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Some believers in Corinth were saying it was more spiritual to avoid all sexual relations, even within marriage (v. 1). Paul corrects this by teaching that marriage is God’s good context for sexual intimacy and mutual care, helping husbands and wives resist temptation (vv. 2–5). Singleness is also a gift, and Paul is thankful for his own calling to remain unmarried, but he recognizes that many will rightly marry rather than “burn with passion” (vv. 6–9). He then turns to divorce: believers married to believers must not separate, and if they do, they should remain unmarried or be reconciled (vv. 10–11; cf. Matt. 19:4–9).
Paul also addresses believers married to unbelievers. If the unbelieving spouse is willing to stay, the Christian must not seek a divorce, because the believing spouse brings a holy influence to the home and there is hope for the unbeliever’s salvation (vv. 12–14, 16). But if the unbelieving spouse chooses to leave, the believer is “not enslaved” and is called to live in peace (v. 15). From there, Paul gives a wider principle: each person should generally remain in the situation in which God called them—married or single, Jew or Gentile, slave or free—and serve Christ faithfully there, knowing they were “bought with a price” (vv. 17–24; cf. 6:20). Because of a “present distress” and the shortness of time, Paul says staying single can allow for undivided devotion to the Lord, yet marriage remains good and honorable for the engaged and for widows, so long as they marry “only in the Lord” (vv. 25–28, 32–35, 39–40).
🌀 Reflection:
Where has God placed you right now—married, single, widowed, or in a complicated in-between? Instead of wishing you were somewhere else, what would it look like today to receive your current situation as an assignment from the Lord and seek to honor Him with an undivided heart?
💬 Mission Challenge:
Reach out to someone in a different life stage than you (single, married, widowed, divorced, or engaged) and encourage them with a reminder that God sees them, loves them, and can use them right where they are.
Click here to return to the contents page for Phase 2.2 — The Savior, His Church, and the Mission.
Just Keith Harris 
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