“For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”
– 1 Corinthians 7:14
Hi James and Ellen,
Would you like to be single for the rest of your lives? Would you like to be married someday? Why would you want to stay single for the rest of your lives? Why would you want to be married? This was one of the questions that Paul was evidently asked in a letter that was sent to him by the leadership in the Christ-follower fellowship of guys and gals in the city of Corinth. Paul was finishing up the three year stint that he spent in the city of Ephesus when a letter arrived from the leadership of the Christ-follower fellowship of guys and gals that was in the city of Corinth. The city of Corinth became a very decadent, self-indulgent place to be in as it emerged to be a crucial trade hub for emerging world commerce. Immorality became norm in the city of Corinth. Guys and gals who were attendees in the Christ-follower fellowship that was in the city of Corinth were having to live in a very paganized environ. There were in Corinth, Greece at least twelve temples that were specifically dedicated to gods such as Aphrodite, Appollo, Asciepius, etc. Because of the insidious influence of depraved lifestyles all around them, the guys and gals who were adherents in the Christ-follower fellowship that was in the city of Corinth had to deal with a real life internal issue in their fellowship that involved an improper relationship which they asked Paul to also address in this same letter. At the time when Paul replied to the leadership of the Christ-follower fellowship that was in the city of Corinth about the concerns that they had in the letter that they sent to him when he was in the city of Ephesus, there was for every free guy and gal close to two slaves. Your grandpaa thinks that the very different growing up and living environs between the slaves and slaveowners in the Christ-follower fellowship that was in the city of Corinth would have to have had a strong sway in how each slave and each free guy and gal perceived how an intimate relationship between a guy and gal should in their new belief paradigm take place or not take place.
Paul addresses the single/marriage issue/debate in 1 Corinthians 7. Your grandpaa thinks that Paul could have been somewhat more direct on how he responded to the question about remaining single or for wanting a spouse. It seems to your grandpaa that Paul was doing vacillating – or dithering, as he attempted to tactfully address the sticky staying single/getting married issue. When your grandpaa was the South America Mission field missionary team Field Director in Bolivia there were single guy and gal field team missionaries on the South America Mission field missionary team. Something that your grandpaa discovered is that even though missionaries who are single often do want to be married, they often are quite sensitive – and at times can even become quite offended, if their singleness is asked about by a married missionary. Even though your grandpaa made special efforts to connect with ‘single’ missionaries, ‘single’ missionaries – from your grandpaa’s perspective, seemed to enjoy more their own ‘singles’ community. At the same time, a ‘single’ missionary who became a very good friend to your grandmaa and grandpaa, said one day as she and most of the South America Mission field missionary team that was in Bolivia were on a train going from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Corumbá, Brazil for a field conference, that she really did not like being seen as a potential, optional choice by one of the ‘single’ guy missionaries. What Tori actually said as she was climbing over the back of the seat where she had been sitting in the train – to get away from this single guy as he started to sit next to her, was a whole lot more emphatic and cruder than your grandpaa’s present recounting of the incident.
Even though Paul affirms marriage, Paul seems to come down on the side of being single if a guy or gal senses God calling him or her into a ministry on planet Earth. Paul felt that he could concentrate a whole lot better on the ‘Lord’s affairs’ and how he could ‘please the Lord’ if he was single than if he was married. Paul’s expectations of himself if he was married was that he would be more concerned about the ‘affairs of the world’ and ‘how he could please his wife’ than about maintaining an ‘undivided devotion’ to the Lord. Paul is adamant though that if a guy and gal sense a magnetic pull towards each other that they are to get married. Paul strongly encourages a guy or gal whose spouse is an unbeliever that he or she should remain with the spouse. Verse 14 says, “For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.” The implicit meaning of this verse infers that if a Christ-follower’s spouse is an unbeliever that the committed faith of the Christ-follower spouse will have an eternal influence on his or her spouse and with his or her kids. Your grandpaa is conflicted by what Paul wrote regarding staying single/getting married. Your grandpaa thinks that your grandmaa is incomparably the most beautiful, fascinating, intriguing gift that God has given him during his fleeting stay on planet Earth. It puzzles your grandpaa why a guy who is still single would not want to be married. It puzzles your grandpaa now to read Paul’s rational for why a young guy would not make it his life priority to meet his life mate. Your grandpaa is convinced that there is an innate desire in all gals to be a helpmate and a companion to a guy who unreservedly loves her. Your grandpaa believes that his relational influence has been immeasurably enhanced by your grandmaa – not diminished.
1 Corinthians 7 (1063)