1 Corinthians 7

What’s Happening?

The church in the pagan city of Corinth had written to the apostle Paul, who planted their church, about issues threatening their faithfulness to God. One of these issues concerned marriage. Now that God had called them to himself, the Corinthians wondered how to fully devote themselves to God as his holy people. Many saw their marriage to a nonbeliever as a barrier to their pursuit of holiness. Others believed it was holier to remain single and avoid marriage altogether (1 Corinthians 7:1). Others wondered if their status as a Jew, Gentile, Slave, or Freeman negatively affected their devotion to Christ. But the apostle Paul tells them that external status is not a barrier to full devotion to God. Instead, they can work toward holiness in whatever situation they were in when God called them (1 Corinthians 7:17, 35).

Paul explains that both marriage and singleness are gifts to be received and arenas for becoming holy (1 Corinthians 7:7,14). Paul encourages those who are single to remain so, provided they can be sexually pure (1 Corinthians 7:6-8). Singleness allows for undivided devotion to God since they are not tethered to the responsibilities of marriage (1 Corinthians 7:32-35). However, if one cannot remain single without maintaining sexual purity, Paul urges them to marry (1 Corinthians 7:9). Marriage is not a barrier to holiness, but like singleness, it is a gift to be received. God has called husbands and wives to sexual purity in how they relate to one another. Since they belong to God and to each other, they serve God by offering themselves to him and to one another in turn (1 Corinthians 7:2-5). Both marriage and singleness are pathways to holiness since God calls people in both situations to be devoted to him in sexual purity.

Paul applies the same principle to believers married to nonbelievers; they shouldn’t try to change their situation but remain in it (1 Corinthians 7:10-13). Their unbelieving spouse is not a barrier to their holiness but can be a recipient of their holiness in Christ. Paul tells believers not to separate from their partner, because their marriage can make their household holy (1 Corinthians 7:14). God’s holiness is contagious. Just as Jesus made the unclean clean, God’s holiness in the believing spouse can extend to the whole family.

The same is true for other areas of life. Paul encourages Corinthians with no Jewish background that holiness does not depend on them becoming Jewish but on serving God in the situation he called them (1 Corinthians 7:18-20). It’s the same with being a slave or being free; they are not barriers to holiness, but arenas in which Christians can serve God faithfully (1 Corinthians 7:21-24).

Finally, Paul speaks to those who are betrothed or marriageable. There is freedom in Christ to remain single or to marry. Neither choice hinders one’s holiness or devotion to God. The choice to marry is no longer an obligation dictated by society or family, but a free and good choice in Christ (1 Corinthians 7:36-38).

Where’s the Gospel?

It is easy to believe that if our circumstances were to change, our walk with God would be better. We might wonder if a new job, a new marriage, or a nonbelieving spouse becoming a Christian might finally bring us that closeness to God for which we long. But Paul’s instruction to the Corinthian believers applies to us today. We don’t have to change our situation, but seek holiness in whatever situation God has called us (1 Corinthians 7:17). God has assigned us a life, and he calls us to embrace it. Maybe it looks nothing like we hoped. Maybe we see someone else’s life and desire that instead. But for Paul, what counts is not the circumstances we find ourselves in but devoting ourselves to God in the midst of those circumstances (1 Corinthians 7:19).

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We can fully devote ourselves to God in any circumstance when we look at our lives with an eternal perspective. Paul writes that the present world as it stands is passing away (1 Corinthians 7:31). One day, Jesus himself will return. When we set our minds on that hope, we experience our present reality differently—with hands open to what Jesus has for us (1 Corinthians 7:29-30). Whatever situation we find ourselves in, we can trust that God has called us to know him and be holy. We know this because even after the social and relationship categories of the world disappear, our relationship with Jesus does not.

Jesus is forever our master and our husband. As a good master, he gives us what we need in the situations he has placed us, and as a good husband, he has made us holy by joining himself to us back when we had no holiness (2 Peter 1:3). Jesus did not see our unholiness as a barrier, but as the arena in which he would work out holiness for us. Like a husband married to an unbelieving spouse, Jesus pursued us, bought us with his own life, and made us holy (Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 6:20). His blood is the price that secures us as his bride forever. 

Whether we are married or single, slave or free, wealthy or poor, our holiness is not defined by our temporary circumstances but in our eternal relationship with Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30; Leviticus 20:7-8). He has fully committed himself to us and will never leave us. His full devotion to us is what makes our devotion to him possible.

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who calls you and makes you holy in every life circumstance. And may you see Jesus as the one who has fully devoted himself to you, and invited you into undivided devotion to him.