March 18, 2016 1 Corinthians 7:29-40
Download discussion questions: 1 Corinthians 7_29-40 free from concern
Often we puzzle over the exact meaning of a Biblical passage or what the writer was trying to communicate. Sometimes the text includes a clear, direct declaration of the purpose. We should take every advantage to use that purpose as a filter to help understand the rest of the passage. In 1 Corinthians 7:32, Paul gives us just such a statement: “I want you to be free from concern.”
A little later in the passage Paul elaborates on that purpose: “This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.” His instructions leading up to this declaration certainly could sound restraining: guidance for marriage versus singleness, separation from a spouse, widowhood, even the physical intimacy between a husband and a wife. All of those directions should be interpreted in light of his purpose, to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.
The beginning of the passage (v. 29-31) can be puzzling apart from Paul’s purpose. Married persons should act as if they were not? Ignore emotions of weeping or rejoicing? Pretend we don’t have the things we possess? As one member of our discussion group pointed out, the same Apostle who instructed husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25) is not likely telling men to pay no attention to wives. Suppressing emotions may look like spiritual strength, but it does not build Christian community. Denying our economic status may just be lying. So what is Paul getting at? How are those instructions aimed at our undistracted devotion to the Lord?
We need to see how even the good things in our lives, the abundant blessings God provides, can become distractions. Paul’s desire is that we don’t define our lives by those things. The form or framework of the world (as mentioned in the previous article) is passing away. The commonly accepted ways people evaluate themselves and others (marital status, emotional stability, wealth, career, etc., etc.) are not to be our criteria. When we live our lives even for good things (marriage, career, health, children, ministry), how do we react when problems develop or the good things begin to fade (marital problems, job loss, cancer, rebellious child, failed ministry)? Blessings we depend on for our identity or satisfaction or fulfillment become the distractions that take us away from devotion to the Lord, the true Source of all those expressions of our joy in Him.
Paul doesn’t expect married believers to desert their believing spouse or to become emotional stoics or to renounce all their possessions. What he does want is for us (husbands) to love our wives (Ephesians 5:25; Colossians 3:19), for believers to weep and rejoice with others (Romans 12:15), and to use possessions responsibly (2 Corinthians 8:14), especially for the benefit of others. His concern is the distracting potential of those good things. Too often, when we fear losing blessings we begin to manage circumstances and manipulate people to make sure the things we desire remain in place. We develop the attitude (usually unspoken and not even consciously thought), “I need this for life to be OK.” That is the distraction from our devotion to the Lord that Paul wants us to avoid. He doesn’t say, “I want you to ignore concerns” but rather “I want you to be free from concern” (1 Corinthians 7:32). As long as we live in the world (married or single, cheerful or solemn, rich or poor) we will have concerns. Paul wants to minimize those concerns (e.g., his advice to stay single if possible), but he also wants believers to be free from the bondage of those concerns. Those concerns are part of life, but they are not the controlling factors.