1Cor 7:6-9 - The Marriage-Go-Round - Part 2

6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. 8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. 9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.


This reference to a "concession" is Paul’s habitual way of distinguishing between the inspired authoritarian will of God and his own personal choices within the framework of God’s overarching will. God’s will is not given to us as a set of detailed dos and don’ts for every imaginable situation. That sort of scenario would lend itself to robots or to legalists. It is the basis of every religion but Christianity. It was where the Pharisees went instead of pursuing a personal, spiritual interactive knowledge of God on His terms.

God has revealed to us in His Word all that is necessary for us to understand His perfect will for our own life. The point is that it is a life, and not a straight-jacket. Once we have been justified by God through faith in His Son, we are free to be diligent to pursue after God in all things. Whenever we fail (and we all fail in many ways every day) we know that we are still accepted in the Beloved for His sake. Acknowledging and confessing our failure reveals our freedom to keep pressing on. We are not free to fail to press on for fear of failure, simply because there is now no longer any condemnation for us when we fail. No excuses.

The law of God is good and it will never change. It is the standard now and forever. But we cannot meet that standard and so Christ did it for us. This frees us to follow after the spirit of the law, following the law of life received through the grace of God. Spiritual life follows the spirit of the law even though the flesh serves the law of death.

So Paul is not laying down a detailed list of legal minutiae here. He is demonstrating the freedom we have in Christ to live according to our consciences in the light of the Word and the Spirit of God. Such convictions may lead one person not to marry and another to enter into marriage, and both are good - so long as the revealed will of God is not violated. God has made it clear that immorality, fornication, lasciviousness and all sexual activity outside of monogamous marriage is contrary to His will for us. Therefore, a person ought to choose according not only to the dictates of conscience and the revealed will of God, but that choice ought to be informed by practical considerations. Is my constitution such that I am unable to restrain my impulses and therefore effectively tempting myself to commit acts of sin? Then I must choose a wise course that will keep me from it. And if I do, there is no blame or condemnation that attaches. I am no worse and no better than a brother or sister who is able to remain single.

Paul’s regards his single status, and the ability to remain in it without violating God’s greater ordinances, as a gift from God. This ought not to be overlooked. Neither should the gift of marriage and sexual union be overlooked for those so moved by God through providence, prayer and reflection.

Celibacy is not a rule for faith, nor is it a requirement for ministry. Paul nowhere here advocates such a course, but is always pointing to conscience and choice within the revealed will of God. We are not legalists, though we accept the perfection of the law itself. We are not robots, though we accept the overarching will of God in all things and the inevitable outworking of His perfect purposes. Should we marry? Go to college? Take a new job? Get out of bed in the morning? Its no use looking for revelations, inner voices or signs in the sky. God gave us His Word, His Spirit and a sound mind to apply them in the life He providentially unfolds for each one of us. And He also made sure that we would need to cast ourselves upon Him for wisdom and power to make right choices and to live them out, knowing that we shall all give account to Him one day of the stewardship we have received.