Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Tom Shepherd
Series Code: HPOV
Program Code: HPOV000038A
00:16 Hello and welcome to Heaven's Point of View.
00:18 This is our series on Love, Marriage, Sex and Divorce, 00:22 from the New Testament perspective. 00:25 My name is Dr. Yvonne Lewis 00:27 and our featured host for this series is Dr. Tom Sheperd. 00:30 He is a Professor of New Testament interpretation 00:34 at Andrews University 00:35 and he's a Director for the Ph. D. 00:38 and Th. D. Programs there, did I get it all? 00:42 Yeah, that's fine... 00:44 it's more important... we talk about the Scriptures. 00:46 Amen... amen... you've been doing such a great job 00:49 on breaking down all of these elements within Scripture 00:53 on love and marriage and sex and divorce, I mean... 00:57 these topics are just so relevant 01:01 to what's going on today 01:02 and we've been looking at 1 Corinthians 7 01:05 and let's just kind of get back into that 01:08 because there are some juicy passages in 1st Corinthians 7. 01:12 We said... the last time we studied 01:15 verses 1 and 2, and we said that the Apostle... 01:19 he got this letter from the Corinthians, 01:21 a letter which we don't have any more 01:24 so, we don't know exactly what they said, 01:26 but he said, "I'm going to respond 01:28 to the things you wrote about" Hmmm... hmmm... 01:31 So it's like listening to half of a telephone conversation 01:34 where, you know, 01:35 you kind of try to piece it together, 01:37 as to what they were saying. 01:38 Paul gives us his reply in 1st Corinthians 7, 01:44 he begins by evidently quoting something from their letter 01:48 where it was dealing with the subject of "touching a woman" 01:53 is the phrase that he uses, 01:54 many people think that this was simply a euphemism 01:59 for sexual relations, however, as we studied last time 02:03 we noticed that it's actually probably 02:05 much more nuanced than that. 02:07 We reviewed how the concept of "touching" 02:11 was used as a euphemism in the ancient Greco-Roman world 02:15 and we concluded that Paul is talking about 02:19 men using women 02:21 or other men or boys 02:24 as an object for sexual gratification, 02:26 it's about the dehumanization of people 02:29 and using them as objects of personal pleasure. 02:33 You know, Dr. Sheperd, this is such an important point 02:37 because as I... 02:38 I don't listen to Rap music or Hip Hop music, 02:41 I just can't relate to that but... 02:45 but one of the things that is so prevalent in that 02:48 is the objectification of women, 02:51 violence, objectification of women, 02:55 and just using women as recreational sex objects, 02:59 like... when you want it, it's there 03:01 and it's just so prevalent today in today's Society 03:05 on television, in the music, this is... 03:08 Big internet issues... problems of pornography, 03:11 Yes... 03:12 This is all about objectification of people 03:14 and... as an object of desire instead of a relationship 03:18 and these kinds of problems... 03:21 we need to talk about it in the church, 03:23 Absolutely, because we can't just sweep them under the rug 03:27 and act as though they don't exist, 03:28 but we can go to the Word and find out, 03:31 "What does the Word say?" so we looked... 03:34 what we looked at was 1st Corinthians 7 verses 1 and 2 03:39 so what does Paul say, 03:41 how does he deal with verses 3 through 7? 03:44 Okay, so, we want to go back and read the entire passage 03:47 and it never hurts to get the context, 03:50 so we want to read, 03:51 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verses 1 through 7 03:57 so if you could just read that for us. 04:00 Okay, sure, "Now concerning the things 04:01 of which you wrote to me: 04:02 it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 04:05 Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, 04:07 let each man have his own wife, 04:09 and let each woman have her own husband. 04:11 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, 04:15 and likewise also the wife to her husband. 04:18 The wife does not have authority over her own body, 04:21 but the husband does. 04:22 And likewise the husband does not have authority 04:25 over his own body, but the wife does. 04:27 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, 04:31 that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; 04:34 and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you 04:38 because of your lack of self-control. 04:40 But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment. 04:43 For I wish that all men were even as I myself. 04:46 But each one has his own gift from God, 04:49 one in this manner and another in that. " 04:51 Okay, now this is a passage as I've said before 04:55 that is very misunderstood 04:58 and Paul has taken to say things actually... 05:01 that is just about the opposite of what he's actually saying, 05:06 in verse 1 we've already studied and we noticed that 05:09 Paul agrees with the people who are writing to him 05:13 and are complaining about this "touching of women. " 05:17 Now, this "touching of women" does not mean... 05:19 just simply... sexual relations, 05:20 in the studies that we've looked at 05:24 we found that in the Greco-Roman world 05:28 when they use this terminology, it was something men did, 05:31 it wasn't something women did. Hmmm... 05:33 A woman could be involved in "porneia" 05:36 immoral sexual behavior 05:38 a man could be involved in porneia... 05:40 immoral sexual behavior, 05:41 but touching was only something men did to women, 05:44 so, simply to say, 05:46 "This is having sexual relations... " is insufficient, 05:49 all right, it actually goes further than that 05:52 to say the objectification of a woman, 05:55 so Paul agrees with... there were some people 05:57 in the Corinthian church evidently who were... 05:59 who were objecting to men in the church 06:02 and it's so hard for us to understand the records of... 06:05 to even think that anything like this would happen in church, 06:08 but men were probably having sex with their slaves, 06:11 they were still going to the... 06:13 maybe they were going to the temple 06:14 and having sex with the temple prostitutes in Corinth 06:17 and this whole "touching of women," 06:19 using them as a sexual object 06:21 then there were some people who were like... 06:23 shocked with this in the church 06:24 and said, "This is just wrong, 06:25 let's write to Paul and find out what he thinks. " 06:27 So Paul agrees with them... that's wrong... 06:30 you see, when we studied 1st Corinthians 6, 06:32 we saw that there was this whole thing 06:34 about sexual, immoral behavior 06:35 and going to prostitutes and Paul is opposed to that, 06:38 now we kind of turn to the other side in 1st Corinthians 7, 06:41 it seems as though he's talking to people 06:44 who were kind of prudish on sex, 06:45 and think of it as sort of a dirty thing 06:47 maybe that... you shouldn't do it 06:49 or you should limit its... you know... 06:51 how much you do it... and... you know... 06:53 but they are complaining to Paul and he agrees with them 06:56 but they seem to have even gone further and said, 06:59 "You know, maybe sex is just so powerful 07:02 that you just shouldn't have it at all, 07:05 just no sex at all even if you're married. " 07:08 So they went to the other extreme. 07:10 Yeah, yeah, so you can imagine 07:12 a church like this where if... 07:15 one Sabbath you get up and you preach and you say, 07:17 "Now, you ought not to be going to those temples, 07:19 you're not to be sleeping around" 07:20 and the people who are believing in Asceticism, 07:23 who are... you know... don't have sex with people, 07:25 they're saying, "Amen, preach it Paul, tell it" 07:27 And so Paul goes something like this, 07:30 he says, "Boy oh boy! now what am I going to say, 07:32 what am I going to say to these folks?" 07:34 so then he comes back the next week and he says, 07:36 "Now you know, sex is good" 07:37 and you can hear the people 07:39 that have been going off to the prostitutes saying, 07:41 "Preach it Paul... amen... " 07:42 so, he had to wind his way carefully 07:46 in between these groups who were libertine 07:48 and the groups here who were ascetics 07:50 and he does a very good job, 07:52 now, if we don't know the background 07:54 and we don't know the letter that he has 07:57 and some of the indicators that he gives here, 07:59 we can easily misunderstand this so in verse 2, he says 08:05 that because of the ubiquitous nature of 08:08 immorality in the pagan world, that you ought to be married 08:12 and you ought to have sexual relations in marriage. 08:15 Because he talks about sex in marriage, 08:18 it seems in... 08:19 he's talking about sexual relations 08:21 in the marriage relationship in verse 1, 08:23 that's also probably what he's talking about in verse 2, 08:26 all right, so then this brings us down 08:28 to verses 3 and 4, all right, maybe we should just read 08:34 verses 3 and 4 again... just to see... 08:38 Sure, "Let the husband render to his wife 08:42 the affection due her, 08:43 and likewise also the wife to her husband. 08:46 The wife does not have authority over her own body 08:49 but the husband does. 08:50 And likewise the husband does not have authority 08:53 over his own body, but the wife does. " 08:55 All right, now what in the world is he talking about? 08:58 Would you read verse 3 again, 09:01 I was interested in how the New King James put that. 09:04 Sure, "Let the husband, render to his wife, 09:07 the affection due her," 09:09 The "affection" due her... Affection... 09:11 here in the ESV it says, 09:12 "The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights" 09:14 Hmmm... 09:16 Tom: It's talking about sex... Yvonne: Right... 09:18 Sex and marriage, and he says, 09:20 "The husband should give the wife her conjugal rights 09:23 and likewise the wife to her husband" 09:25 so, 09:26 this kind of strikes us 09:28 as a little strange, 09:30 you know, especially, young married couples, 09:31 they get this... and they look at this and say, 09:34 "You mean, you got to tell them to have sex?" 09:36 Yeah... 09:39 It's kind of like sitting young children down 09:42 and saying, "Now, eat your ice cream," 09:44 you don't usually have to tell people to eat their ice cream 09:48 and you don't have to usually tell people to enjoy sex, 09:51 because it is such an enjoyable experience, 09:54 however, there's a sad thing that can happen in marriage, 09:57 where people use sex as a weapon. 09:58 Hmmm... hmmm... 10:00 Where it becomes something you withhold or give 10:05 in order to get something else and that's wrong. 10:10 Yes, and I think the Bible is basically saying, 10:16 if you're angry or if you... 10:20 if for some reason you're carrying some kind of grudge 10:24 or whatever against that spouse, 10:26 do not use sex as... you know things can build up, 10:30 tension can build up, don't use sex as a weapon. 10:34 Right... yeah so... if you have problems, 10:37 if you're facing some kind of issue, then talk it out. 10:39 Right. 10:40 And actually if you get to the place where 10:42 you can't talk it out, you're not fine... 10:44 that's obviously going to affect your sex life 10:47 but you should go to some trusted counselor 10:50 and be able to talk things through, 10:53 and try to work things out and get... you know... 10:55 and find resolution again but Paul says 10:58 that actually you have rights in marriage 11:00 now, the supporting reasons for verse 2 are found 11:06 here in these two verses... 3 and 4, 11:08 the first reason deals with your obligation 11:11 and the second reason deals with your authority. 11:15 So you have an obligation towards your spouse, 11:19 but you also have rights in relationship to your spouse, 11:23 he uses two different words, 11:24 the Greek words are opodidomi and exousiazó, 11:28 don't you love that Greek sound? 11:29 Wow! can I even say that? Don't ask me to repeat that. 11:33 All right, so "apodidomi" means to... 11:35 it's a word that's used in a number of ways 11:37 it means, to pay out wages, 11:39 to fulfill a duty, to render, to reward, 11:42 or to recompense, 11:44 so it's used here... 11:45 it gives the idea of what you owe your spouse, 11:48 so when you get married, 11:50 you owe something to your spouse, 11:52 see, it's quite different from before you're married, 11:55 before you're married, you don't owe them something, 11:57 but now you do, 11:58 you owe them their conjugal rights, 12:00 you owe them sexual fulfillment. 12:02 The other word, "exousiazó" has the idea of 12:05 to have the right to something, right, so, 12:08 it's the reciprocal side of the equation, 12:11 you have a right to sexual fulfillment in your marriage. 12:14 Paul indicates that the husband has rights with the wife's body 12:18 and the wife has rights with the husband's body, 12:21 it's a very mutual kind of relationship. 12:24 Mutuality is very important in this passage 12:26 you see, in verse one and two, 12:28 it was all about using somebody else as an object, 12:31 Hmmm... hmmm... 12:32 And when he turns to really talk about 12:34 how sex should be handled in marriage, 12:37 he says, "It's not about using a person as an object, 12:40 it's about treating them as a person 12:43 who has rights and privileges just like you do. " 12:46 Yes, yes, and that makes so much sense, 12:49 it's a mutuality involved here. Tom: Yeah. 12:54 So some people think that verse 5 12:58 gives you the right to kind of fast from sexual relations. 13:02 Hmmm... hmmm... 13:04 What do you think about that? 13:06 Well, now we'd better take a look at verse 5 again. 13:08 Okay, all right. 13:09 Let's read it again. Okay. 13:10 "Do not deprive one another, except with consent for a time, 13:15 that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; 13:18 and come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you 13:22 because of your lack of self-control. " 13:23 Okay, very interesting verse. 13:26 So, don't deprive your spouse. 13:29 Your spouse of sexual relations, yeah, 13:31 now, he uses another Greek word here, 13:34 which is "Scolasete" which means to have time for 13:39 or leisure, to be able to devote yourself, 13:42 to give time over to something and he talks about 13:45 prayer, right, 13:47 so he talks about having time for prayer, 13:52 he says, "don't rob or defraud somebody" 13:56 now, who would you be... who would you be robbing 14:00 well, if you... just in the previous verses 14:05 if you read about the conjugal rights that a person has 14:09 and obligations that you have, 14:11 it's not hard to see that what he's talking about is 14:16 depriving somebody of their right, 14:18 so what the spouse has... is a right to sexual fulfillment 14:23 with their spouse, and it's a mutual back and forth 14:27 now, what if somebody says, 14:28 "No, I don't want to have sex, I want to spend time in prayer" 14:32 I think that the two are incompatible, 14:37 that they don't fit, 14:39 this is what.. maybe somebody was saying 14:42 that prayer is holy, and prayer is clean 14:45 and prayer lifts me up to God 14:46 and sex is dirty and takes me down. 14:48 See, now, that's of course a very mistaken view of sex. 14:53 Right... 14:54 When God created human beings, 14:56 he didn't do, you know, God created the head of the man, 14:59 He created the foot of the man, He created the hands, 15:01 He created the chest, He created the legs, 15:03 then He said, "Okay, Satan, you can create the rest," 15:05 that's not what He did, God made sex, 15:09 He made it beautiful, He made it very enjoyable, 15:11 I mean, it's about the most enjoyable experience 15:14 that you can have in life, and He made that to be enjoyed 15:17 to bring people together, 15:19 so evidently he had people in this church 15:24 who felt as though they ought to hold things back 15:30 or maybe sex... maybe sex was so strong 15:34 that you ought not to have it even if you're married, 15:37 so now we've got to really take apart verse 5, 15:41 because he says, 15:42 "Don't deprive one another except... " 15:45 so, this seems to be some exception, 15:48 maybe there's a time when you can say, "No," 15:51 and not have sex, now, I will just step back here 15:55 for a moment and say, again, kind of that 15:57 Public Health Hat I'll put on and say, 15:59 Paul is not talking about... if somebody is sick, 16:02 or, you're under a lot of stress or something like that 16:07 for you to insist that your spouse has sex with you 16:11 during that time period when somebody is ill or in pain, 16:15 something like that, 16:16 that's not showing kindness and concern and care for them 16:20 like they should 16:21 like we studied when we looked at marriage 16:23 and how the husband is to care for his wife... 16:25 the wife is to respect her husband, 16:26 so, sex always has to be placed within the context of the home 16:31 and where their setting is 16:33 and how they're doing in terms of time... and you know 16:36 if your life is so stressful and you don't have time 16:38 for sexual relationships with your spouse, 16:41 then you're too busy. 16:42 That's right... 16:44 Now, we say that about prayer, 16:45 if you're too busy to pray, you're too busy, 16:48 all right, now there's nothing wrong 16:50 with us saying... as Christians, 16:52 "If you're too busy to have sex with your wife, 16:55 if you're too stressed out, you're too busy, 16:57 you need to step back and say, "No" to something. 17:00 I know, you said, I'm the Ph. D. Director 17:03 and sometimes I have to talk to Ph. D. students, 17:04 I'll pull out a little Post-it note 17:07 and I'll write the word, "No" on it, 17:09 and I'll sign it and give it to them and I'll say, 17:11 you know, "Put this on your fridge 17:14 because, maybe you need to say, 'no' 17:16 so you can focus on writing your dissertation, you know, 17:18 and have enough time for that, just say, 'No,'" 17:23 so, there are times when you're getting too busy 17:27 if you don't have time for your family, 17:29 you have to say, "No" to some of those outside things. 17:31 Okay, so let's look, let's kind of walk through this, 17:34 the first thing Paul does is he talks about an exception, 17:36 he says, "Do not deprive yourself, 17:39 except perhaps by agreement" 17:41 so, he's rather hesitant about this exception, 17:46 except perhaps... perhaps... in case... you may, 17:51 so... Yvonne: For a limited time. 17:53 So that's the next thing, the mutual limitation, 17:56 he says, "There must be agreement. " 17:58 Yvonne: Hmmm... 17:59 So it's... he's not saying it has to be, 18:02 perhaps, he says, but it has to be by agreement, 18:06 the word for agreement is, "symphonou" 18:08 from which we get the word, "symphony," 18:11 when all the music is being played together, 18:14 it's a symphony... beautiful sound together, 18:16 you see, the husband and the wife 18:18 both have to agree to this, 18:20 fasting this time, when you're not going to... 18:24 when you're not going to have sex, okay, 18:26 then he says, "it's for a time. " 18:30 Right... 18:31 It's for a limited period of time, 18:33 the terminology is "kairos" 18:35 which means "a specific span of time" 18:38 and with the preposition that it is put with, 18:41 it has the idea of, perhaps, 18:42 a view towards a short period of time, 18:44 you're not supposed to stay apart for a long period of time, 18:47 none of this "mud stuff" you know. 18:49 You know, Dr. Sheperd, I know of a couple of couples... 18:53 that... there's one couple that's married, 18:56 that has been married for several years, 18:59 and they never, ever have sexual intercourse, 19:03 which means that their level of intimacy 19:06 is so limited, because sex is that glue 19:10 also that helps to keep the couple together. 19:13 Yep, gasoline in the engine. 19:14 Yeah, and they never ever have sex. 19:17 They need to go see a counselor and work... 19:19 because there's obviously some kind of issues involved. 19:21 Yes... 19:23 You know, marriage is the place 19:24 where that's supposed to take place 19:25 so, a limited time, the purpose... 19:27 why are they not having sex? It's not a weapon, 19:30 it's not a weapon, it's to devote themselves 19:33 to prayer, it's unhurried devotion to prayer, 19:37 okay, so, first there's this hesitance, 19:39 then there's the mutual agreement, 19:42 then there is a limited time 19:44 then the purpose of it is 19:46 not to attack somebody or hurt them, 19:48 it is to devote yourself to prayer, 19:51 then he reiterates and he says, 19:54 but then, he says, "come back together again" 19:57 so, the purpose of prayer cannot override 20:01 the duty of sexual union. 20:04 Hmmm... that's a good point because some people 20:08 might try to say, "Well, I'm praying... " 20:11 and they might try to act too holy 20:13 for sexual relations within marriage, 20:16 that's the key. 20:17 Can you imagine, if a believer is married to an unbeliever, 20:21 and says this to the unbeliever, 20:23 there's almost no way that that person's going 20:26 to become a believer, they're like, 20:28 "Oh, is that what believing in Jesus does for you?" 20:31 you know, it makes it so that you're not going to have sex, 20:35 it makes it so that you use it 20:37 and the unbeliever would see it as a weapon, 20:40 right, so the believer... he's talking to believers here 20:44 but the believer should not use it as a weapon 20:47 against the unbeliever, now, he gives a moral support 20:50 of his temporal reiteration, 20:53 sometimes people misunderstand this moral support, 20:55 he said, "So that Satan may not tempt you 20:58 because of your lack of self-control" 21:00 now, Satan's temptation to sexual immorality 21:06 or... can you imagine if 21:09 somebody was praying, they had a sexual "fast" 21:12 and they were praying and they were tempted to immorality 21:18 and so they went off and had sex with somebody 21:21 that wasn't their spouse, see, the purpose of the prayer 21:26 is positive but if you allow Satan 21:29 to turn this into a temptation to immorality, 21:32 it becomes a negative, so he is reiterating, 21:35 he's giving a moral support... a moral reason 21:38 for why they should not do this for a long period of time, 21:45 so, he gives so many reasons, why? 21:51 You know, he says, "You don't have to do this 21:53 but here are all these reasons 21:54 that come on and on and on and on," 21:56 so, that brings us to verse 6. 21:58 Yes and he says in verse 6, 22:00 "This is a concession 22:02 not a commandment" what does he mean by that? 22:04 Yeah, now, the important word in verse 6 is that the... 22:07 "as a concession not a command, I say this... " 22:11 Hmmm... 22:13 and the question is, "What does the 'this' refer to?" 22:17 And there are lots of different ideas 22:20 as to what the "this" refers to, 22:22 let me run down some of the options. 22:24 Some people suggest that the concession "this" 22:29 refers back to verses 2 through 5 22:31 and that marriage and sex is the concession. 22:36 Hmmm... 22:37 All right, this is not a very likely option, 22:41 praise God, since it makes it difficult 22:45 to see why the Apostle Paul would say in verse 2, 22:49 that because of sexual immorality, 22:51 that everybody should have a spouse 22:54 and then verses 3 and 4, 22:56 that "marriage brings it with it 22:57 the requirement of sexual fulfillment of your spouse" 23:00 and then to say, "Oh, all of that 23:02 is just a concession" when he said it was a command, 23:05 it was a right that the person has, 23:07 so that is one of the least likely options, 23:10 you see, some people get the idea 23:11 that Paul is against marriage 23:13 and that he's just saying, "Well, you know, 23:16 I really wish you could all just be unmarried 23:18 and, you know, I know... 23:20 some of you just aren't able to handle this, 23:22 so okay, I'll make a concession, so you go ahead, get married. " 23:26 What? 23:28 Well, that's so against what the Old Testament, 23:30 in particular, says about marriage 23:32 and what Jesus says about marriage 23:34 so, it doesn't make a lot of sense, 23:36 number two is that... 23:37 oh, I'm sorry... verses 2 to 5 would be 23:39 "marriage and sex is the concession" 23:41 verse 2... sometimes people will say, 23:43 "Marriage itself is the concession" 23:45 that doesn't make sense either 23:46 because there is such a long distance 23:49 between verse 2 and verse 6, when he uses the word, "this," 23:52 sometimes, people will say. "not to deprive one another" 23:56 here as a concession, 23:57 this would mean that Paul is saying that 23:59 really the Christian's purpose ought to be focused on prayer 24:03 and that it's a concession or being nice 24:06 to give your spouse sexual fulfillment, 24:08 but then, that runs up against verses 3 and 4, 24:12 which said, "No, it's not being nice 24:15 it's something you owe them, hello!" 24:19 You can't just say, 24:20 "Oh, I'm being nice to give this to you. " 24:23 "No, we got married, I'm sorry, 24:24 that means that I have rights and you have rights," 24:26 right? Right. 24:27 The other possibility 24:29 is that the "short separation" is the concession, 24:33 here Paul would be saying that a pause in sexual relations 24:39 in order to focus on prayer is okay if both of you agree 24:44 but that is not something that a good Christian has to do. 24:49 Hmmm... 24:50 You don't have to stop having sex 24:53 in order to pray, right, that's... 24:56 in fact, this is Paul's allowance 24:59 to the Ascetics, the people would say, 25:02 "You know, sex is just too strong" 25:04 or "sex is just too dirty and everything, 25:06 we should just not have sex even though we're married," 25:08 Paul says, "You know what? you're wrong," 25:10 he says, "but I'll give you this concession, 25:12 if you want to separate for a short time 25:15 and pray and do that, 25:18 okay, but only for a short time, 25:20 both of you have to agree, it has to be a limited time, 25:23 don't let Satan tempt you, come back together, 25:25 start doing... having sexual relations," 25:28 see... that's actually the most likely, 25:30 but the concession is... is to the Ascetic people 25:33 who don't want to have sex, he says, 25:35 "Okay, but you can only do that for a short time... 25:37 just a little bit," 25:39 there are some people that want to say 25:42 the following verse is not to marry as a concession 25:44 but that doesn't make a lot of sense linguistically 25:47 so, we can paraphrase this, 25:49 let me read a paraphrase I have of this 25:51 to sort of fill it out and to say what it means, 25:55 okay, so, here Paul is saying, "Here's my concession, 25:59 to those who think 26:01 you have to stop having sexual relations 26:03 in order to devote yourself to prayer, 26:06 it's all right to abstain, 26:09 but only on the following conditions, 26:12 both husband and wife must agree to the sexual fast, 26:15 it must be for just a short time, 26:18 the purpose is to focus on prayer, 26:20 and then you must stop the "fast" 26:22 and return to full marital relations, 26:24 remember, it is not necessary to abstain, 26:27 in order to be 'a good Christian' 26:29 you each owe the other the joy of sexual fulfillment, 26:33 in fact, abstaining can cause you great harm 26:36 if Satan tempts you and your passions overwhelm you 26:40 what would be the value of devotional exercise 26:43 if it led you to immorality?" 26:46 Right... All right... 26:47 now that brings us to verse 7 26:49 and we don't have much time to talk about verse 7 26:52 so let's just read it real quick say it very quickly. 26:55 "For I wish that all men were even as I myself. 26:58 But each one has his own gift from God, 27:00 one in this manner and another in that. " 27:02 Paul was probably unmarried at this time, 27:04 he came from a background where marriage was the norm, 27:08 so maybe his wife died or perhaps she divorced him 27:11 because he became a Christian, that's a possibility, 27:14 Paul talks about the gifts of God, 27:16 of different life paths or situations 27:18 or what God gives to you 27:20 and He will give you the grace to use that 27:22 and go through that time," 27:23 so in summary we can say this, sex in marriage is good, 27:26 sex in marriage is a marital right, 27:29 we owe it to our spouse to give them sexual fulfillment 27:33 and it's all right but not a requirement 27:36 to abstain from sex for a short time in marriage 27:40 for devotion to prayer 27:41 but both parties must agree to the plan. 27:43 Absolutely. Yeah. 27:45 This is rich... this is some rich information, 27:50 we thank you so much and we look forward 27:52 to our next session with you. 27:54 Okay. 27:56 And we look forward to your joining us, 27:59 don't hesitate to tune in next time 28:02 and tell somebody else about this series. 28:04 May God bless you 28:05 as you continue to search the Word for its truth. |
Revised 2016-03-28