Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. – 1 Corinthians 7:8

Today's Scripture Reading (March 31, 2024): 1 Corinthians 7

It has never been done that way before. During my lifetime, it often seems to be the cry of the Christian Church. We seem to believe that our beliefs and doctrines have survived intact since the time of Christ. And when someone comes along and suggests that maybe we got something wrong, we run away screaming from the heretic.

But the truth is that the Christian faith is constantly evolving as we continue our walk with Christ through this life. We build on the foundations set up by those who have gone before us, and sometimes, we correct their mistakes because our understanding has advanced. There is nothing wrong with that; it is a process that the church prayerfully works through, which is evident even within the Biblical record.

Paul's words here are an example of this process. It is something that we have puzzled over since Paul's time. What exactly did Paul mean when he said we should remain unmarried? After all, I have been married for over forty years. What might surprise some Christians is that it is very likely that Paul had been married, although he wasn't married when he wrote this letter to the Corinthians. We believe this for a couple of reasons. First, it was culturally inappropriate for a man not to be married. Marriage was the duty of every man. Marriage was so deeply ingrained in the culture that a single man passed the age of twenty was considered to be living in sin. The Jewish belief was that an unmarried man was excluded from heaven because he wasn't really a man; he was something less than human.

Second, It seems likely that Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body in Israel. We understand this from Paul's own admission.

I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord's people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them (Acts 26:9-10)

The key phrase is when Paul says, "I cast my vote against them." The body that would have been voting against the Christian community was the Sanhedrin. Since Paul cast a vote, he must have been a member of that body, but single men were not allowed in the Sanhedrin; Paul must have been married.

What happened to Paul's wife? On that subject, the Bible remains silent. Probably, either his wife had passed away, or she left him when he became a Christian. It remains true that Paul's teaching that followers of Christ should remain unmarried was a radical departure from the cultural expectations of Jewish society, and it is important to Paul because he expected Jesus's return to take place during his lifetime. Since that didn't happen, then this is a teaching that we should handle with great caution.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 8 & 9