In I Corinthians 7:29-35, Paul continues a conversation he is having about sexuality, focusing on marriage and virginity. He is focusing on questions the congregation has asked him. Paul gives us an opportunity to reflect upon the critical nature of this moment. To look back, he invites us to consider the moment in history related to the coming of Christ as critical for the dealings of God with this world. He also invites us to reflect upon the critical nature of this moment in our lives. Considering the critical nature of this moment, Paul invites us to reflect upon singleness as an opportunity rather than a problem that needs marriage as a solution. We can open our eyes to the myriad of needs, crises, and challenges in the world around us. God is calling us, single or married, and God has many ways to answer that call faithfully. He will not disparage marriage, but he will invite us to consider the possibilities contained in the single life. Paul is also going to provide us with an opportunity to reflect upon the relationship between man and woman.
Paul offers his reflection on how the time in which Christians live affects his perspective on sexuality. 29 I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time (καιρὸς or season) has grown short (συνεσταλμένος). The stress weighing in on the readers involves the limited time before the return of Christ. If some of us could have a conversation with Paul at this point, we might ask him why the impending death of each of us might not also create a sense of urgency. For him, though, the coming of Christ means that God has shortened the time available. He wants his readers to live with a sense of urgency. This time calls for lives that exhibit the new reality that is coming. For Paul, the urgency of the time relativizes all relationships, situations, and conditions. The point here is the people who are sojourners in the world will not treat the world as if it were everything. Human beings are in obvious fellowship or communion with the world but must not cling to the world too tightly. Yes, if nothing else, the world will go on, and we will lose our grip on it through our death. We must not cling to it as if this world were everything for us. Thus, the recognition that the present form of the world is passing away creates a freedom that does not allow the structures and institutions of this world to trap one, allowing this world to become a cage or prison. From now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy property as though they had no possessions, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with or lived so engrossed in it. The reason is: For the present form (σχῆμα) of this world is passing away. Such a realization shapes not only how one sees oneself but also how one relates to the world around one. Throughout the letter, Paul faces the serious challenge of transforming the thinking of the Corinthian believers. They must allow the Lord to transform their minds to perceive and understand the new way of being and knowing that God has called them to in this new age inaugurated by Christ. The question Paul addresses to them is simple: to what age do they belong? 32 I want you to be free from anxieties (ἀμερίμνους, or without concern). If we could talk with Paul at this point, we might discuss that we assume this world is staying. We live our lives as if the world will be here tomorrow and for the near future. We live in a different world from that of Paul, hoping this world will not die. We invest ourselves in the continuation of this world at some level. That is why we have legacies, build monuments, start businesses, and start families. That is why we continue to find solutions to personal and communal problems that we want to lead to human flourishing. The pursuit of happiness is important to us. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord, 33 but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body (σώματι) and spirit (πνεύματι); but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. Yet, if we could talk with Paul about this, many of us have had extended periods of singleness. We know that the single life has its struggles as well. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord. His point is to help them rather than bridle them. He wants everything to be as it should be. He wants them to give undivided attention to the Lord. Marriage, according to Paul, can create divided loyalties in which one not only cares about the things of God but also the things concerning the other spouse. The shortness of the time does not mean one should sell all possessions and wait for the end to come. Instead, Paul is urging his readers to seize the day. Carpe diem! The principle seems to be that we need to be serving God now. Are you single? Be serving God! Are you married? Be serving God! Every moment is critical because we may not have many moments left. Even if we do have many moments, we need to treasure and use each minute to honor the Lord. Paul also provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon the relationship between man and woman. Clearly, the relationship between man and woman is larger than that of marriage. Marriage is a form of the fellowship between man and woman. Marriage is the free, mutual, harmonious choice of love between a particular man and woman that leads to a responsibly undertaken life-union that God intends to be lasting, complete, and exclusive. Paul has told us that marriage is a gift (7:7, 17). Paul is aware of the need to bring sexual pleasure to each other (7:3-5). He has stressed the importance of becoming one flesh (6:17).[1] I have indicated that I find it difficult to travel with Paul in all that he says here, but fortunately, he has conditioned this entire chapter by giving us the freedom to disagree with him. However, I will say this. If we recognized the present form of this world as dying “for us,” then we would not allow the structures and institutions of this world to trap us. We would have a certain degree of freedom. I am not suggesting a form of Stoicism, as if we are aloof from the world. Christians are to differentiate themselves from the world and live in communion with the world. We live in that tension. God in Christ has shown supreme communion with this world. We need that communion as well. Yet, God is not identical with the world process. Rather, God is ahead of us, moving us toward a new and transformed world. We ought not to let our communion with the world to blind us to the new world God wants to bring. Thus, we need a sense that as God steadily transforms us into the persons God wants us to be after the pattern of Christ, so God envisions a new age, the redemption of creation, and we long for and pray for that redemption.
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