With Elder Elico Manenji
✝️In this chapter, the Apostle Paul deals with issues concerning marriage as the Corinthians had written to seek answers from him. Some in Corinth because of the hard letter he wrote to them thought that it is more honourable and a sign of moral purity to remain unmarried. The Apostle however replied that marriage is honourable as it was God who ordained it for humankind. However, there are exceptions, in some cases it may be better not to marry but it is best always to be married to avoid temptations of sexual immorality. Corinth was an immoral city and full of this temptation, so it was better for them to marry to avoid falling into this temptation. In marriage both husband and wife have their rights and obligations to each other. In some circumstances husband and wife may abstain from sexual fulfilment for increased prayer time but they still are obligated to each other after fasting and prayer. So in this chapter, the Apostle gives more instructions on this subject pertaining the unmarried and widows, instructions to the married. Instructions to men married to heathen wives and women married to heathen husbands. Instructions concerning virgins and single persons in general and trials of the married life and unmarried life. Instructions concerning the state of virginity or celibacy and how the wife or husband are bound to each other as long as they live and the liberty to marry and not to marry after the death of the spouse.
*1️⃣1 Corinthians 7:1-16: Marriage as a Divine Institution was meant not to be dissolved as Christ said the bond could only be dissolved because of adultery and fornication.*
⏹️God ordained marriage for several reasons, here are some:
1. To increase the population of the righteous seed in the world.The Scripture says, " *And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth"(Genesis 1:28).*
2. For sexual fulfilment between the spouses as they were not to deprive each other. The wiseman says, *" Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and be you ravished always with her love"(Proverbs 5:19).*
3. To avoid sin and temptation and to live a holy and perfect life in this world. The wiseman says, *"Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well"(Proverbs 5:15).*
4. As a sign of oneness and union between Christ and the church and cleaving to each other as Christ loved the Church and died for it. The Apostle says, *"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word"(Ephesians 5:25-26).*
⏹️The marriage bond should never be dissolved, it is for life except for sexual sin and immorality. Otherwise, the husband should be espoused to his wife as long as they live. They can only be separated by death. Jesus Christ said, *"But I say to you, That whoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery: and whoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery"(Matthew 5:32).*
*2️⃣1 Corinthians 7:17-35: Every person married must abide within the marriage vow. Instructions concerning the marriage of virgins.*
⏹️The Apostle gives reasons to preserve order, industry and faithfulness in the relations of life and he shows that Christianity is not designed to break up the relations of social and domestic contact as instituted by God and sanctified by Christ. The Apostle says, *"Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but fornicators and adulterers God will judge"(Hebrews 13:4).*
⏭️Marriage, despite circumstances of calamity or personal duty remains pure and holy. Divorce, and remarriage after divorce was and is never God's design but a condition of the hardness of the heart. Hardness of heart is to have an irreconcilable heart towards another' s offences and weaknesses. Jesus Christ said, *"He said to them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so"(Matthew 19:8).*
⏹️ Those who are virgins can remain so and need not to bother themselves pertaining marriage issues as long as they can sustain and control themselves against the passion of sexual sin. The preacher says, *"For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?"(Ecclesiastes 6:12).*
⏫ However, the Apostle advices that when a virgin desires to get married, it is not a sin but is an instruction of God, for there are not many who maybe eunuchs for the sack of the gospel. To the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord instructed, *"You shall not take you a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters in this place"(Jeremiah 16:2).*
*3️⃣1 Corinthians 7:36-40: No parent should forbid their children to get married although it is advisable to remain chaste before marriage. Instructions pertaining second marriages of widows and widowers.*
⏹️The Apostle advices the unmarried not that he disparages marriage but special circumstances make it inadvisable for them to remain unmarried because of some reasons he makes such as:
I. Distresses of married life than that of single life. The Apostle says, *"Redeeming the time, because the days are evil"(Ephesians 5:16).*
II. The shortness of time as he anticipated the soon coming of Christ in his time. The Apostle says, *"But this I say, brothers, the time is short: it remains, that both they that have wives be as though they had none"(1Co 7:29).*
III. The cares and life incidents to the married state in troublous end times.
Few husbands and wives will be allowed to climb the hill together, and fewer will still stand hand-in-hand especially in times of trouble.
Jesus Christ said, *"And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful"(Mark 4:19).*
*🅰️Appeal*
Marriages have a bearing only when parental blessings and God's blessing are the resultant of the union. The persons are to be guided by the fear of God and the laws of God and act in dependence on the providence of God in the change, that us in second marriages after the death of a spouse and choice of a mate. The Apostle says, *"So then if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man"(Romans 7:3).* Amen!!!
Elico Manenji
(+263712952704)
No comments:
Write comments