February 26, 2016 1 Corinthians 6:12 – 7:7
Download discussion questions: 1 Corinthians 6_12-7_7 One Flesh
After addressing a specific issue of immorality in the congregation, Paul continues and broadens his teaching to the more general topic of how we are to view our physical bodies. One of the members of our discussion group commented that some of the things the apostle says “just sound weird” or that he seems “down on sex.”
On the other hand, the passage says some very positive things about our bodies. The believer’s body is a means of glorifying God (6:20); it is intimately connected to (“members” or parts of) Christ (6:15); it is the sacred dwelling (“temple”) of the Holy Spirit (6:19). Paul seems to go out of his way to make it clear that our human bodies, weak and fragile and vulnerable, are interrelated with the Triune God.
That amazing truth is probably behind Paul’s passionate (weird?) exhortations about what we do with our bodies. Sharing the same intimacy with both the Triune God and with a prostitute is unthinkable. One participant in our group commented that a helpful deterrent to watching pornography is to imagine inviting Jesus to sit with you in front of the computer screen. That inconceivable inconsistency is what Paul wanted the Corinthians and us to see. The first-century believers were tolerant of unashamed sin in the church itself. Our twenty-first-century culture (including most of us Christians) have become desensitized to the impact immorality has on us. (Just last night, a day or two after our discussion, I watched a secular television program about the seven deadly sins and our modern culture. While the host had no trouble discussing pride, gluttony, envy, etc., it seemed that every time he mentioned lust he found it necessary to preface the word with “the so-called sin” of lust. Wrath and greed may still be considered sins – to whatever degree our culture uses that word – but lust is at worst a “so-called sin.” What letter would Paul write to a church in our day?)
The “weird” or extreme attitudes that Paul expresses in this passage need to be seen in that context. One person pointed out that the word immorality is used three times in these few verses (6:13, 6:18, 7:2). That was the context Paul was thinking as he wrote, still addressing the environment that permitted sin that even Gentiles avoided (5:1). The thought of the flagrant immorality being comingled with the preaching of Christ and the fellowship of the church required a severe response.
Paul wants to be realistic as well. Perfect control of our desires (celibacy) would be ideal (7:1), but marriage is the God-ordained context for the fulfilment of those desires (7:2). One question that came up in our group: How do those statements fit with God’s creation of male and female as the expression of the Divine image (Genesis 1:27)? Marriage is clearly ordained by God, and Paul is not challenging the value of marriage. Rather, he is responding to the circumstances of the Corinthians and the depth of immorality that they tolerated. Celibacy would be preferable to that condition.
Paul’s affirmation of the body and of sex within marriage continues in his guidance about the recurring practice of marital intimacy (7:3-5). With the exception of a mutual decision to temporarily pursue other spiritual goals, sex is to be a regular part of married life, a physical expression of the spiritual relationship between husband and wife. Immorality with a prostitute has disastrously negative spiritual implications (6:15). Intimacy within marriage is wonderfully positive, perhaps one of the ways we glorify God with our bodies (6:20).
Our group thought that another of Paul’s statements seemed awkwardly expressed. He describes both husband and wife as not having “authority” over their own body (7:4). Rather, each has a “duty” to the other that must be fulfilled (7:3). The words authority and duty seemed out of place, even jarring in a discussion of the marital relationship. One person mentioned the meaning of the words from a military perspective. Doing a task because of authority means we do it because we have to do it. Doing a task as a duty may have more of the idea of doing it because it is the right thing to do. Or consider another approach. Acting out of my authority means I am doing what I want, with the focus on my own ideas and priorities. Acting out of my duty means I am considering what is best for the other person, taking their needs into account.
Paul’s use of “authority” and “duty” is describing each spouse’s attitude toward the other. Approaching sex (as well as everything else in marriage) giving more attention to the needs of the other than to my own rights and requirements is part of Paul’s instruction. He is not suggesting we have an attitude of duty in the cold, sterile sense of the word. The thoughtfulness and concern for the needs of a spouse is the opposite of that kind of obligatory functioning.
This passage exalts the human body as a glorious creation of God. Our bodies are part of our relationship to God and our relationship to others. All of those relationship (divine and human) can be either damaged or enriched by our attitudes and actions concerning our bodies. Paul is not “down on sex” in some legalistic, prudish way. He is fervent in his desire that neither immorality nor indifference interferes with how God can be glorified in, with, and through our bodies.