seven principles from 1 Corinthians 7

So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

1 Corinthians 7:24

I’m wrestling through 1 Corinthians 7 right now and have been for a few months. I’m not sure I’m going to park here much longer, but I do want to continue to spend time understanding what Paul is telling the Corinthian church so that I can determine how much of it applies directly to Christian experiences today. I particularly want to understand it in the light of my recent plunge into widowhood.

The chapter opens with Paul answering a question. The problem in the text is this: We don’t exactly have the wording of the original question that the Corinthian church sent in a letter to Paul. It is clear from the context of the chapter that the question had to do with sex and marriage, and that it affected single people, both those never married, and those that had been widowed. Given the casual sexual attitudes of the Corinthian culture, and the sexual sin the church there had tolerated, Paul may have been and probably was addressing some exceptionally unique situations with his “answers”. In other words, some of it may have been only meant for that one church at that one time. For that reason, I lean toward thinking of the passage with application of very broad principles as the best way to understand it.

Here is my initial attempt of summarizing it with seven principles:

1. God designed sex as very good. It can be twisted (and often is) by our sinful natures. Marriage however is also very good and the only place for sexual exploration (1 Corinthians 7:1-5).

2. Singleness (those never married, widowed, abandoned, or divorced) is not a “bad” state. In other words, creating a distinction in the church of “married people are better than single people” is wrong. A person who remains single AND sexually self-controlled is doing a good thing. Any strong desire for sexual expression however MUST be met in monogamous heterosexual marriage. Any form of sexual gratification as a single person with another person is wrong (1 Corinthians 7:6-9).

3. Marriage is a serious, lifelong commitment. Divorce (though possible and sometimes allowable) is never a great option for anybody (1 Corinthians 7:10-11).

4. Even Christian belief differences should not separate a husband and wife. As much as possible, a believing spouse should love, respect, affirm, and enjoy a marriage to a non-believing spouse for the sake of family and the gospel (1 Corinthians 7:12-16).

5. When a single person contemplates entering marriage they should seriously seek God’s reasons. It is entirely possible that God might want them to stay single (1 Corinthians 7:17-24).

6. Singleness and marriage each have their pros and cons and a wise person realizes the trade offs (1 Corinthians 7:25-38).

7. The widowed particularly are encouraged to explore solo living first, but are free to consider and celebrate remarriage (1 Corinthians 7:39-40).

All these principles are important. I find it interesting that the majority of the seven principles address singleness. I am in a season where these apply to me. If I want to obey God’s Word, I must think through just how principles 2, 5, 6 & 7 are going to affect my present and direct my future. It is a good thing that God’s Word directly addresses this for me. And it is good thing for me to especially contemplate whether my current situation is a temporary condition, or a calling I should surrender to by faith. Thankfully, God’s Word and Spirit will help me confidently settle this… I am certain.

our dance

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:1

God decrees our times and our seasons. We are born into a world that turns night to day, tilted to create winter and summer, orbiting a burning ball of gasses every year in a constant circle of synchronous seasons. And as we age we look back on days, months, seasons, and years. It is the handiwork of our Creator.

At our best we move to this seasonal, sovereign beat of the dance of the universe, part of the glorious worship that all of creation pours out in praise of the Creator. Yet in our brokenness, as years advance, we notice that despite the beauty, it is all marred… a red welt of a scar ripped  across a beautiful face… less than perfect. We experience sickness. We sorrow in death. There are atrocious evils done by people that hurt us. Realistically we know we do wrong as well. We feel dark nights of intense loss. We suffer shortened days of cold winter in long nights waiting for warmth. We then burn in the scorching heat of a blazing summer praying for shade. And yet, each morning we wake up, in the embrace of a new day’s dance grip, led to participate in it all once again… day after day after day.

The Preacher in Ecclesiastes, the old and jaded King Solomon, knew both the poetry of praise in this cycle of life, and the pitiful perspective of what feels like endless repetition in a broken universe. How then do we reject the pessimism of the latter viewpoint while joining in the songs of praise all creation still tries to sing? There are three perspectives elsewhere in Ecclesiastes 3 that clear us of “vanity thinking” and give us real hope. 

1. What God has made in each season is beautiful and purposeful (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Spring has fresh life. Summer has warm vitality. Autumn blazes in glorious color. Winter crystallizes beauty with frozen wonder.
2. God’s work endures forever (Ecclesiastes 3:14). These times will turn in a much bigger wheel…bringing us into eternity with God. And it will always lead to worship because forever with God is our destination.
3. Mortality forces our focus on what is really important. We are dust and return to dust (Ecclesiastes 3:20). We have an expiration date stamped on us. We don’t know when it is. We must make the most of what we have been given. We must then wring all we can by faith in God from our hours, days, months, seasons, years, and lifetimes… and then there is a glorious eternity made possible for us by the gospel of Jesus Christ!

discerning heart

The prudent sees danger and hides himself,

but the simple go on and suffer for it.

Proverbs 27:12

Lord give me a discerning heart

in a world full of danger

Your truth is no stranger

wisdom must lead me

prudent choices must keep me

Lord teach my wandering heart

what seems so attractive

is deadly radioactive

warm at first touch

but I’ll regret it so much

Lord lead my searching heart

a straight path for my feet

in Your Word I will meet

point me safely in narrow ways

all of my remaining days

Lord remember my hurting heart

be my strength and my might

be my wisdom and my sight

never leave or forsake me

in new life You’ll remake me

Lord keep my discerning heart

wisdom is all that I need

as in new directions I proceed

my God, how I need You

Jesus, always I believe You

waiting with certainty in Jesus

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

Today ends over seven weeks of reading through the Bible to research and understand what it means to “wait on the Lord”. I began this personal journey in the Word well aware that God has sovereignly placed me in a new season of transformative waiting. I have been greatly encouraged to keep waiting, blessed by a flood of understandings and insights daily that the Holy Spirit has led me to experience. I have learned to embrace, love, learn from, and welcome the waiting! This final passage makes a good capstone for all of the lessons learned.

I’ve noticed how in the Old Testament waiting is heavily influenced by the hope of salvation. It is about God being Savior and His people patiently awaiting, crying out for a salvation yet to come. This makes sense because the wait was for Jesus to come to earth and to save us. There are episodes of waiting for God to judge in the Old Testament as well, but the judgment is often a “saving” judgment where the hope is that God will rescue His people and bring justice in their situation. Jesus does all that!

New Testament waiting, as shown so clearly in this passage, is more eschatological. It is future focused on the final picture of the redemptive story. We wait for God to have His day. We wait for a future glory. And that focus is also squarely on Jesus. Because we have a Savior we can confidently wait. The Thessalonian believers had turned to God by faith in Christ, forsaking the vain, false hope of idolatry for a living Savior. And they waited for this risen Savior… for Jesus… to keep delivering them. This wait is ultimately for a final deliverance Jesus gives from the final Judgment of God. This is the living hope that Jesus gives every Christian.

Lord Jesus,

All my waiting is in You, for You. You deliver me from sin and demolish my worthless trust in idols. Some idols have been torn from my heart these past six months. Thank You for using this season as Your good work in me. You keep me now as I serve You. You are my hope, Risen Son! You deliver me. You will lead me as I wait. You will show me how to serve until I am in Your presence. You will keep me, bring me into Your Kingdom, provide all my heart truly needs right now, and rule me with Your love!

Amen

the focus of all waiting

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

Galatians 5:5

The hope the apostle Paul is waiting for in this passage is a gospel hope. It is a future experience of complete righteousness found only in Christ. We “eagerly wait” for this hope as Christians with him. What could he possibly mean? What is this hope for which we must eagerly wait?

Paul has been addressing the awful false gospel of legalistic religious “salvation” which the Galatian church had drifted towards. They had begun with “Christ alone” but had been led astray into a false gospel that taught “Christ” + “good works” + “keeping the Law” = salvation. This sort of heretical equation places hope on human efforts. It misses grace altogether. In fact, Paul says it leads people to “fall” from grace (Galatians 5:4). And when you lose grace, you lose the righteousness of Christ. When Christ’s righteous work is not the saving power, you lose the future hope because you are leaning on a righteousness that your sinful self can never achieve. Legalism is powerless to save. All true hope is found solely in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

We can wait for many things in life: God’s provision of a job for our needs… Our kids to grow up well and successful… a relationship of love and mutual nurture with a life partner… contentment in service to Jesus in a church of loving people. All of those, though very important things, are not the main hope for which our focused waiting is directed. As a Christian, my eager hope, the focus of all for which I wait, the future that I must anticipate… all of those are only fulfilled in the perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ my Lord!  Jesus is my hope. I wait for His will and work. I wait for His return. I wait for my redemption to be complete in Him for eternity. I wait for Him to set this world right in His kingdom as He presently aligns my heart to His priorities, and as His future reign reorders a new heavens and a new earth… the home of righteousness.

my small wait

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ…

1 Corinthians 1:4-7

All present waiting has both a past and a future. There is a past enriched by the grace of Jesus Christ. There is a future focused on the coming kingdom of Christ. Present waiting should keep both of these firmly in view.

My past is enriched by the grace of Christ. Just like Paul praised God for what He had blessed in the church at Corinth, so I can see the same blessings in my life. God’s gracious fingerprints are all over my story! He has blessed me immensely in many years of living in the faith of the gospel. My life is rooted in Jesus, transformed and led by grace. In every way I am spiritually enriched, even embarrassingly so. God is making me, growing me, maturing me, and despite my broken, stubborn heart. God is using my life even as I still figure out this waiting thing! I lack no good gift of His good grace!

I have been in what seems like a long season of temporary waiting, put on what feels like extremely annoying “hold” by God as I converse with Him. This condition of being widowed has six distinct seasons that have emerged in 2023: 1) sickness, 2) shock, 3) sorrow, 4) survival, 5) solo, and 6) settled. Although from season 2 on it has been something of a sliding continuum, I feel like I am comfortable now in a contented solo season and moving toward being settled into a new present… seeing a hopeful future. God is using these circumstances to show me through His Word and in the gifts He has bestowed upon me what He has now so that I am trusting what His grace has waiting for me next.

But I must wait most for the even bigger picture… far more important than the lessons of being widowed. I must shift my focus away from my small relational situation and lifestyle arrangements. What is that bigger picture? Jesus is on the horizon of human history. He is standing ready to be the Judge of all the earth and to set-up His kingdom. I wait for that day the most. My “little” personal season of waiting is virtually insignificant in comparison to the gracious perspective He gives in the light of His coming kingdom.

Lord,

You hear my prayers. You know I have begged for my soul to be settled and content again in all this loss and change. And yet now, I realize that the vision of Your Kingdom puts that all in proper perspective. May my soul truly long and wait for that above all other waiting I am currently doing. I trust Your grace. You have poured it all over me again and again. And You are making from even my pain a purpose to make Yourself known so that Your kingdom will come and Your will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. I will wait. I will tell my heart to confidently and faithfully wait.

Amen

waiting… hope unseen

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8:25

I face these circumstances now.

What do they mean?

My soul asks deep questions as

my hope is unseen.

You are my salvation.

You make me clean.

I stand in Christ now forgiven as

my hope is unseen.

I groan inwardly as I wait

from sin’s curse now freed

waiting for final adoption

while my hope is unseen.

I trust Your Word even

if I have never yet been

at the end of my journey

trusting Your hope that’s unseen.

Hope that is possessed

becomes something that is seen.

Hope that I wait for

is real hope still unseen.

Waiting then requires patience.

You always say what You mean.

You promise to take me to future glory

while now hope is unseen.

So with patience I will stand here.

On Jesus I will lean.

His promise is ever with me.

I believe hope that’s unseen.