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SILENCE
Okay, last week was quite the sojourn into the passages marked verses 9-17 and we ended with verse 17 where Paul said:
1st Corinthians 6.18-end
1st Corinthians 7.1-9
Milk
April 22nd 2018
1st Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
So now, in the face of all he has said, he gives a direct apostolic directive that was very applicable to them and I believe to us, saying:
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Let’s talk about these verses by going back to verse 18 and where he says:
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
FYOGOO PORNEA
There is force and emphasis in the word, fyoo -go.
There is an emphasis on this word for good reason –
Some behaviors that are counter to our identities with God are manageable when presented with what they offer us.
I can be in a room full of temptations to extort someone, or to lay with other men, or to harm a child in some perverse manner and there wouldn’t be a reason to flee for my own spiritual safety.
But the temptation of fornication is one that for many people requires the urgent demand to flee – because if some of us don’t – we might fall.
Therefore Paul plainly tells these men at Corinth, get away from this expeditiously.
Of course we have a type and picture of this in the case of Joseph sold into Egypt when Potipher’s wife came on to him when they were alone and Moses tells us:
Genesis 39:10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.
12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, (same word Paul uses here) and got him out.
Paul is telling them to flee harlotry, not the ACT of fornication. To flee pornea (translated fornication but included whoredoms of all kinds but especially prostitution in this case) but to flee pornea is to flee everything about it – which includes the ideas of it and then the considerations of it, and finally the actions of it.
It is one of the crimes of humankind that if allowed to reside – even in the mind alone – lend greatly to the practice.
So when Paul says to them to flee “IT” he is not simply talking about the act – he is talking about everything that involves the act ultimately being committed – which includes the thoughts.
Flee from reflections upon it, flee from our justifications of it, flee from it because only in this type of abandonment are we free from its binds upon our lives.
As we know, this context is speaking of paid whoredoms, and even our own pop culture echoes the dangers in such. Remember the House of the Rising Sun?
There is a house in New Orleans
They call the rising sun
And its been the ruin of many young boys,
And God, I know, I’m one.
Paul was speaking of such houses in his day. But we find no distinction in the term pornea when it means unpaid but unlawful sexual relations between people so the application here is very broad to us.
Why the emphasis on this here to the point Paul tells the believers to flee from ALL that it represents?
He tells us, saying:
“Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.”
Sins in general – what we might call the common sins which men commit, do not immediately and directly affect the body, or waste us or necessarily destroy the life of our bodies directly.
This may be the case with falsehood, theft, malice, dishonesty, pride, ambition, materialism, pride, etc.
They do not seem to immediately and directly impair the physical constitution of a person or have any effect on us in these ways. Paul says that they are
“without the body,” meaning that they do not directly affect the body.
Certainly they might immediate effect the human mind and soul but Paul seems to be saying that pornea (whoredoms) produces an immediate and direct effect on the physical body itself – or as he puts it, “but he that committeth whoredoms sinneth against his own body.”
Now, there are a couple views to consider about this statement.
First, I personally maintain that whoredoms do have some sort of eroding effect on the physical person of some people.
Others, no so much – as in the case of Hugh Hefner. But exceptions never make the best rule.
In my own experience and witnessing that of others there seems to exist a general rule of thumb that whoredoms can take a literal actual negative effect on the body.
There are the obvious physiological effects with disease, unwanted pregnancy, etc., there can be emotional effects with uniting with people sexually without any basis of longevity, and there can be extreme adverse psychological effects as a result of such – so I think we would have to be pretty ignorant to suggest that what Paul says here is untrue.
However, contextually, and considering the age was prior to antibiotics and proper medical care, the immediate dangers of committing whoredoms in Corinth were probably very apparent and I suggest that this is what Paul was saying.
Then Paul adds (at verse 19)
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Here is perhaps the best argument against believers practicing whoredoms today. The Holy Spirit dwells in us; our bodies are its temple, and we should not be defiled and polluted by sin that bears with it a nature discussed last week.
God has given us His Spirit and because of this, we are NOT our own.
We might see this in a secular sense by saying that we have been given a cherished infant to watch over and protect and as a result we remove dangers to the toddler that exist in our homes – we child proof the cabinets, sell the pit bull, and toss the bong and alcohol because they will affect our ability to remain alert.
No more lovers over to divert our time and attention away from the babe.
Alluding to this Paul says, “And ye are not your own.” Let’s add verse 20 to this where he adds:
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
True sons and daughters that love and know God and His Son have not only been purchased, the recognize the import of allowing themselves to surrender themselves over to His will and ways, and to forfeit their lives for His.
Suppose in our example of babysitting that precious child that the child (is the Holy Spirit) and was given to us by God Himself and in saving us He owns not only our homes but our time and ways.
This is the point. Loving Him and Loving His Son, and honoring the Holy Spirit’s presence in our home, we submit to what He wills, and forfeit our own will and ways – out of gratitude, love, and honor.
If (or since) we love Him, we obey His commandments by the Spirit, which are always commandments of love for God and others, not self or this world.
The principle is really plain – whoever buys us, we are indebted too – if we really understand what we were purchased from and to.
Lacking this understanding we would trample His redemption of us underfoot, and live as we will, forgetting that we have been purchased with a great price.
But those who truly understand the value of “the purchase price for our lives” cannot help but fall on their face and humbly place themselves in an eternal indebtedness for such a gift.
Some profound passages to support this:
Romans 14:7 Paul wrote:
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
1st Peter 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
2nd Corinthians 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Galatians 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Finally, Paul writes in Ephesians 5:2
“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”
Now I am going to bring us to another aspect of all we have just read. First a quick rehearsal.
All things are lawful but not everything is profitable, and somethings will place us as His redeemed and liberated children in bondage – which Paul refuses to allow in his life.
To the believers at Corinth – and then indirectly to us – Paul tells them to flee whoredoms – and his reasonings include the fact that we are part of a body and to introduce an unjustified, unsanctified believer to the body is highly improper.
SO he tells them to flee such temptations, and reminds them (and us) that we have been bought with a price, and that as a result neither our bodies nor our lives are our own.
The goal is, as we read in Ephesians just now, for us to then
“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”
There is the notion – the false notion I maintain – that once God has redeemed by purchasing us with the high price of the blood of His Son.
But contextually the scripture more than adequately refutes this notion through the words of almost every apostle who ever wrote.
In fact, there are numerous warnings to believers to continue to diligently pursue after knowledge of God and Christ as a means to avoid forgetting the fact that we have been purchased with a very high price.
Let me share one example of these warnings with you. Turn to 2nd Peter chapter one if you would as we are about to receive some excellent insights and instructions from this Apostles to whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom.
This Kingdom, given to Christ by God, is there for all who have been redeemed to enter.
And Peter gives his reader some really sound instructions on how to enter this Kingdom of eternal glory.
The Apostle Peter appears to write out the way which believers can be sure to maintain in the faith in his day. What we are about to read is his insights to remembering that we have been saved and/or “purged from our old sins,” which indicates to me that it is possible for those who have been purged to forget – and therefore walk from the faith they once had. So we read in the first verses of chapter One:
2nd Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
This is the first time Peter mentions the fact that “GRACE AND PEACE” can be multiplied (therefore increased) in our lives. How? “THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND OF JESUS OUR LORD”
This will not be the only time he mentions the importance of knowledge in assisting the believer to remain faithful in this chapter. In fact in the very next line he says
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that . . .
“pertain unto life and godliness” . . . (and again)
“through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”
In other words, BY HIS divine power he has given us all things that pertain to life AND godliness (how? How?) “. . . THROUGH the KNOWLDEGE . . . OF HIM . . . THAT HAS CALLED US TO GLORY AND VIRTUE.”
At verse four he says something pretty profound, implying that there is more to our being saved than just being saved as he says . . .
4 Whereby (meaning, by and through the knowledge of him we) are given unto us “exceeding great and precious promises:” (not yet fulfilled) “that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
So we have great and precious promises given us ”and the purpose of these?
“that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
This partaking of his divine nature mentioned here is presented by Peter in a future sense, and is bestowed “after we have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
5 And beside this, Peter adds some directives that will serve to keep us all “from being Barren and unfruitful in????? That’s right, (3rd time) “the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So Peter says, “and besides all that I have said,” he adds the following prescription to believers. Now this list builds on itself in a remarkable yet unstated manner. Ready?
“giving all diligence,
Spoude – eagerness, speed, forwardness, dedication . . .
“add to your faith”
Because he says, “add to your faith,” we know that faith is already present in Jesus and God and the gospel, so “ADD to our faith . . . “
virtue;
“Arete – manliness, valor, excellence”
This is where Peter starts. You possess faith, now be men of excellence. Man of real manly valor. Excellent in your pursuits, strong, diligent. And once you have established this in your lives add to it
and to (arete) virtue knowledge;
Gnosis – knowing
Where does knowledge come from? Knowledge about most things comes from three ways – from books, from experience, and from intuition. Here Peter commands that we take our manliness and we add to it knowledge – gained through the application of manly exercises in study, experience and intuition.
6 And to (Gnosis) knowledge temperance;
Incratia – self-control
Then taking our diligence to faith, and manly virtues, and gaining knowledge, we add self-control. Suppose we were talking about the subject of hunting wild boars. It takes some faith to believe there are boars to be caught, it takes some manliness to want to go and hunt them, and it takes knowledge on how to do it. In the presence of such knowledge – gained by experience, study and intuition – a person would then exercise self-control. They would not go off half cocked, so to speak, as that would not only lesson the chance of getting a boar but it could place himself in grave danger. So the natural result of manliness and knowledge would be self-control in all things. This is a great virtue in pursing the things of God.
“and to (incratia) temperance patience;”
This is where self- control is tested as results are often not immediate – especially in the things of God. And where is self-control best measured and tested – when patience is required! We go wild boar hunting and we have are manly selves in order and all of our experience and knowledge and intuition, and have exercised some self control – and then boom – none of it pays off. No boars within range. After patiently waiting for days, we lose our shit, get drunk and go out and try and capture the boar by digging shallow pits with a rock. Patience is what tempers our self control. In the things of God patience is the refiners fire to Godliness – which happens to be the next characteristic.
and to patience godliness;
EUSEEBIA – piety, holiness, godliness
AS if it rains down from above in shafts of light upon the man who patiently waits on the Lord to move, and does not reverse to the things of his flesh to provide solace to his disappointments in life. I cannot help but see the wisdom of a tempered sagey grandfather hunting with his wild grandson who knows nothing of patience and the grandson getting antsy and impatient with the quiet, pious grey alpha male who sits patiently the rain and cold and snows – waiting for weeks for the right boar to appear.
So is the result of all who embark on these directives from the Apostle Peter. Look how far we have stepped from simply believing or having faith that Jesus has saved us, a sinner. There is purpose in all this – godly purposes.
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness;
This is really intriguing – as we would think that Godliness would imply brotherly kindness.
But the Greek is Philadelphia, which means a love for a brother, and it is possible in the truest and best sense when a man lays down his life for his friends – which is what all of this is about and leading to – with all of these characteristics making us a better brother in the body and better neighbors. Finally, Peter adds
“and to brotherly kindness, charity.”
Which of course the Greek is AGAPE – which is the love “that God is.”
To possess this love is to possess God, it is to “partake in His divine nature,” it is to have God with us here and now – and to know Agape love here is to Know God and to know His Son. Peter continues, and adds the purpose or the benefit of all he has said, saying:
8 For if these things be in you, (and not only be “IN” us but “abound,” they make you . . . they lend to our makeup – “that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
To Know God and Christ is life eternal, these things Peter says MAKE US that we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the KNOWLEDGE of our LORD – as they abound in us we will abound in our knowledge of them, because they are LOVE, and all that Peter has talked about are participants in Godly Love among men.
Then listen to what he adds now at verse 9:
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Again, an indictment of once saved always saved. And indictment against thinking that we can receive of God and end there with lives of immature fruitlessness. So he says
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence
(be speedily urgent and attentive to. To what?)
“to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:”
Fail? How can we ever fail if God has us? Peter seems to clearly suggest that we can – right here – and this is why the teaching. And he finalizes his teaching with this promise to those who do, in fact, to diligently pursue such things . . .
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I must reiterate that all of these things are possible in and through Christ – our looking diligently to Him as the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith, so don’t mistake these things as fleshly endeavors but rather the death to fleshly endeavors and diligence to the Spirit.
Okay, then, we begin to discuss some points which had been submitted to the apostle in a letter from the church at Corinth.
This letter (where they asked questions of Paul) has apparently been lost. I think if we had possession of it we would have greater insight into why Paul says some of the things that he says.
The first question which is discussed here by Paul in chapter 7 seems to be whether it was good for a man to marry.
We do not know why this was asked but some suggest that it arose from disputes between the Jewish converts and the Gentiles -as perhaps some of them who had fallen in love sought marriage.
This would be a incendiary subject related to the Law, so much so, Paul was consulted.
Add in the fact that some Greek scholars (Lycurgus, Thales, Anthiphanes, and even Socrates) advocated celibacy (or at least never getting marriage due to the “tempers” of women) the whole matter probably got pretty dicey.
Of course the Jews defended the propriety and duty of marriage and considered it an ordinance of God. In fact for some time, and perhaps even today among orthodoxy, the Jews believed that if a man reaches twenty-three and is not married God is offended.
So due to all of this Paul is asked about marriage. And he speaks to a number of issues orbiting around the initial question.
Let’s read as Paul gets right to the point with eleven interesting words, saying:
1st Corinthians 7:1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
In response to your inquiries in the letter, “It is good . . .”
It is well. It is fit, convenient; or, it is suited to the present circumstances, “for a man not to touch a woman.”
Okay. WTF!
What the front door is he talking about?
Does this advice make sense to us today?
Why did it make sense then?
Should we read these words from the Apostles as having application now?
Is it GOOD for a man not to touch a woman?
And what about women? How come they are not addressed here? If I was a legalist literalist I might feel the right to tell some females that “while its good for me to not touch a woman there’s nothing preventing them from touching me!”
What is this all about? Especially since God Himself told Adam and Eve to become one directly implying that it is not only good for man to touch women but it was commanded.
Is Paul the Apostle creating his own religion here? No. Paul is speaking to the time and context of that time in his words, and the things he says MUST be understood in this light – and if this light is ignored, then we OUGHT to BE TEACHING what Paul says here, right?
In fact, even Hebrews says that, “marriage is honorable,” so with Paul advising the believers at Corinth that it is “good to not touch a woman” we have some thinking to do.
Thinking which ought to help us understand how to read the whole New Testament.
Certainly the apostle did not mean that marriage was unlawful, or bad, or that it was not instituted by God, or that men and women today should refuse it.
Hardly.
But here he admits that if men were to chose to refrain from “touching a woman” which is another way to say, “to marry one” it would be “a good thing.”
We know that he has just been speaking about fornication or whoredoms outside of marriage. He has adequately explained the dangers.
But now, apparently to the question, “is it good for a man to marry” he says, “it is good for a man to remain unmarried” (or to not touch a woman). Why?
The end of that age was near, and Paul new that Jesus was coming to take His bride church up as promised directly by Him and all the apostles that wrote.
To not marry then was proper direction then – and it is very improper general advice today, as it would have been improper from Genesis.
But this is his contextual advice. However, he adds:
2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
The King James presents this differently than then literal translations which read:
But because there are so many whoredoms among you let all men have his own wife, and (here women are addressed) and let every woman believer have her own husband.
In other words, though my advice is sound and proper to the times and age, we must admit into these circumstances that there are those who are sexually driven and in their case they ought to marry so as to avoid further whoredoms.
In other words, the King James says “to avoid fornication” but the Greek better means, “on account of fornication.”
Now, why does Paul say that it is Good for a man not to touch a woman? In the first place?
I would suggest that in that day and age there were men who had, for the cause of God and Christ, refrained from sexual relationships all together and as the end of that age was approaching, Paul tells them that if they can contain their passions it was good.
I base this on John the Beloved’s description in Revelation of the 144,000 (who were of the House of Israel) and who are described in Revelation 14:4 this way:
“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”
As a living apostle in that last age before it was destroyed, Paul was there to lead the church-bride through the tribulations of that day – including those who were “virgins not defiled with woman” and those who were holy and pure but lawfully married in the eyes of God.
Alright –
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