doesn't make a lot of sense,
23:36 number two is that...
23:37 oh, I'm sorry... verses 2 to 5 would be
23:39 "marriage and sex is the concession"
23:41 verse 2... sometimes people will say,
23:43 "Marriage itself is the concession"
23:45 that doesn't make sense either
23:46 because there is such a long distance
23:49 between verse 2 and verse 6, when he uses the word, "this,"
23:52 sometimes, people will say. "not to deprive one another"
23:56 here as a concession,
23:57 this would mean that Paul is saying that
23:59 really the Christian's purpose ought to be focused on prayer
24:03 and that it's a concession or being nice
24:06 to give your spouse sexual fulfillment,
24:08 but then, that runs up against verses 3 and 4,
24:12 which said, "No, it's not being nice
24:15 it's something you owe them, hello!"
24:19 You can't just say,
24:20 "Oh, I'm being nice to give this to you. "
24:23 "No, we got married, I'm sorry,
24:24 that means that I have rights and you have rights,"
24:26 right? Right.
24:27 The other possibility
24:29 is that the "short separation" is the concession,
24:33 here Paul would be saying that a pause in sexual relations
24:39 in order to focus on prayer is okay if both of you agree
24:44 but that is not something that a good Christian has to do.
24:49 Hmmm...
24:50 You don't have to stop having sex
24:53 in order to pray, right, that's...
24:56 in fact, this is Paul's allowance
24:59 to the Ascetics, the people would say,
25:02 "You know, sex is just too strong"
25:04 or "sex is just too dirty and everything,
25:06 we should just not have sex even though we're married,"
25:08 Paul says, "You know what? you're wrong,"
25:10 he says, "but I'll give you this concession,
25:12 if you want to separate for a short time
25:15 and pray and do that,
25:18 okay, but only for a short time,
25:20 both of you have to agree, it has to be a limited time,
25:23 don't let Satan tempt you, come back together,
25:25 start doing... having sexual relations,"
25:28 see... that's actually the most likely,
25:30 but the concession is... is to the Ascetic people
25:33 who don't want to have sex, he says,
25:35 "Okay, but you can only do that for a short time...
25:37 just a little bit,"
25:39 there are some people that want to say
25:42 the following verse is not to marry as a concession
25:44 but that doesn't make a lot of sense linguistically
25:47 so, we can paraphrase this,
25:49 let me read a paraphrase I have of this
25:51 to sort of fill it out and to say what it means,
25:55 okay, so, here Paul is saying, "Here's my concession,
25:59 to those who think
26:01 you have to stop having sexual relations
26:03 in order to devote yourself to prayer,
26:06 it's all right to abstain,
26:09 but only on the following conditions,
26:12 both husband and wife must agree to the sexual fast,
26:15 it must be for just a short time,
26:18 the purpose is to focus on prayer,
26:20 and then you must stop the "fast"
26:22 and return to full marital relations,
26:24 remember, it is not necessary to abstain,
26:27 in order to be 'a good Christian'
26:29 you each owe the other the joy of sexual fulfillment,
26:33 in fact, abstaining can cause you great harm
26:36 if Satan tempts you and your passions overwhelm you
26:40 what would be the value of devotional exercise
26:43 if it led you to immorality?"
26:46 Right... All right...
26:47 now that brings us to verse 7
26:49 and we don't have much time to talk about verse 7
26:52 so let's just read it real quick say it very quickly.
26:55 "For I wish that all men were even as I myself.
26:58 But each one has his own gift from God,
27:00 one in this manner and another in that. "
27:02 Paul was probably unmarried at this time,
27:04 he came from a background where marriage was the norm,
27:08 so maybe his wife died or perhaps she divorced him
27:11 because he became a Christian, that's a possibility,
27:14 Paul talks about the gifts of God,
27:16 of different life paths or situations
27:18 or what God gives to you
27:20 and He will give you the grace to use that
27:22 and go through that time,"
27:23 so in summary we can say this, sex in marriage is good,
27:26 sex in marriage is a marital right,
27:29 we owe it to our spouse to give them sexual fulfillment
27:33 and it's all right but not a requirement
27:36 to abstain from sex for a short time in marriage
27:40 for devotion to prayer
27:41 but both parties must agree to the plan.
27:43 Absolutely. Yeah.
27:45 This is rich... this is some rich information,
27:50 we thank you so much and we look forward
27:52 to our next session with you.
27:54 Okay.
27:56 And we look forward to your joining us,
27:59 don't hesitate to tune in next time
28:02 and tell somebody else about this series.
28:04 May God bless you
28:05 as you continue to search the Word for its truth.


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Revised 2016-03-28