Skip to main content

Stop!


                Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. (Corinthians 7:1-7)

                        In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. (Ephesians 5:8)

                 There may not be any way for me to discuss this without offending someone. Being single, what can I possibly say about marriage, except what God inspired Paul to say. Sexual abstinence is a good thing, but because some folks can’t handle abstinence, Paul says a man and his own wife should engage in sex. And here comes the offense. It is a wife’s duty to have sex with her husband. She does not have authority over her own body. It’s not her body to do with as she likes.
               But Paul doesn’t stop there. It is the duty of the husband to have sex with is wife. He does not have authority over his body. It is not his body to do with as he likes. Is Paul condoning marital rape. Not at all. Paul also wrote the second passage for the day. I suspect, rather, that Paul was telling the Corinthian church to top using sex as a weapon. Neither sex, nor the withholding thereof, is to be done with the intent to hurt, harm, or control. It’s not meant to prove you’re a man or a woman. Outside of marriage, sex isn’t a bargaining chip or bait in a trap. 
                In fact, I think Paul’s admonition is even simpler than Pat Benatar’s. She sings “Stop using sex as a weapon.” I think Paul is saying, “Stop using sex.” Clearly, he doesn’t mean that husbands and wives should stop having sex (unless they decide together to do so) but that sex isn’t a tool that one wields unilaterally or selfishly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more