DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- LIVING BY GOD'S NORMS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – LIVING BY GOD'S NORMS

"Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband." (I Corinthians 7:1-3)

It is good to remember what kind of society these believers at Corinth came out of when they converted to Christ. It was as corrupt, vile, and ungodly as one could imagine. The believers were saved out of this. In Chapter six, Paul listed some of the ungodly practices that they were saved from – fornication, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, sodomy, thievery, covetousness, drunkenness, reviling, and extortion. Promiscuity and immorality were the norm for the culture. But then he said, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God" (I Corinthians 6:9-11). In other words, they were living under a new culture where righteousness was the norm.

The church at Corinth had written Paul for some instructions regarding Christian marriage. He wrote back in this letter that marriage was to be between a single man and a single woman (vs. 2), ruling out polygamy. When they got married, they gave up their rights to their own bodies (vs. 3) and they were not to deny intimacy except by mutual consent for fasting and prayer (vs. 5). Propriety was to be observed in regard to physical contact between the sexes (vs. 1).

Divorce was not a option, in Paul's mind. "A husband is not to divorce his wife" (vs 11). There were situations where the spouse may have left because his or her mate was not a Christian. In those cases, the victim spouse was not under bondage. Separation was allowed because God has called us to peace (vs. 15) But even in those cases, there was hope that the offending spouse would still become a believer (vs. 16).

We live in a culture much like the Corinthians where moral purity has been abandoned, and marriage degraded. We need to be reminded that we do not live according to the norms of society. Such were some of us, but we were washed, sanctified, and justified to live according to the norms of the Kingdom of God. Our standards are not the norms of the world but God's norms.

Love, Dad