The Good Gift of Marriage

Description

This passage teaches us about the goodness of marriage. In particular, marriage is good because it is intimate and it is permanent.Chapters 5 and 6 of Paul's letter are about the wrong view of sex; in chapter 7 he switches to the right understanding.The Corinthians had misunderstood Paul's previous teaching, prompting them to write to him asking for clarification.The view emerged in the early church that true Christianity meant a life of celibacy.This view persisted throughout the history of the church and even influenced the reformers.It was the Puritans who began to reclaim the goodness of sexual intimacy in marriage.In the 1960s the Sexual Revolution again exalted the single life over marriage, though without celibacy.Paul does not here give us a comprehensive teaching on marriage and sex; we need to recognize the limits of this passage's scope as general teaching, but teaching which is authoritative on the issue.Paul describes the married life and the unmarried life as gifts for the common good and the building up of the church (vv..