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MAX KLEIN BIBLE MINISTRIES

First Corinthians Chapter Seven

A verse-by-verse commentary by Max Klein

Let us bow our heads; If we need to use the Recovery Procedure as found in 1 John 1:9, let us do so at this time that we might be in fellowship. (pause) Father, we thank you for the privilege and opportunity to study your word and for the freedom that you have provided for us here in Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.A.; furthermore, we express our appreciation to God the Holy Spirit who will enlighten us regarding the message this evening. We as priests pray this through the person of our Lord Christ Jesus, our High Priest, Amen.

Self-righteousness is the number one problem solving device that both the unbeliever and the believer uses to adjust to God. The unbeliever uses his self-righteousness to stack up good deeds in order to impress God and so to better his chances of getting into heaven; the believer in the Cosmic System uses his self-righteousness in the form of legalism as a substitute for the Two Power Options of the spiritual life.

Hosea 4:1-7, “Hear the Word of the Lord, you citizens of Israel for the Lord has a judicial case against the inhabitants of the land [the Northern Kingdom] because there is no truth [no doctrine is being taught and learned], and there is no grace being applied [there was no appreciation and response to the love of God], and there is no knowledge of God in the land. (2) Instead, there is lying, deception, murder, stealing, and they break in to commit rape.  Therefore, blood touches blood. (3) Therefore, the land mourns.  And everyone who lives in it languishes along with the domestic animals and the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea perish. (4) Yet, let no one find fault, and let no one offer criticism for your citizens are like those who contend with [to complain against, to vilify] the priest. (5) Therefore, you have stumbled in the daylight, even the prophet has stumbled with you in the night-darkness.   So, I will destroy your mother [the nation will be destroyed]. (6) My people [citizens of the Northern Kingdom] are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected my knowledge, I also will reject you as my priest [a client nation].  Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children [the children will be killed or taken into slavery]. (7) The more they [the children] multiply, the more they sinned against me [no authority orientation].  I will change their glory [self-glory related to arrogance] into shame [shameful death or slavery].” 

 

1 Corinthians 7:1

Now, concerning the things about which you [Corinthians] wrote [about sex], it is honorable for a man not to sexually arouse a woman [not to seduce a woman] [Paul is answering one of their questions].

 

Περὶ δὲ ὧν ἐγράψατε, καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γυναικὸς µὴ ἅπτεσθαι·

 

We dealt with premarital sex in detail in 1 Corinthians 6:18. So, we won’t go over that again here.

 

In this chapter, Paul answered the questions of the Corinthians regarding sex.

 

1. Sex for the Corinthian men was for recreation and to fulfill their religious duties with the priestesses in the Greek temples.

 

2. The Corinthians never heard of love in marriage. Marriage was something one tolerated for the propagation of the human race. Also, they never heard of marrying for companionship.

 

3. Also, for a little diversity, homosexuality and bestiality was practice as well.

 

Sexual Arrogance:

 

Not only is sexual arrogance defined as illegitimate sex namely any sex outside of marriage, but it is sex in which there is total preoccupation with self. This preoccupation disregards every factor of virtue or consideration of others. Sexual arrogance belongs to those who are classified in 2 Timothy 3:4 as "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." Hence, sexual arrogance is ritual without reality. It precludes love as a motive for sex, and so destroys the honor and integrity of the individuals involved. The result is one more step toward unreality.

 

Lasciviousness is a trend in the old sin nature which seeks self- gratification in some form of sex. When linked with arrogance, it produces three categories of sexual arrogance namely normal, abnormal and criminal. Normal sexual arrogance includes adultery, fornication and polygamy. Adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone else other than his or her spouse. Fornication is voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons, and of course, polygamy is having more than one wife. Abnormal sexual arrogance includes at least four categories: (1). Masturbation (autoerotism) as sexual self-gratification, (2). Homosexuality as sexual activity with a person or persons of the same sex. This includes lesbianism which is sexual activity between two women. (3) Incest is sexual intercourse between members of the same family. (4) Voyeurism is sexual gratification while watching others engage in sex. Criminal sexual arrogance includes at least four categories:

 

(1)  Rape is forcing a person against their will to have sex.

 

(2)  Pederasty is an adult male having sex especially with boys. (This is popular with many Muslims.)

 

(3)  Necrophilia is erotic attraction to a corpse or having sex with a corpse.

 

(4) Bestiality is sexual relationship between a human being and an animal.

 

Promiscuity in the man and woman is detrimental to every facet of life, including the spiritual life. Above all, it is detrimental in developing capacity for love, life, and happiness. This is why the Word of God forbids adultery, fornication, pederasty, incest, masturbation, and bestiality. God is not trying to deprive anyone of fun; rather he is trying to guide the person toward happiness. Sex can only be a blessing as an expression of love in monogamy.

 

Sexual arrogance in the woman can manifest itself through seduction of important persons; e.g., Cleopatra's seduction of Caesar, Messalina's seduction of Claudius, or the famous Aspasia of fifth century B.C. Miletus who seduced the great Athenian statesman, Pericles. Sexual arrogance in the woman relates to the number and importance of her conquests. Her flirtatious attitude is designed to receive flattery and to stimulate her arrogance. On the other hand, male sexual arrogance includes a harem or a multiplicity of seductions. The more women with which a man has sex, the more intensified becomes his lust and arrogance. In conclusion, sexual arrogance in both women and men is extremely destructive to the soul as well as the body.  It destroys any capacity for love, life and happiness that the person may have had.

 

1 Corinthians 7:2

But because of every kind of unlawful sex [sexual activity in a heathen temple], let each man [a single man] have his own wife, and let each woman [single woman] have her own husband [a revolutionary concept to the Corinthians].

 

διὰ δὲ τὰς πορνείας ἕκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα ἐχέτω, καὶ ἑκάστη τὸν ἴδιον ἄνδρα ἐχέτω.

 

Marriage, introduction:

 

1. The following principles explain every problem in marriage, in romance, and in human relationship.

 

a. Application without truth is false.

b. Application without facts is folly.

c. Application from emotion is the life of the loser.

d. Application without principle is distorted thinking.

e. Application without doctrine is distorted learning.

f. Application without virtue is distorted living.

 

2. Doctrinal truth comes from the Scripture. You cannot base doctrine on experience. You cannot base doctrine by observing what other Christians are doing or failing to do. You must base doctrine on what the Word of God says. Neither empiricism nor rationalism is the source of absolute truth. If experience or what seems correct contradicts the Bible, then the Bible is correct.

 

3. Success in Christian marriage is related to truth. Application of doctrine cannot be made without inculcation of the principles of doctrine. You are designed to learn doctrine and apply it from your own soul. You have to learn doctrine, metabolize it, apply it, and use it to solve problems. The pattern is learning, thinking, and solving. For the Christian, the basic solutions to marriage are spiritual. So, the necessity for spiritual growth.

 

4. Problems in marriage cannot be solved by psychologists nor by anyone else. All psychological solutions from counseling are not only human viewpoint but are someone else’s thinking. Neither psychology nor the thinking from someone else’s frame of reference can solve the problems in another person’s marriage. 

 

5. Success in marriage begins before marriage. While marriage inevitably changes people for the better or for the worse, they are basically no better in marriage than they were as single individuals. Winning and losing lifestyles carry over into marriage. If two Christians were losers spiritually before marriage, they will be losers in marriage and vice versa apart from spiritual growth. Success in marriage begins in childhood where children are either obedient or not. In childhood, children are commanded to respect and obey both parents as per Ephesians 6:1-3, “You, Children keep on obeying your parents in the Lord; because this is right and just. (2) Be respecting your father and mother for such is the first commandment with a promise of blessing. (3) That you may prosper, and you shall have long life [a full life] on the earth.” Disobedience in childhood where the child does not accept the authority of the parents, brings about arrogance and damages the soul with scar tissue. This may not become apparent until faced with the pressures of marriage.

 

6. There are three stages in the man/woman relationship namely the attraction, compatibility and rapport stages.

 

Attraction:

 

(1) This first stage elicits interest or attention; hence, an attractive quality in another person.

 

(2) There are two man/woman relationships in which attraction occurs, first in romance and then in marriage.

(3) Attraction is generally overt and emphasizes physical appeal. It can include many things, such as allurement, enticement, or fascination. It may include physical beauty, overt personality, or seeing the fulfillment of one’s personal standards (the knight in shining armor).

 

(4) Attraction is the reconnaissance stage of the man/woman relationship. It has to do with the superficialities of life, such as dress, appearance, personality, manners, smell, and sex appeal. This stage is the empirical approach and is dangerous since you assume that what you see is what you get, and that is rarely true in marriage.

 

(5) Attraction is the blind stage of romance or marriage for a person often sets aside, ignores, or is blinded to the flaws or potential flaws in the object of romance. He doesn’t see the real person.

 

(6) Since attraction is often based on libido, most people get married in this stage, which is a great disaster.

 

(7) The attraction stage has not come to grips with the problems the other person has or can create, and has not resolved any of the problems of incompatibility, or even recognized the existence of incompatibility.

 

(8) The attraction stage has not yet faced the facts of life. Another person’s problems may be the catalytic agent that destroys the relationship.

 

(9) Concentration on the object of love in the attraction stage has a very narrow field of vision, often resulting in the erroneous conclusion that the object of your love is the only person in the world for you.

 

(10) This false confidence of subjectivity rejects or ignores warning signs against marrying this person. Rationalization, simply dismissing the warning signs. 

 

(11) People who get married in the attraction stage have very little chance of success, but it can be overcome by strong spiritual growth.

 

Emotional revolt in the attraction stage: When the believer is overpowered by emotion in the attraction stage, virtue and stability in romance are virtually eliminated. The removal of virtue and wisdom, caused by emotional revolt of the soul, is in direct contrast to the normal and legitimate emotional function of romance and love.

(a) Emotional revolt of the soul results in blotting out everything that sustains love. This is because emotion has no doctrinal content, no ability to think or reason.

 

(b) Emotional revolt of the soul often emphasizes premarital sex, and therefore, handicaps marriage.

 

(c) Emotional revolt of the soul brings into romance two categories of sins: the sins of arrogance such as jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, revenge, slander, gossip, maligning and the sins of emotion such as fear, worry, anxiety, hatred, anger, violence, murder.

 

(d) Emotion is irrational arrogance which blots out reality and virtue and ignores the Problem-Solving Devices.

 

(e) While emotion can respond to love and does, it cannot be love.

 

(f) Emotional arrogance is a system of converting reality into illusion and hallucination.

(g) The strength of romantic love is virtue, which is produced by consistent perception and application of God’s Word which transitions from attraction to compatibility.

 

Compatibility: 

(1) Compatibility is the capacity of a man and a woman to combine and remain together without undesirable aftereffects.

 

(2) Compatibility is a mutual tolerance, motivated by three categories of virtue-love: personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, and occupation with the Person of Christ.

 

(3) Compatibility is a total adjustment to the other person so that he or she is the most important person in the world to you.

 

(4) While attraction is the blind stage of romance, compatibility is the enlightened stage. In this stage, you have learned the strengths and weaknesses of the object of your love, and you have already resolved most of the problems of relationship. Whatever the sins, failures, and weaknesses of your partner, they do not diminish your love for him or her.

 

(5) Compatibility is the Problem-solving stage of romance; therefore, it is the best time for marriage. Those involved have used the privacy of their own priesthood to solve the problems in the relationship.

 

(6) In compatibility, both male and female take responsibility for their own decisions. Tolerance and understanding prevail in this stage.

 

(7) When attraction in romance becomes disappointment or disillusion, you can end the relationship forever, but when attraction in marriage becomes disappointment or disillusion, you cannot jump out and be in the directive will of God.

 

(8) Compatibility must be established before marriage, not after marriage. Do not get married in the attraction stage, but first attain compatibility. No decision should be made about marriage until you have all the facts, and all the facts are not in until you have reached the stage of compatibility.

 

(9) The greatest manifestation of compatibility is conversation. A successful marriage is a long conversation that seems all too short. Your moment-to-moment compatibility is in conversation.

 

(10) Premarital sex destroys those standards of virtue upon which compatibility is based. Premarital sex causes the fornicators to use emotion as the strength of their love, and emotion has no strength. The strength of romantic love is virtue, which is produced by learning, thinking, and solving problems using Bible doctrine.

 

Rapport:

(1) Rapport is the harmonious stage of romance and marriage. This is the status quo of sympathy and empathy through coalescence of souls and spiritual identification with the object of your love.

 

(2) This is the fusion of opposites in the understanding of feelings, thoughts, and attitudes of the object of your love.

 

(3) This is the fulfillment of the divine mandates of marriage. Colossians 3:18-19, “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter against them.” Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, be subordinating yourselves to your own husbands as to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself as a substitute for her.” The husband is required to have personal and impersonal love in marriage. The wife is required to have respect, enforced and genuine humility, objectivity and teachability.

 

(4) Rapport is where wisdom from metabolized doctrine pays great dividends in human relationships, including how to rear children.

 

7. An ode to a loser: Personal love in the human race always begins, then turns out base. Minus virtue, it cannot stand; loss of control, it’s out of hand. Love is the victim of its own decision; life without virtue has no precision. The arrogant cannot give it; the loser cannot live it. Frustrated love becomes an obsession; the lover fails and loses possession. You cannot hold a husband or wife; for minus virtue, all is strife. So, think again before you leap; without virtue, life is cheap. Your love becomes a real frustration; leaving you as a bitter illustration.

 

8. One liners: 

 

a. Intimacy should not destroy privacy.

 

b. Love is motivation for communication, but it takes more energy to communicate than it does to copulate.

 

c. Possessive people are possessive because they are preoccupied with themselves.

 

d. The arrogant male does not take responsibility for anything in marriage; therefore, he reverses the role with the woman.

 

e. A good husband is a man who is unattractive to other women.

 

9. Marriage for the Christian is the most difficult, the most challenging, and the place of more failures than anything else in life. Failure in marriage is a failure of the believer’s own spiritual life.

 

10. Marriage is designed by God as a divine institution for both believers and unbelievers. However, in the Church Age, Christian-marriage must be in harmony with the spiritual life. In other words, the Christian can only have a great marriage in spiritual maturity.

 

11. In a bad marriage as marriage progresses, it retrogresses because attractiveness begins to disappear as people age. Flaws that were hidden by youth and attractiveness become manifest in older people. In a good marriage, as the two people grow older and become less attractive, the relationship becomes sweeter.

 

12. Any relationship in life must be founded on principle. In order for marriage to continue, there must be an understanding of the principles of Bible doctrine. You cannot build a marriage on human viewpoint, practical application, or philosophical writings. You must know and apply biblical principles.

 

13. No marriage will last without the capacity for love, just as no believer can advance to maturity without this capacity. Legalism and moral degeneracy as well as immoral degeneracy destroy the capacity for love and consequently destroy marriage. So, marriages do not fail because of financial problems, unfaithfulness, or other controversies, but because believers fail to execute the Protocol Plan of God and thus, never acquire capacity for love. 

 

14. Personal Love and Intimidation. If the man is intimidated by his wife, he cannot have full capacity for personal love. Intimidation begins in romance, not in marriage. Intimidation in marriage eliminates capacity for love and substitutes fear. Fear introduces emotional and irrational sins which complicate the marital relationship. The husband can be intimidated in two categories namely by a strong woman who assumes the masculine role in marriage, and secondly by a weak woman who intimidates by nagging, self-righteous arrogance, and legalistic activism. A woman in polarized legalism is always right in her own eyes and is always trying to superimpose her viewpoint on her husband. Intimidation in marriage becomes a problem without solutions when one or both partners are ignorant of the Problem-Solving Devices.

 

15. The unharnessed woman in marriage rejects the authority of her husband. Therefore, she will inevitably enter the three stages of Christian degeneracy. 1 Corinthians 11:8-9, “For the man does not originate from the woman, but the woman from the man; for indeed, the man was not created for the woman, but the woman was created for the man.” A harnessed woman under authority with great patients is a blessing to the man, and receives the greater happiness.

 

16. Marriage and family are tests regarding one’s spiritual life, since they are problem-manufacturing devices. No relationships in life are more dramatic than the relationship between the man and woman in marriage or between parents and children. Therefore, marriage and family demand the best from every believer.

 

17. What you really depend on in life will determine the status of your marriage. To depend on Bible doctrine means ultimate (not immediate) success. To depend on the advice of others means confusion, misdirection, and ultimate failure. Success or failure in marriage is a reflection of your spiritual life. Defeat isn’t bitter if you don’t swallow it.

 

18. Marriages fail for two general reasons. First, getting married in the attraction stage of romance and secondly never growing up in marriage and so never attaining the stages of compatibility or rapport.

 

1 Corinthians 7:3

The husband must render due benevolence [fulfill his duty] to his wife and likewise, also the wife unto her husband.

τῇ γυναικὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ τὴν ὀφειλὴν ἀποδιδότω, ὁµοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ τῷ ἀνδρί.

 

The woman must be loved mentally, protected, cherished day by day, or sex is a failure from the start. “Rendering due benevolence” is a mental attitude that must be continuous. The word ‘due benevolence’ itself is the Greek word for any kind of an obligation and responsibility. The obligation and the responsibility of the man starts with his mental attitude. The wife is mentioned secondly because she is a responder. When the woman responds to the man, mentally or physically, she is the glory of the man, 1 Corinthians 11:7, “For a man ought not to have his head covered [the man’s hair should be shorter than his wife’s], since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man [when she responds to his leadership and integrity].”

 

Sex is occasional on the time scale. No matter how much time is devoted to sex it can’t be too much time in your life. Nature has provided that it wouldn’t be. So, on the time scale you may work eight hours a day but you don’t have sex eight hours a day. Sex is occasional on the time scale of life but it depends upon a moment-by-moment rapport rather than a biological urge.

 

Sex in mankind is for adults. No immature or childish man can enter into the full beauty of sex apart from mental attitude love. If a husband is jealous of his wife and criticizes her in public, or maligns her around town, abusing her with vituperation, he has killed the goose that laid the golden egg. He will never get from his wife, the response that makes their love wonderful. Not only is sex for adults, but for a married couple in marriage it is the result of soul coalescence. Without soul coalescence, body coalescence is only a ritual without reality.

These mandates above are amplified in Ephesians 5:22-25; 28-31.   

When a minister is conducting a wedding service for unbelievers, he should never use this Ephesian passage since it applies to Church Age believers only.  No unbeliever could fulfill the phrase “as unto the Lord” as found in verse 22 and the clause, “just as the Lord loved the Church and gave himself as a substitute for her” (verse 25).  As a matter of fact, only mature believers have the ability to obey these commands; growing believers should be challenged to advance to spiritual maturity in order to fulfill them.  Thus, ‘due benevolence’ can only be fulfilled in spiritual maturity. 

Furthermore, these commands found only in Ephesians were never given to any Old Testament believer. Moses, for example was never given the command found in Ephesians 5:25 since to execute these commands requires the power of the ‘mystery doctrines’ as found in the New Testament Epistles and the power of the Filling of the Holy Spirit. So, this passage was designed for Church Age believers only.

In the Old Testament both unbeliever-marriage and believer-marriage were under the Laws of Establishment whereas in the Church Age, the Christian marriage is not only under the Laws of Establishment, but is related to the spiritual life as well. Thus, the standard of believer-marriage in the Church Age was raised to the highest possible level. This makes Christian marriage in the Church Age unique and a part of the mystery doctrines. 

Why did God raise the standard of marriage in this age?  To answer this question, one must understand something about the angelic conflict which began in eternity past and is still being fought at present.  In this conflict, Satan is trying to prove that he is as great as God or even greater than God, “I will make myself like the Most-High” (Isaiah 14:14b).

In order to do this, it is inevitable that Satan will attempt to impugn God’s character and to criticize and attack whatever God designs or creates. In this passage we are only concerned about one such criticism or attack. Even though there is no literal statement in Scripture regarding Satan’s attack against marriage, there is sufficient data for us to deduce that he does. For example, Satan encourages all functions of sex outside of marriage which evil functions are an attack on marriage.

In the garden, God created two perfect people as a married couple in perfect environment and since God is a God of orderliness, he always establishes a system of authority wherever two or more people exist.  So, in this marriage, Adam was given the authority over his wife, Ishah.  Eventually, Ishah usurped Adam’s authority by carrying on a private dialogue with Satan and then making the first decision to take and eat the forbidden fruit. After doing this, she took another fruit and gave it to Adam, in effect commanding him to eat it, which he did.  Thus, by reversing their roles in marriage, the perfect marriage as designed by God had failed. 

All through human history the seed of Satan, the unbeliever, criticizes and attacks marriage.  “Look at all the unhappy marriages,” they say. “You don’t need to get married to have sex; communal living, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, masturbation are better options.”  To answer these criticisms and attacks against marriage, God demonstrates throughout history that sex is designed to function in marriage only and that marriage is a perfect creation. The weak link is not in the design, but with the failure of the individual people in each marriage. 

However, in the Old Testament, no marriage was great enough to completely defeat Satan’s attack and argument against marriage.  So, in the Church Age God raised the standards of marriage to a supernatural level.  “Wives obey your husbands in all things as unto the Lord” and “Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her.”  With the spiritual life given to the Church Age believer, some Christians in marriage do obey these mandates.  In so doing, they prove once and for all that marriage is a perfect design by a perfect God. 

In this perfect design true love can exist.  The true love of the husband and wife are different however. His is an aggressive love; hers is a responding one.  His love includes enduring devotion, an intense love, loyalty, faithfulness and consecration to the Biblical principles of marriage.  Her love is characterized by esteem, respect, honor (which is her response to his integrity), consideration (careful thought for him and meditation on him; in other words, her husband is always in her thoughts), partiality (in her scale of values regarding human relationship he is number one), and deference (her willingness to submit to his will, opinions and judgments). 

True love therefore, is based on the thinking of the soul, not the emotions of the body. Emotions at best are appreciators of true love; good emotional responses appreciate good motivation, thoughts, decisions and actions but in themselves contain no thought, no integrity, no honor, no humility et cetera.

The following passage commands the highest possible love in marriage, a supernatural love, a standard that can only be executed in full by mature believers in fellowship with God, the Holy Spirit. 

Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, be under the authority of [subordinate yourselves] to your very own husbands as unto the Lord [her strongest motivation].”

The Greek word ‘hupotasso’ taken from the previous verse means to be subordinate to, to be under the authority of and to obey. It is a durative present which means an action which began in the past (at the point of marriage) and continues into the present.

Authority orientation is very much a part of basic capacity for life because obedience to legitimate authorities produces humility whereas arrogance is developed by disobeying those authorities. Furthermore, humility is a virtue and is a part of happiness, arrogance on the other hand is the antithesis of virtue and produces self-induced misery and brings God’s wrath upon the believer. If a woman does not know about God’s system of authority and moreover will not adhere to it, she will never be happy in marriage or in life in general.

If a Christian woman will not obey the Lord who is perfect, how will she be able to obey her husband who is imperfect?  If a woman rejects the spiritual life, she will never be happy with any man. That is why this verse also has the words “as unto the Lord.” The greatest capacity in life comes from harmonious rapport with God.  That is why both the wife’s mandate to obey her husband and the husband’s mandate to love his wife (Ephesians 5:25) are based on harmonious rapport with the Lord. Thus, there is no true love in Christian marriage until there is true love for the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Ephesians 5:23-24, “For the husband is the ruler [leader, head] of the wife, just as Christ also is the ruler [head, in the sense of authority] of the church: He Himself [Christ] is the Savior of the body [a metaphor for the Church].  (24) But as the church is subordinate to [under the authority of] Christ, so also wives are under the authority of [subordinate to] their husbands in everything.”

Just as the Church is subordinate to Christ in everything so the wife is subordinate to the husband in everything, within the boundaries of his authority. Wherever an organization exists, someone must take the responsibility for making the final decisions in matters that require a decision.  Can you imagine what it would be like in marriage if God had given 50% of the authority to the husband and the other 50% to the wife?  The husband says, “Today we are going to eat out;” she says, On the contrary, today we are going to eat in the home.”  He says, “Because of my job, we need to live In Hyderabad;” she says, “Because of my friends, we will live in Darjeeling.” Without established authority, orderly function cannot take place. However, all authorities have parameters.  For example, if a husband commands his wife to assist him in a bank robbery, he has exceeded the boundaries of his authority and she must refuse. 

Many wives resent being under their husband’s authority for they think that being in a subordinate position makes them inferior. This is a totally false concept. One’s position on the ladder of authority doesn’t make a person inferior or superior, rather the quality of one’s soul makes that person superior or inferior.  This should be obvious to the most casual observer of people in authority. Some of the greatest morons and most evil people have ruled countries. 

Furthermore, many women don’t realize that they were designed to be followers, not leaders. In this role, women can experience an intense happiness especially when married to a great man with wisdom and leadership.  Of course, if a woman is married to an arrogant husband, she will have a very difficult time. Though she must obey her arrogant husband, she must do so without reaction. She can only avoid reaction by applying the Word of God to her difficult situation. In so doing, she will find herself responding to God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ. In this way her happiness as a responder is preserved.

Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love [personal and impersonal] your wives just as Christ [a reference to his humanity] also loved the church [with personal love] and gave himself [His humanity on the cross] as a substitute for her [impersonal love].”

The deity of Christ loved the church and still does since each member of the church universal has a double portion of divine righteousness. Jesus, the humanity of Christ loved and still loves the universal church since it is his royal family, and bride. So, the humanity of Christ was willing to bear the sins of the world which included the sins of those who would make up the church. Christ’s work on the cross was the greatest demonstration of love in all of history for it combined Jesus’s love for both God the Father which love motivated Him to bear the sins of the world and his love for His future bride (contract signed at salvation) and wife (the wedding feast occurring at the 2nd Advent.).

The Christian husband is to love his wife just as the humanity of Christ loved the Church.  As Jesus was willing to sacrifice himself for the church, so the husband must be willing to sacrifice himself for his wife. In order to understand this, we must always remember the Four Primary Components of true human love namely knowledge, righteousness, justice and grace. In the protocol plan of God, Jesus maximized these four characteristics. So, in order for a husband to love his wife as Christ (with focus on his humanity), the husband must also maximize out these four primary characteristics (components) of love.

From these Four Primary Components comes the following: Enduring devotion, the intense love that the humanity of Christ had for the Church (he had anticipated those who would believe in him). Christ, as the groom, loved the Church (his bride) so much that He gave Himself as a substitute for her, the church. Christian husbands are commanded to have this same intense love for their wives.  This is a supernatural love that only a mature believer can execute.  In the soul of the humanity of Christ there existed maximum humility, maximum integrity and capacity for love which can only come from a thorough understanding and execution of the spiritual life.

Ephesians 5:28, “So, husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies [nourishes, protects, cares for etc.].  He who loves his own wife, keeps loving himself [Spiritual Self-Esteem is the basis for soul coalescence];”

 

Spiritual Self-Esteem takes shape in the soul as the Christian becomes grace and doctrinally oriented.  Relating this to the 10 Problem Solving Devices, this development would begin at the 6th problem solving device and increase as the Christian progresses into spiritual adulthood and peaks out at occupation with Christ.

 

Spiritual Self-Esteem is based on confidence, self-worth and one status as a member of the royal family of God. Self-esteem is confidence in what one knows, and in one’s ability to put that knowledge into operation.  What has been a characteristic of a few great leaders in history is now available to each of us as believers.  It is confidence in God, confidence in the Word of God metabolized in your soul and circulating in your stream of consciousness, not a confidence based on one’s human intelligence, education, family tree achievement or success. Self-esteem is also one’s estimated worth or value. Since spiritual assets have the highest value and worth, the more spiritual assets that the believer is able to acquire and put into operation, the greater becomes his estimation of self.  Since this self-estimation is not based on human merit or abilities, but rather grace acquired assets and abilities, it does not produce arrogance. 

 

In the status of spiritual self-esteem at the 6th Problem Solving Device, the Christian loves himself because in his soul exists grace and doctrinal orientation, the faith-rest Drill, understanding and appreciation for the Filling of the Holy Spirit and knowledge regarding the Recovery Procedure and as he advances in the spiritual life, his spiritual self-esteem will be enhanced by his love for God, his unconditional love for all people and his sharing of God’s happiness and occupation with Christ.  He also loves his own person because he is a member of the Royal Family of God, a royal priest and an ambassador for Christ.  

Human self-esteem many times is related to arrogance manifested in a superiority complex. On the other hand, spiritual self-esteem is never related to arrogance. The more the Christian functions consistently in fellowship with God, the more his spiritual esteem flourishes. However, if he starts spending too much time out of fellowship pursuing the lusts of the sin nature, his spiritual esteem that he once possessed will begin to diminish and eventually completely disappear.  Once obtained, spiritual self-esteem must be maintained by continuous intake and application of God’s Word.

Ephesians 5:29, 30, “For no one has ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and provides tender care for it [this is how the husband should take care of his wife] just as also Christ does the church [His body: Ephesians 5:23]. [Verse 30 belongs at the end of verse 29] because we [Church age believers] are members of His body].”

 

Ephesians 5:31, “(For this cause a man shall leave [precedence] his father and mother, and he shall have sexual intercourse with his own [no other] wife and the two shall be one flesh (Genesis 2:24)).”

 

1 Corinthians 7:4

The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise, the husband does not have authority over his body, but the wife does.

 

ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ ἰδίου σώµατος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλὰ ὁ ἀνήρ· ὁµοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ τοῦ ἰδίου σώµατος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλὰ ἡ γυνή.

 

Each mate in marriage has something to give the other and each finds fulfillment in the other. The wife is mentioned first because she was discussed last in the last verse. The woman [wife] is physically designed by God to be dependent upon the man for physical satisfaction. This is what it means when it says she does not have power [ability] over her own body. She does not have the ability apart from the man’s activity, but this is a two-way street, “likewise” means that the reverse is also true that is the man is not complete physically without the woman. Thus, the key to man’s physical happiness is the woman, the key to the woman’s physical happiness is the man, and they are dependent on each other. Neither body is complete without the other. Sex, then, does something that nothing else in life does; it merges a man and a woman and makes them one.

 

Sex is not only unity but also equality in marriage. During the period of intercourse, the roles of the husband and woman are temporally set aside. The husband does not have authority over his wife and the wife is not subordinate to the husband. It is an R & R: a rest from the roles in marriage namely the role of authority and subordination, and the highest form of recreation. She may initiate in sex; he may initiate in sex. She may counter respond; he may counter respond. This is the rhythm of response and counter response.  

 

1 Corinthians 7:5

 

Stop depriving one another [of having a sexual relationship] except by agreement [mutual agreement] for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer [prayer is mentioned since this ministry many times is hindered via domestic quarrelling], and come together again [a reference to coalescence of souls and bodies: both mentally in your love for each other and physically in conjugal love] so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control [both in the soul through reaction and in the body via lust].

 

µὴ ἀποστερεῖτε ἀλλήλους, εἰ µήτι ἂν ἐκ συµφώνου πρὸς καιρὸν ἵνα σχολάσητε τῇ προσευχῇ καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἦτε, ἵνα µὴ πειράζῃ ὑµᾶς ὁ Σατανᾶς διὰ τὴν ἀκρασίαν ὑµῶν.

 

Prayer is a ministry that requires time and concentration. There must be agreement in the home between the two believers in marriage concerning the amount of time allotted for spiritual growth and prayer.

 

1 Peter 3:7, “You husbands in a similar manner, live with them according to knowledge [about women in general and must learn about one’s wife] as the weaker vessel [as a responder, she is dependent upon her husband for fulfillment], since she is a woman; and show her honor as a joint-heirs of the grace of life so that your prayers will not be hindered.”

 

1 Corinthians 7:6-7

 

But this [the principle of celibacy] I say by way of concession [to a small group], not of command [not a command for all believers, but a principle of doctrine only for single believers].  (7) Yet, I wish that all men [believers] were even as I myself am [Paul functioned under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice and so remained single as to fulfill his many responsibilities to the Lord].  However, each man [believer] has his own gift [not a spiritual gift, but a vocation] from God, one in this manner [to remain single], and another in that [to get married].

 

τοῦτο δὲ λέγω κατὰ συγγνώµην, οὐ κατí ἐπιταγήν. (7) θέλω δὲ πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἶναι ὡς καὶ ἐµαυτόν· ἀλλὰ ἕκαστος ἴδιον ἔχει χάρισµα ἐκ θεοῦ, ὁ µὲν οὕτως, ὁ δὲ οὕτως.

 

Paul does not command celibacy for all believers nor was Paul contending that single life was holier than marriage life. “By way of concession” indicates that there is no mandate in the Word of God that says that all believers should be single. This also indicates that celibacy is definitely not for all believers. Neither celibacy nor single status is spirituality, but both statuses demand spirituality and momentum under the protocol plan of God.

 

If single, there is opportunity for greater production since there is potentially more time.  You cannot make marriage work unless you spend some time with each other. The mate must not be neglected.  Furthermore, if the married couple have children, it takes a lot of time to teach and train them. Furthermore, time consumed in making money for the family. So, marriage and family require much time; time that cannot be used for the Lord.  

Single Status:

 

1. There are those who are single who are waiting for the right person, 1 Corinthians 7:2, “But because of every kind of unlawful sex [sexual activity in a heathen temple], let each man [a single man] have his own wife, and let each woman [single woman] have her own husband [a revolutionary concept to the Corinthians].” This includes those who haven’t been married and those who have been married, but are no longer married.

 

2. Operation Eunuch, Matthew 19:10-12, “His disciples said to Him, ‘If this is the case [the situation] of the man with his wife [the strict view of marriage], it is better not to marry.’ (11) But He said to them, ‘All men cannot receive the doctrine [regarding celibacy], except they to whom it is given [‘given’ implies the means for remaining a celibate].’ (12) For there are some [introduces a category] eunuchs who were born so from their mother's womb [congenital eunuchs, not possessing normal libido]; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men [emasculated eunuchs]; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven's sake [the Law of Supreme Sacrifice]. He who is able to accept it [celibacy], let him accept it [celibacy in order to be more devoted to the spiritual life and one’s ministry].”

 

It is God’s will regarding certain believers whose ministries are of such a nature that marriage would be a tremendous burden if not impossible. The best illustration is the Apostle Paul who lived as a celibate under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice “some eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.” God has provided the gift of celibacy to both sexes in order that certain functions in the spiritual realm which are absolutely necessary might be performed.

 

3. Older widows are commanded not to remarry, 1 Corinthians 7:8, “Now, I say to the unmarried for their benefit [the dative case of advantage for both men and women] and to older widows for their benefit [dative of advantage] that it is good for them to remain [potential mood depending upon the principles of the next verse] even as I [Paul remained single that he might operate under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice]”

 

4.Those divorced with the legal right to remarry are in single status and have the bona fide right under certain conditions to remarry, Deuteronomy 24:1-4, “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it comes to pass [after an elapse of time] that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ceremonial uncleanness in her [this expression in the Hebrew is unknown to us, but it definitely is not referring to adultery since adultery was a criminal matter under the Mosaic Law as per Leviticus 20:10], then let him give her a certificate of divorce and let him put it in her hand and sends her out from his house [This civil law is not defined for us, but was a legitimate basis for divorce at the time of Moses.], (2) and leaving his house, she may go and become another man’s wife, (3) and if the latter  husband [the 2nd husband] turns against [hates] her, and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it into her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband [2nd husband] dies who took her to be his wife. (4)  Then her former [1st] husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled [had sex with someone else which would destroy the authority of her first husband]; for that is an abomination before the Lord and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.”

 

1 Corinthians 7:8

 

Now, I say to the unmarried for their benefit [the dative case of advantage for both men and women] and to widows for their benefit [dative of advantage] that it is good for them to remain [potential mood depending upon the principles of the next verse] even as I [Paul remained single that he might operate under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice]

Λέγω δὲ τοῖς ἀγάµοις καὶ ταῖς χήραις, καλὸν αὐτοῖς ἐὰν µείνωσιν ὡς κἀγώ·

 

The Law of Supreme Sacrifice, using Paul as the example: 1 Corinthians 9:1-15, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? (2) If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. (3) My defense to those who examine me is this: (4) Do we not have a right to eat [meat] and drink [wine]? (5) Do we [Paul and Barnabas] not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? (6) Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working [take the weekends off or take a vacation and spend time with a wife or family]? (7) Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense [Paul is a spiritual general and was entitled to a salary]? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? [Paul functioning under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice, did not get paid a salary.] (8) I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? (9) For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing [if the ox is compensated for his work, then certainly should people].’ God is not concerned about oxen, is He? (10) Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope [of being remunerated], and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops [of being remunerated]. (11) If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you [is it expecting too much that we should get paid]? (12) If others share the right over you, do we not more [the right of getting paid a salary]? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things [Paul and his team suffered privation while ministering to the Corinthians first as unbelievers and later as a new church] so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ [Paul never asked for money for himself or for his team that it may not hinder his gospel message or impugn his motivation]. (13) Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar [The Levites were paid for their services at the temple and altar.]? (14) So, also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel [to the apostles to the Lost Sheep of Judah]. (15) But I have used none of these things [Even though Paul never asked for a salary, it does not establish a precedence. The law of remuneration continues.]. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die [of neglect and starvation] than have any man make my boast an empty one [Paul never asked for money].”

 

The Principle of Going It Alone: There are three categories of believers who are subject to going it alone.

 

1. Believers who are not married and have never been married.

 

2. Believers who are presently unmarried though were formerly married.

 

3. Believers who are married to an unbeliever or to a negative believer. In this case, going it alone means to advance spiritually alone though married. If you are married to an unbeliever or to a believer who is negative to God’s plan, you can still fulfill God’s plan for your life by advancing to spiritual maturity alone. 

It is God’s will that some people remain single:

 

The divine mandate to remain single carries with it, certain blessings that are exclusive to that status quo. God is fair, and those mandated to remain in single status have certain blessings and happiness which are not available to married persons. For example, Paul was not seeking a wife, nor was he bitter toward other believers who were married. He was very happy in the ministry that the Lord had given him. In this special ministry, Paul was able to devote all his time to studying and teaching. The principle is that the single believer has more time, energy, and opportunity to grow in grace and serve the Lord.

 

A few more points on remaining single:

 

1. If you are a believer in single status, remain single until a change is definitely and clearly the will of God for your life.

 

2. Men, do not go out and seek a wife for God always brings the woman to the man if it is his will that you get married. This precedence was established in the garden.

 

3. Do not panic because of peer pressure for it is much better to be single than to be married to the wrong person.

 

4. Marriage is a state of terrible suffering, if you are married to the wrong person.

 

5. It is easier to remain single than to get out of a bad marriage.

 

6. To get out of a bad marriage requires one of three things: (1) Your spouse dies, and that terminates the marriage, (2) Your spouse is guilty of desertion or adultery, (3) Legitimate reasons for divorce where the Bible is silent, but a life-threatening situation or bodily-injury situation exists.

 

7. Take your time about changing your status from single to married or from married to single.

Older Widows may need financial support:

 

In 1 Timothy 5:9-10, where the older widows need financial support, “A widow may be enrolled on the church charity list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one husband [married only once, a stability factor], (10) having been certified by honorable accomplishments [verification of her spiritual life]; if she has reared children well [in spiritual matters and in other areas], and she has [however having children was not a requirement]; if she has demonstrated hospitality to strangers [gracious and thoughtful toward others], and she has; if she has washed the feet of the saints [by analogy represents service to those of the royal family], and she has; if she has assisted those being afflicted [whether mental or physical], and she has; and if she has devoted herself to every intrinsic good production [based on metabolized doctrine in the soul], and she has.”

 

1 Corinthians 7:9

But, if they [younger widows] do not have habitual [from the present tense] self-control of self [reflexive middle] regarding sexual libido, and they do not, let them marry [aorist tense: when all factors are right for marriage; active voice means you decide]; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion [a continual unfulfilled sexual desire].

 

εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἐγκρατεύονται γαµησάτωσαν, κρεῖττον γάρ ἐστιν γαµῆσαι ἢ πυροῦσθαι.

 

Younger Widows:

 

There is a good reason for young widows without children to be remarried, 1 Timothy 5:11-15, “But refuse [the deacon board] to put younger widows on the charity list, for when they have maximum libido at times which separates them from Christ [lose occupation with Christ because they become man-crazy], they have a strong emotional desire to get married, (12) Constantly having divine discipline because they have swerved from [or rejected] their previous doctrine [resident in their souls]. (13) And at the same time, also they learn to be idle, having wandered around from house to house; and not only idle, but also gossips and invaders of privacy, constantly saying those things which ought not to be mentioned. (14) Therefore, it is my [Paul’s] decision that the younger widows marry, have children, be the mistress of the home, give no opportunity to the enemy to abuse grace. (15) for some young widows have already turned aside to follow Satan.”

 

1 Corinthians 7:10

 

But to the married [married in the past with the result that they should remain that way] I [since Jesus Christ did not cover this particular point; Paul is speaking under the influence of the Spirit] command [as an apostle], not I, but the Lord that the wife should not depart from [separate, not talk about divorcing] her husband [this is the general principle].

 

τοῖς δὲ γεγαµηκόσιν παραγγέλλω, οὐκ ἐγὼ ἀλλὰ ὁ κύριος, γυναῖκα ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς µὴ χωρισθῆναι

Principles regarding marriage:

 

1.People are no better in marriage than they are as people. People who are losers in single status are losers in marriage. People who are winners in single status are winners in marriage generally.

 

2. It takes two winners to make a successful marriage, because each is responsible for his own decisions and modus operandi.

 

3. A good marriage is not designed for happiness, but for virtue. Virtue is designed for happiness. Virtue in marriage means happiness in marriage. Marriage is not designed for happiness, because happiness comes from sharing the perfect happiness of God. Marriage is for winners, because winners have both understanding and use of the Problem-Solving Devices.

1 Corinthians 7:11

 

(But if she does depart from him [the 3rd class conditional clause meaning that some women will have to leave their husbands; the aorist tense the point when it becomes necessary; the middle voice means that the woman is benefited by the departure; the subjunctive suggest that this is a potential solution to the problem and not necessarily a permanent solution. Some women may choose to remain in slavery in their marriage because of children or finances or because their volition is not completely being squelched], she must remain unmarried [this must come from her revived active volition], or else be reconciled [aorist tense: at the appropriate time. passive: the husband or a neutral party must take the necessary steps for this to happen] to her husband), and that husband must not divorce his wife [the husband must handle his responsibility toward his wife]

 

ñ ἐὰν δὲ καὶ χωρισθῇ, µενέτω ἄγαµος ἢ τῷ ἀνδρὶ καταλλαγήτω ñ καὶ ἄνδρα γυναῖκα µὴ ἀφιέναι.

 

Marriage is a divine institution which is to be entered into with the greatest solemnity. It was designed to be a lifelong relationship between a man and a woman. However, there are reasons for divorce and even more reasons for separation without the right of remarriage.

 

She must stay with her husband if possible if she has some operation of her volition, but if separation becomes necessary to remain in the human race with her volition intact, then she may do so and fulfill her responsibility as a personal witness in the rebuttal phase of the Angelic Conflict. After the separation, if both should grow to spiritual maturity and not remarry, then a reconciliation may be possible.

 

If her husband is a bully and makes it impossible for her to maintain her sanity and safety, she must separate from him.  She does not leave just to get out from a difficult situation, but the husband by his decisions forces her to do so (the aorist passive voice of chorizo). The husband brings about the circumstances which forces her to leave. The infinite of purpose indicates that there may come a time when this is the best option.

 

Some husbands completely squash the volition of a woman. In such cases, the woman has to separate from the monster in order to maintain her sanity. She is forced to leave in order that she may again enter the human race by operating again under the principle as found in divine institution number 1 namely free will. Her human volition is revived by departure from the husband. The man who destroys the woman’s free will is the dumbest and meanest of creatures.

 

A few points on Divorce:

1. The word "divorce" is derived from the Latin word divortim which means separation. It was used as a part of Roman Law during the Republic. The husband could divorce the wife, but the wife could not divorce the husband until in the later Empire.

 

2. It must be remembered that marriage is a divine institution belonging to the Laws of Establishment for both believers and unbelievers.

        

3. In American Law today, divorce is a legal declaration dissolving a marriage and breaking the marriage contract. There are two categories of divorce today namely the judicial separation of a husband and wife, which does not dissolve the marriage bond and a legal divorce which dissolves the marriage bond, and gives the right of remarriage as far as American Law is concerned.

 

4. The Bible limits the number of reasons for dissolving a marriage and even fewer reasons for the right of remarriage.

 

a. Divorce was permitted under the Mosaic Law.

 

b. Pre-salvation marriage, divorce, and remarriage is not an issue.

 

c. Marriage is dissolved by the death of a spouse.

 

d. Adultery is a legitimate basis for divorce and remarriage by the innocent party. If the guilty party remarries that is adultery, and causes the second husband or wife to be living in adultery.

 

e. Desertion is a legitimate basis for divorce and remarriage.

 

f. The innocent party of a divorce gimmick is a legitimate basis for remarriage. The divorce gimmick can also be called the Herod syndrome, because Herod the Great used gimmicks to get rid of his wives that he might marry another. The divorce gimmick is simply a flimsy excuse to divorce one spouse for the purpose of marrying someone else. The divorce gimmick seeks to maintain a superficial righteousness, and even self-justification. Hence, it becomes a combination of hypocrisy and sinfulness.

 

5. In cases where divorce is legal and gives the right of remarriage, two things must be remembered. It is always the innocent victim in the adultery case, desertion case, or gimmick case who has the right of remarriage, not the guilty person. Secondly, if the guilty person remarries, he or she is living in adultery with his new mate. (However, there is a solution to that as well namely use the Recovery Procedure and advance spiritually.)

 

6. The Scripture is silent on reasons for separation such as brutality, gambling, drunkenness, drug addiction, sexual molestation especially of children, violence, insanity, criminality, suicidal tendencies. The Bible is silent regarding obvious reasons for separation. The Bible is silent because the right of separation in these cases has no right of remarriage. This is because the victim is not qualified to handle another marriage.

                

No matter what the cause of divorce or what justification exists for the divorce, do not jump into a new marriage quickly. There should be a long elapse of time (one or two years) to give opportunity for spiritual recovery and the recovery from the problem of “damaged goods.”

 

Before we close, if there should be anyone here who has not personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, I just want you to understand a few things.

 

Do you know that the greatest possession in life is free? You can be guaranteed a free trip to heaven, to live with God forever after you depart from this earth. It doesn’t require gold, silver or any other valuable possession. You might ask, “Well, what do I have to do?”  The answer is nothing.  For example, you don’t need to do a lot of good or attend a Christian Church.  Also, you don’t need to stop doing anything!  For example, you don’t need to stop going to a Buddhist temple or any other temple as a prerequisite for the free gift of salvation; you don’t need to stop drinking etc.  A gift is a gift, and a gift is free. 

 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith and this [salvation] is not from yourselves; it is a free gift from God, not from works lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8b, 9).

 

It is free for all members of the human race since Christ paid the price for you. 1 Peter 2:24a states, “And he [Jesus Christ] himself carried our sins on his body [on the cross].”  Then, how can one receive this free gift?  Do you have to go to the nearest department store to pick it up?  No, it is much closer than that; it is in your thinking.  Just use the volition of your soul to express faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Heavenly Father, I am believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.’ After praying that simple prayer, you will live with God forever.

 

"He saved us [provided a free ticket to heaven] not on the basis of deeds which we have done in (human) righteousness, but according to his loving kindness [He offers you this gift]" (Titus 3:5a).

 

1 Corinthians 7:12

 

But to the rest I say, not the Lord [the Lord did not cover this subject], that if any male believer has a wife who is an unbeliever and she is pleased [she has consented to live with him because she loves him] to live with him [she responds to his love and respects him], he must not divorce her. [go it alone spiritually]

 

Τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς λέγω ἐγώ, οὐχ ὁ κύριος· εἴ τις ἀδελφὸς γυναῖκα ἔχει ἄπιστον, καὶ αὕτη συνευδοκεῖ οἰκεῖν µετí αὐτοῦ, µὴ ἀφιέτω αὐτήν·

 

He must not divorce her for the following reasons: the opportunity of winning her to the Lord, for the stability in society, the stability and security of the home for the children, the necessity of  both parents in the successful rearing of children, accepting the responsibility for one’s decisions, finally that two wrongs do not make a right. 

 

1 Corinthians 7:13

And to woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is pleased [consents] to live with her, she must not leave him. 

καὶ γυνὴ εἴ τις ἔχει ἄνδρα ἄπιστον, καὶ οὗτος συνευδοκεῖ οἰκεῖν µετí αὐτῆς, µὴ ἀφιέτω τὸν ἄνδρα.

 

The woman has the greatest opportunity to lead her husband to the Lord, if she will refrain from nagging and just advance in the spiritual life. 1 Peter 3:1, “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,”

 

1 Corinthians 7:14

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified [set apart for blessing by association] by the agency of his wife [an advanced believer], and the unbelieving wife is sanctified [set apart for blessing] by the agency of her believing husband [an advanced believer]; for otherwise your children are unclean [born of an illegitimate marriage in the sense that Christians are not to marry unbelievers and so initially there is no blessing by association], but now they are set-apart [the children become legitimate and set-apart for blessing by association if the parent who is the believer advances to spiritual maturity].

 

ἡγίασται γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ἄπιστος ἐν τῇ γυναικί, καὶ ἡγίασται ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἄπιστος ἐν τῷ ἀδελφῷ· ἐπεὶ ἄρα τὰ τέκνα ὑµῶν ἀκάθαρτά ἐστιν, νῦν δὲ ἅγιά ἐστιν.

 

“Sanctified” means that the believing spouse becomes the basis of blessing by association for the other spouse. There is hope for the marriage of a believer and unbeliever succeeding even though it is a violation of the divine mandate not to become unequally yoked to an unbeliever.

 

This marriage has a better chance of succeeding than when there are two believers in a Christian marriage and one of them is antagonistic toward doctrine. A marriage between two believers where one is advancing and one is not, creates the greatest possible antagonism that the sin nature can muster, and when the sin nature is in control of a negative believer, there is nothing worse. The negative believer has refused to enter into values from their own volition. The believer who does that goes through every form of reversionism.

 

Blessing by Association:

 

Blessing by association is the blessing others receive through their association with a mature believer. Every mature believer has people associated with him, believers and unbelievers, who receive blessing as a result of their association with him. This is one of the reasons why the wicked prosper.

 

The Source of Blessing by Association: Direct blessing from God goes to the person in association with the mature believer. Indirect blessing from God occurs because the mature believer is gracious. In fulfillment of Romans 12:13, “Contribute to the need of the saints, be pursuing hospitality.” At first this may seem to indicate providing funds for other Christians. Though this is not excluded, the primary way a Christian benefits other Christians is by reaching spiritual maturity. A mature believer will be prospered in so many ways that he will be in a position to be gracious and generous and helpful to others. Furthermore, every mature believer has people associated with him, believers and unbelievers, who receive blessing as a result of this association. The mature believer gives of his time, wealth, success, love, character, and whatever the category of his prosperity might be. Mature believers very presence in the local church or in a business etc. is a means of blessing. All believers are blessed when mature believers are in their periphery. A local church can make or break you. If the pastor is an imbecile because of ignorance and arrogance, you’ve had it. Local churches and Christian service organizations are destroying the objective of the Christian way of life, and have done more to distract believers than anything else. For example, programs are distractions and do not cause spiritual growth. You are blessed by Bible doctrine communicated from the pastor. You are also blessed by association with other great believers in the congregation. If the pastor emphasizes “improving the world,” “social action,” or “getting involved,” then you lose out on being a blessing by association to others.

 

Invisible Heroes of the Church Age have impact:

 

1. The purpose of the great power experiment of the Church Age is to manufacture invisible heroes. The invisible hero is the product of Bible doctrine. The invisible hero is a combination of the fulfillment of tactical and strategic objectives of the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. The tactical objectives are a personal sense of destiny and spiritual maturity. The strategic objectives are occupation with Christ and pleroma status or maximum glorification of God. The invisible hero dies with absolutely no regrets and will have no shame at the evaluation throne of Christ.

 

2. The invisible hero advances to spiritual maturity and in so doing, executes the protocol plan of God. He spends enough time inside the operational-type spiritual life and under the ministry of whomever is his right pastor to learn the principles of the mystery doctrines of the Church Age. Invisible God plus invisible assets plus invisible power equals the invisible hero, a quote from R. B. Thieme Jr.

 

3. No one can become an invisible hero apart from consistent exposure and cognition of the mystery doctrines of the Church Age, through which the believer attains spiritual maturity and provides invisible impact. The great power experiment (the spiritual life) of the Church Age is designed to manufacture invisible heroes through perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine. Metabolized doctrine plus wisdom results in momentum in the protocol plan of God. The execution of the protocol plan results in the manufacture of invisible heroes.

 

4. The following was taken from ‘Thieme’s Bible Doctrine Dictionary’ by R. B. Thieme. Jr. page 206. “Protocol plan of God. The way of life designed for Church Age believers, characterized by precise procedure and objectives.

 

With the inauguration of the Church in A.D. 30, a unique system of protocol replaced the rituals and ordinances of the Jewish Age. Believers in this age are to function under protocol because they belong to a spiritual dynasty, a family of spiritual royalty founded by the resurrected Jesus Christ. The way of life for spiritual royalty requires the highest standards of thinking and behavior (1 Thess. 2:12). God’s protocol, therefore, offers clear-cut instructions and guidelines, allowing believers to know precisely how to think and act in any given situation. Jesus Christ Himself set the standard for this superior lifestyle during His time on earth, and now the entire system of protocol is available for each member of the royal family to learn and master.”

 

5. The spiritual gift of pastor-teacher is the divinely-appointed vehicle for the communication of the mystery doctrine as well as other doctrines and principles in the Word of God. The pastor communicates all of the mechanics and information necessary for the execution of the protocol plan. An invisible hero is only manufactured through the execution of this plan of God. The believer can only glorify God through the execution of that plan in the Church Age. So, it is absolutely necessary for the believer as a royal priest to sit still, listen, concentrate under the Filling of the Spirit, understand, and believe the doctrine, metabolizing it by faith perception. No believer can execute the protocol plan of God, become an invisible hero, or glorify God apart from the teaching ministry of a pastor. This dramatizes the importance of isagogical, exegetical, and categorical expository teaching of the Word of God.

 

6. In the client nation, visible heroes like soldiers and policemen are related to the Laws of Divine Establishment, while invisible heroes are related to the pivot of mature believers who go on to pass Evidence Testing.

 

7. As goes the believer, so goes the client nation to God. Therefore, do not be distracted by focusing on political solutions to the problems facing the client nation.

The Invisible Hero’s Impact on History bringing about blessing by association:

 

1. Personal impact is defined as blessing to others by association often without their cognizance. Blessing by association with the invisible hero includes the following peripheries.

 

a. Loved ones are in the periphery of blessing such as your husband or wife, children, mother, father, relatives and pets.

 

b. Professional life-periphery includes your school system, coaches, teachers, students, administrators, business associates, military organization, or any service organization.

 

c. Your social periphery: this would be your friends. However, be careful that you don’t run around with the wrong crowd and get led astray. You will find your friends among like-minded believers. Stick with them. Watch out and don’t run with unbelievers, because they are going in a different direction.

 

d. Geographical periphery includes your neighborhood, city, county, state, or nation.

 

2. Historical (National) impact is defined as blessing by association to the Gentile client nation through the formation of the pivot of mature believers. From these invisible heroes come evangelists, pastor-teachers, and missionaries. The size of the pivot of invisible heroes and the number of those who reach Pleroma status [those having passed Evidence Testing] determines the blessing or cursing of that nation and the history of that nation. A large pivot of invisible heroes means national blessing and prosperity in spiritual affairs as well as in the function of government, law enforcement, military modus operandi, the economy, and the cultural and social life of the nation. A small pivot of invisible heroes and believers in Pleroma status means the administration of the Five Cycles of Discipline to the client nation as found in Leviticus 26 (by interpretation, this passage applied to the Age of Israel, but has application to Gentile Client Nations as well.)  As goes the Pivot and Pleroma believers, so goes the client nation to God historically, spiritually, economically, culturally, and socially. When the Pivot and the Pleroma shrinks through apostasy, the client nation declines and will be eventually destroyed by the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline.

3. International impact is defined as blessing by association to a non-client nations through missionaries who have attained spiritual maturity. Many missionaries are disqualified from international impact because they are works oriented through production skills, and they lack the spiritual skills. Spiritual skills must precede production skills for the production of divine good. The missionary who is an invisible hero has a dual impact of blessing by association namely, the mature missionary is a blessing to the client nation from which he comes, and he is a blessing to the foreign country to which he goes.

 

The mature missionary does not interfere with the politics, the culture, or the function of the non-client nation through Christian activism which is both evil and a part of moral degeneration. To the contrary, the mature missionary functions under the indigenous policy and modus operandi, in which he or she produces divine good from functioning under the Two Power Options of the spiritual life. Therefore, his impact is both invisible and spiritual.  

The indigenous policy includes: (1) True evangelism in the foreign country. (2) Teaching Bible doctrine to the converts. (3) Establishing local churches and training in such spiritual gifts as pastor-teacher and evangelism. The result of invisible international impact is two categories of blessings by association. (1) Spiritual prosperity comes from evangelism, the training of national pastors, and the formation of self-sustaining local churches in that nation. (2) This is national prosperity without activism, interference, social engineering, civil disobedience, terrorism, or revolution. 

4. Angelic impact is defined in the Church Age as the invisible hero becoming a witness for the Prosecution in the rebuttal phase of Satan’s appeal trial during human history. This witness is accomplished by the attainment of spiritual maturity and by the mature believer passing evidence testing. In passing this most difficult test, the Christian becomes a witness to millions of invisible angels both elect and fallen in the Angelic Appeal Trial. The Church Age is the only prolonged period of human history where the angelic conflict is totally invisible. Angels are visible in every other dispensation except the Church Age. When people become believers in Jesus Christ and execute the Protocol Plan of God, they, mature Christians are applauded by the elect angels and maligned by Satan and the fallen angels.

 

5. Heritage impact is blessing by association with the invisible hero after his death. When the mature believer dies, he is still a blessing by association to those left behind after his death. Those left behind are taken care-of throughout their lifetime by God, even if they are antagonistic to Bible doctrine or are unbelievers. God continues to bless the bereaved loved ones, friends, and relatives. It is the continuation of blessing by association after the death of an invisible hero to one or perhaps two following generations. This means that the loved ones and possibly the close friends and associates of the invisible hero, regardless of their spiritual status, believer or unbeliever, winners or losers in the Protocol Plan of God, are blessed by their association with the invisible hero after his death. This explains one reason why even the wicked prosper, believer or unbeliever.

Blessing by association as related to poise and objectivity. Romans 12:14, “Keep on speaking well of those who persecute you and do not curse them.”

 

The present tense is a descriptive present, sometimes called a pictorial present because it presents to the mind a picture of events in the process of occurrence—being under great pressure of persecution and speaking well of the persecutors. The advanced or mature believer produces the action of the verb as a part of his objectivity and poise. To be objective where your enemies are concerned is certainly a great test of objectivity. Poise and presence under persecution always leaves the matter in the Lord’s hands so that the integrity of God can deal directly with the matter. “Speak well of those who persecute you” does not mean that every time someone runs you down you have to say something nice about that person. It merely indicates that the pressure from this is not reaching your soul; the self-consciousness is not damaged by the pressure; your mentality understands it. So, if that person happens to be mentioned, you do not run down that person; there is no self-pity or bitterness in your soul to motivate such a course of action. It doesn’t mean that you always speak, but what you think is indicated by what you say.

 

“Stop cursing them” means to curse, to implicate, to wish evil. It is an antagonistic attitude. This is an aoristic present for sinful emotional reaction under pressure. The Roman Christians were cursing their persecutors which cursing needed to stop. Only the mature believer, who has complete control over his emotions, can obey this imperative of prohibition. You cannot become antagonistic in pressure situations and still think, and think you must under pressure which thinking must be Divine viewpoint.

A few points for clarification:

 

1. There is no greater test of poise and objectivity than when the believer is under the fire of antagonism and persecution.

 

2. The advanced Christian puts the matter into the Lord’s hands; he recognizes the function of the integrity of God as far more capable of dealing with the matter than he is.

 

3. Furthermore, such hostility and persecution are designed for the believer’s advance under the concept of undeserved suffering.

 

4. Undeserved suffering is that laser beam which penetrates the barriers of time into the eternal future as it ignites and stimulates confidence in God’s plan and eternity future with Him.

Blessing by association is related to the rapport of the royal family of God, Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

 

In this verse, the rejoicing is not related to arrogance and the weeping is not related to self-pity. This is commanding rapport with like-minded believers. Rapport means relationship, a relationship of harmony, conformity, accord, and affinity. It means to share the same capacity for life, mental attitude, integrity and esprit de corps. Regarding rejoicing, the present tense is an aoristic present, meaning they aren’t going to rejoice very long but while they are happy, you can be in compatibility with their mood of the moment.  Rapport depends on the Filling of the Spirit, and doctrine resident in the stream of consciousness. There is no rapport without mutual positive volition toward doctrine for doctrine is the basis for true rapport.

 

Rapport with those who are suffering or in agony requires even more doctrine than the first command. So, really it is an advance. If people are sad or are suffering for some reason, and you walk in, you cannot have rapport with them unless you are an adult believer. This doesn’t mean to work up a cry, it has to do with the person who has spiritual depth from the Honor-Code, depth from doctrine, to enter into the same mood, to slip in and be a part of the picture without being ridiculous. This is simply harmony and rapport for believers in their time of trouble. It is rapport of sympathy but does not encourage emotional reaction in which self-pity is encouraged so that one feels sorry for himself.

 

1 Corinthians 7:15

 

Yet, if the unbelieving one leaves [wants a divorce], let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage [not obligated to remain married] in such cases, but God has called us in the sphere of tranquility [God has not mandated enslavement in marriage. If the unbeliever wants to leave, let him leave in a civil manner].

 

εἰ δὲ ὁ ἄπιστος χωρίζεται, χωριζέσθω· οὐ δεδούλωται ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἡ ἀδελφὴ ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις· ἐν δὲ εἰρήνῃ κέκληκεν ὑµᾶς ὁ θεός.

 

If the unbelieving husband or wife walks away from the marriage of their own volition, let them go. You have just been freed from bondage for God has not mandated enslavement in marriage to an unbeliever. Once the spouse departs, the believer is free to go it alone. You do not go it alone by jumping into another marriage quickly. You are missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Take the time to advance spiritually through all four objectives of the spiritual life. In that way, you will have capacity necessary for marriage if the Lord should send another person your way. In other words, the emphasis should not be on finding the right person, but in being the right person that is a person with capacity.

 

1 Corinthians 7:16

 

For how do you know [there is hope in a mixed marriage], O wife, whether you will save your husband [through his understanding of the gospel]?  Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

 

τί γὰρ οἶδας, γύναι, εἰ τὸν ἄνδρα σώσεις; ἢ τί οἶδας, ἄνερ, εἰ τὴν γυναῖκα σώσεις;

 

The following was taken from ‘Thieme’s Bible Doctrine Dictionary’ by R. B. Thieme. Jr. page 278.

 

“Unequally yoked in marriage. Marriage creates an intimate alliance of two, a unity in which spiritual compatibility is vitally important. For this reason, believers considering marriage should never choose to bind themselves to an unbeliever. If, however, believer and unbeliever are already joined in wedlock, they should remain in status quo and not use mixed marriage as an excuse for divorce (1 Cor. 7:12–15). The believing spouse has the responsibility to ‘go it alone’ in the spiritual life—to maintain honor, integrity, and virtue, keep advancing in God’s plan, and thus present to the unsaved spouse a dynamic testimony for the Lord (1 Cor. 7:16).”

 

1 Corinthians 7:17

Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so, I direct in all the churches.

 

Εἰ µὴ ἑκάστῳ ὡς ἐµέρισεν ὁ κύριος, ἕκαστον ὡς κέκληκεν ὁ θεός, οὕτως περιπατείτω· καὶ οὕτως ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις πάσαις διατάσσοµαι.

 

Three problems will be presented namely, circumcision or uncircumcision, slavery and the problem of marriage. In these problems the believer is to remain in status quo.

1 Corinthians 7:18-19

Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised. (19) Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.

 

περιτετµηµένος τις ἐκλήθη; µὴ ἐπισπάσθω. ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ κέκληταί τις; µὴ περιτεµνέσθω. (9) ἡ περιτοµὴ οὐδέν ἐστιν, καὶ ἡ ἀκροβυστία οὐδέν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ τήρησις ἐντολῶν θεοῦ.

 

Circumcision during the Church Age:

 

1. Circumcision as a ritual is no longer an issue in the Church Age, because client nation Israel no longer exists.

 

2. Because the Protocol Plan of God has replaced the ritual plan of God, to which circumcision belongs, circumcision is not even a spiritual issue of any kind. It is simply a physiological option.

 

3. Because circumcision is now practiced throughout the world, basically as a sanitary function, or as a tribal mark, or as a substitute for human sacrifice by removing a portion of the human anatomy as a vicarious sacrifice, or as a religious requirement of Jews, Arabs, and others - this is all circumcision means today.

 

4. The only issue today in this dispensation is the following: Will the believer fulfill the Protocol Plan of God or not? 1 Corinthians 7:19, “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the mandates of God [is everything].”

 

5. Circumcision is not only non-beneficial spiritually, but is a source of legalism and a means of distracting the believer from the execution of the Protocol Plan of God; this is the subject of the entire book of Galatians. The Judaizers followed after Paul and persuaded his converts that they couldn’t be saved by faith in Christ alone, but must add circumcision. This is analogous to those who today believe in baptismal regeneration - there is no such thing. Galatians 5:2-4, “Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you receive circumcision [for either salvation or the spiritual life], Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the entire Law [which is impossible]. You have been severed from Christ [not in the Protocol Plan of God], you, who would be justified by the Law, you have drifted off course from grace.”

 

6. So during the Church Age, circumcision has been distorted into a system of legalism and apostasy. Some Jews taught salvation by circumcision, as in Acts 15:1, “And some men came down from Judea and began teaching the believers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’” Galatians 6:12-15, “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh [exhibitionists with circumcised phalluses] try to compel you to be circumcised, simply that they may avoid persecution because of the cross of Christ. For those who have been circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But may it never be that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new species.”  When believers get so involved in ritual for salvation or for spirituality, both being false, they are inevitably inconsistent (“do not even keep the Law themselves”), and their lives are a mess.

 

7. The Protocol Plan of God replaced all ritual of the dispensation of Israel, including circumcision. Galatians 5:6-9, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but doctrine working through love. You were running well; who cut in on you [in front of you] so that you did not obey the doctrine [of the spiritual life]? This persuasion [false persuasion regarding circumcision], did it come from Him [God the Father] who elected you? A little leaven [circumcision distorted into a system of legalism] leavens the whole lump.” They were no longer in the spiritual race; they were no longer functioning under the Two Power Options.

 

8. The Baptism of the Spirit at salvation and the resultant positional sanctification is the only circumcision of the Church Age. Colossians 2:11-14, “And in Him [positional sanctification] you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by the renunciation of the essence of the body [the sin nature] by the circumcision of Christ [retroactive positional truth], having been buried with Him by means of the baptism [of the Spirit], by which also you were raised up with Christ [current positional truth] through faith in the operational power of God who raised Him from the dead. And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh [the sin nature still resides in the body], He made you alive together with Him [positional sanctification], having forgiven you all of your transgressions, having cancelled out the I.O.U. [note of indebtedness] consisting of decrees against us which was hostile to us. He has removed it permanently; He nailed it to His cross.” In other words, circumcision was the sign of the new racial species. But now, being entered into union with Christ is the sign of the new spiritual species, “circumcision made without hands.”

 

9. Therefore, circumcision has to be redefined for the Church Age, as it is in Philippians 3:3, “For we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence in the flesh.” Circumcision as a ritual in the ritual plan of God for the dispensation of Israel no longer exists. Circumcision is now redefined in terms of the Protocol Plan of God: “who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence in the flesh [in human viewpoint, ability, talent or anything related to legalism].”

 

1 Corinthians 7:20

Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.

 

ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ κλήσει ᾗ ἐκλήθη ἐν ταύτῃ µενέτω.

 

1 Corinthians 7:21

Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that.

 

δοῦλος ἐκλήθης; µή σοι µελέτω· ἀλλí εἰ καὶ δύνασαι ἐλεύθερος γενέσθαι, µᾶλλον χρῆσαι.

 

Slavery:

 

1. There were two sources of slavery in the ancient world: poverty in peacetime and captured prisoners in war. In both cases, it is usually the result of many bad decisions. Slaves were often acquired through trade, purchase, payment of debt, as a gift, through birth, plunder in war, or by self-determination.

2. A man could sell himself into slavery. This was a way of declaring bankruptcy and paying off his debts. Leviticus 25:39-41, “If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave's service. (40) He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee [every 50 years]. (41) He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers.”  

 

3. A father could sell his daughter or son into slavery to pay off his debt as per Nehemiah 5:5, "Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others."

 

4.  A widow's children could be sold to pay off their father's debt, 2 Kings 4:1, “Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves."

        

5. A Jewish slave to a Hebrew would normally be freed on the 7th year. Deuteronomy 15:12-17, "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. (13) When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. (14) You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. (15) You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I command you this today. (16) It shall come about if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; (17) then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also, you shall do likewise to your maidservant.” Exodus 21:2-11 "If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment [to the master]. (3) If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. (4) If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. (5) But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,' (6) then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently. (7) If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do [a different procedure]. (8) If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign person because of his unfairness to her [He refused to marry her]. (9) If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. (10) If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. (11) If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.” Jeremiah 34:13-14, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, 'I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying, (14) At the end of seven years [a Sabbatical year] each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you and has served you six years, you shall send him out free from you [no ransom is required]; but your forefathers did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me.”

 

6. Slaves were freed because of being injured or maimed, Exodus 21:26-27, “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye. (27) And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.”

 

Rights of the Master: 

 

1.  He had the right to hold his slaves as chattel, Leviticus 25:44-45, “As for your male and female slaves whom you may have, you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. (45) 'Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession.”

 

2. He had the right to leave slaves as an inheritance to his children, Leviticus 25:46, “You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another.”

 

3.  He was commanded to circumcise his slaves, Genesis 17:12-13, “And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. (13) A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus, shall My covenant be in your flesh [circumcision] for an everlasting covenant.” Genesis 17:23-27, “Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had said to him. (24) Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. (25) And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. (26) In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. (27) All the men of his household, who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.”

 

4.  He had the right to sell, trade, or give away slaves, Genesis 29:24, 29 “Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid. (29) Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.”

5. He had the right to punish or discipline slaves, but not to kill them, Exodus 21:20-21, “If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand, he shall be punished [a life for a life]. (21) If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property.”

  

6. He had the right to marry a daughter to a slave, 1 Chronicles 2:34-35, “Now, Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, and Sheshan had an Egyptian servant whose name was Jarha. (35) Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant in marriage, and she bore him, Attai.”

  

7. He had the right to purchase slaves in foreign markets, Leviticus 25:44, “As for your male and female slaves whom you may have, you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.”

 

8. He had the right to demand service from his slaves, Genesis 14:14-16, “When Abram heard that his relative [his nephew Lot] had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. (15) He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. (16) He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.”

 

The Rights of the Slave:

 

1.  He had the right to freedom by the purchase of his redemption, or the Sabbatical Year (mentioned above), or in the Year of Jubilee as per Leviticus 25:35-43.

 

2. The slaves or servants were to be treated properly. Colossians 4:1, “Masters [management] provide for your slaves [employees] what is right and fair because you know that you have a Lord [one who has authority over you] in heaven.”  Job 31:13-15, “If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves When they filed a complaint against me, (14) What then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him? (15) ‘Did not He who made me in the womb make him [a reference to biological life], And the same one fashion us in the womb?’”

 

3.  He had the right to marry, have children and live a normal life, Exodus 21:5, “But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,”

 

4. He had the right to voluntary slavery as per Exodus 21:5ff; Deuteronomy 15:16. This was covered above.

 

5.  Slaves could expect to be promoted. Genesis 15:2-4, “Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? (3) And Abram said, ‘Since You have given no offspring to me [a complaint], one born in my house is my heir.’ (4) Then, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.’” Genesis 39:1-6a, “Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there [to Egypt]. (2) The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. (3) Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. (4) So, Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge. (5) It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house on account of Joseph; thus, the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field. (6) So, he left everything he owned in Joseph's charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate.”

 

6.  He had the right to worship God without interference from the master, Exodus 12:43-44, “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it; (44) but every man's slave purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it [participate in the worship of the Passover].” Deuteronomy 12:12. Many slaves in the Roman Empire not only became believers, but many became mature believers for example Onesimus. Even, in the epistle to Philemon, Paul didn't advocate the abolition of all of Philemon’s slaves, but did encourage Philemon to emancipate Onesimus as a wonderful Christian as per Philemon 16. This was an option in the Roman Empire to be exercised by the individual slave owner and not the government.

 

7. Other slaves were given high positions in the Roman Empire for example Felix who was originally a slave, but was freed by Claudius Caesar and was appointed by this emperor, procurator of Judea with the banishment of Ventidius Cumanus, probably A.D. 53.

 

Slavery mentioned in the New Testament:

 

1. In the New Testament, the Church did not issue any decree abolishing slavery, even though many early church believers were slaves. Furthermore, Paul never commanded Christian slaves to rise up and overthrow their masters, but to the contrary for they were to serve their masters honorably.

 

2. The responsibility of a slave to a master is taught in Ephesians 6:5-9, “You slaves [employees today] be obeying your lords [management] according to the standards of the flesh [the Laws of Establishment] with respect for authority and maximum effort, by means of integrity from your right lobe, as unto your Christ. (6) Not according to the standard of eye service as men pleasers, but as servants belonging to Christ, constantly doing the will, purpose and design of your God from the heart [the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness]. (7) With loyal enthusiasm [good will] performing the duties of a slave [rendering service] as unto the Lord, and not to men. (8) Knowing that each believer, if he has done anything good, he shall receive with interest this same [will be rewarded] from the source of the Lord, whether he is a slave or a freeman. (9) Also, you lords [management] keep doing the same things [do your job as unto the Lord] toward them [slaves, by analogy employees today], be desisting from bullying; knowing that both their Lord and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.” Colossians 3:22-23, “Slaves, obey your human masters [Labor, obey management] in everything not with eye service as men pleasers, but with the virtue of the stream of consciousness respecting the Lord.” There were millions of slaves at this time in the Roman Empire, and they functioned as labor. If Paul were writing this today, he would address it to those involved in labor, those under management. 

Sometimes Slavery becomes a tremendous Blessing:

In the early history of the United States, the decadent anti-establishment Africans were captured by Arab slave traders and put on ships and brought to the United States. (The strong and great Africans like the Zulus could not be enslaved.) In other words, these decadent Africans were removed from a very difficult situation in Africa and brought to the greatest country in the world at that time, the Client Nation of God where they had opportunity and blessing which they never would have enjoyed if they had remained in Africa. 

Application to Labor and Management today:

In every area of life, wherever there is two or more people, someone has the authority and others do not. God has designed society to function in an orderly way.  In the work place, the Scripture is very clear regarding authority namely labor must obey management whether it is in the office or in the factory.   

 

The Lord expects Christian labor to work hard on the job and to do the best possible type of work.  Also, the believer must be motivated to please the Lord, not necessarily his boss.  However, if he does a good job before the Lord, he will also please a good boss. 

 

Certain people in labor try to gain the favor of their boss or employer through flattery or through being extremely submissive [obsequious].   These people do not try to gain promotion through ability and hard work, but through flattering attention to one’s boss in order to gain some advantage. This completely violates the honor code.

 

Some people in management like those who flatter and court them.  Many times, they will promote such people even though they do not have any ability. This destroys an organization.  On the other hand, good leaders do not respond to men-pleasers. Rather, they promote those who possess ability and work hard. A Christian who respects the Lord will learn his job well and be as diligent as possible. Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, keep functioning from your own soul as to the Lord, and not to mankind.” 

 

Christian labor must do the best possible job in the workplace even if the management is unfair, unreasonable and inept.  It is easy in this situation to react with anger, hatred, complaining and maligning.  If a Christian in labor functions in this way, he has failed in a very important area of testing. He is not “functioning from his own soul as to the Lord.”   Eventually, the Christian must pass this unfairness test. In these difficult situations, the Christian must always remember a principle regarding pressure namely what God does not remove, he expects the Christian to handle from his understanding of doctrine and from his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer with doctrine in his soul and a love for God, can remain under any kind of pressure and continue in a state of happiness.

 

Leaders in business must be righteous and fair.  They must never promote an unqualified person over a qualified person.  Some leader may promote a relative or some person whom he personally likes over a qualified and senior employee. A leader has no right to treat an employee unfairly just because he doesn’t like that person. As a matter of fact, a leader has no right to dislike anyone under his authority and must treat everyone in an unbiased manner. Leaders must motivate each employee to do the best job that he is able to do. Leaders must avoid all activity which promotes competition among employees. Employees of an organization must be motivated to function as a team, not to be in competition with each other. Sometimes management which lacks leadership offers a reward for this or that. This can only lead to unfairness and unfairness will cause strife in the organization. 

   

Christian leaders must develop a love for the Lord so that they will possess true love for all under their authority. True love is always fair, righteous and gracious toward those under their responsibility.  If a leader loves the Lord, he will be able to avoid arrogance and any mental sins toward those under his responsibility. No one can be a great leader if he dislikes or even worse hates someone under his authority. This is a manifestation of arrogance and arrogance destroys all leadership potential. 

 

Today, Americans are choosing the slavery of welfare state rather than freedom via the Laws of Establishment. Most people in the United States prefer the security of labor unions, and federal handouts rather than freedom which would require individual responsibility. In a welfare state, you are neither free to fail nor are you free to succeed for the welfare state steals from the successful and redistributes those funds to the financially unsuccessful ones in return for their votes.

 

Today, a maximum number of people suffer under slavery:

 

Billions suffer under the slavery of Communism; billions suffer under the slavery of Religion and hundreds of millions suffer under Western Socialism. This completes our brief on slavery.

 

1 Corinthians 7:22

For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord's freedman; likewise, he who was called while free, is Christ's slave.

 

ὁ γὰρ ἐν κυρίῳ κληθεὶς δοῦλος ἀπελεύθερος κυρίου ἐστίν· ὁµοίως ὁ ἐλεύθερος κληθεὶς δοῦλός ἐστιν Χριστοῦ.

 

1 Corinthians 7:23

 

You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

 

τιµῆς ἠγοράσθητε· µὴ γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων

Redemption and its relationship to Mediatorship:

 

The saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross whereby every human being is purchased from the slave market of sin in which he was born in real, spiritual death. Redemption is viewed from the standpoint of a ransom paid on the cross for our salvation. Redemption is realized when a person is born-again by faith in Jesus Christ.  

 

In the doctrine of soteriology, there are three key concepts: redemption, reconciliation, and propitiation.  The phrase "the blood of Christ" applies to all three doctrines. Redemption is toward sin. Reconciliation is directed toward mankind namely mankind is reconciled to God. Propitiation is directed toward God, meaning that the integrity of God the Father is satisfied by the work of Christ on the cross.

        

What did Jesus Christ have to do to become our redeemer? In order to become our redeemer, Christ had to become a free and perfect member of the human race for He could not provide salvation by remaining as He was in eternity past as deity only for a redeemer must be judged for the sins of the world and since deity cannot be judged for the sins of the world, he had to take-on humanity. This was not only necessary for being a redeemer, but also for mediatorship for whoever is the mediator between God and man must be equal with both parties. Jesus Christ is both undiminished deity and perfect, impeccable humanity. Therefore, as God He is equal with party of the first part, God the Father. As true humanity, He was born perfect as Adam was created perfect. So as the God-man, He becomes the mediator between God and man and our redeemer.

                

The doctrine of Redemption was taught by means of animal blood in the Old Testament. Hebrews 9:22, "And according to the standard of the Law, nearly all things were cleansed with animal blood, and without the pouring out of animal blood there is no forgiveness [for without the shadow there is no reality]." You see, sacrificial animal blood was the shadow, a teaching aid of the reality. The reality would take place on the cross. Without the shadow, there is no reality. Without the reality there is no payment of sins on the cross. Without the payment of sins on the cross, there is no basis for forgiveness of sins. The payment for the penalty of sins means that judgment took place on the cross. Forgiveness takes place at salvation and thereafter.

 

Old Testament believers like Job and David applied such doctrines as Redemption and Resurrection to their circumstances. Job 19:25, "I know that My Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth [in resurrection body]." David said in Psalm 34:22, "The Lord redeems the soul of His servants [at salvation not the body]."

 

‘The blood of Christ’ a phrase which unites the animal sacrifices with the work of Jesus Christ on the cross by using animal blood as a representative analogy for the substitutionary spiritual death of Jesus. When the carotid of an animal was severed, blood gushed-out and since the life of an animal is in his blood, the gushing-out of animal blood meant that the animal would die. The physical death of the animal through bleeding to death was used as a representative analogy for the substitutionary spiritual death of Jesus on the cross. In other words, the death of Christ on the cross was not a physical death through bleeding to death, but God the Father punishing the humanity of Christ for the penalty of every sin of humanity. The physical death of the animal depicted the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross. Ephesians 1:7, "By whom we have redemption through His blood (propitiation, reconciliation and redemption), resulting in the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace." 1 Peter 1:18-19, "We have not been redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold [including the literal corruptible blood of Jesus], from our empty manner of life, but with the precious blood [not literal blood] of Jesus Christ [the phrase ‘blood of Christ’ is to help the Jews relate the cross to their animal sacrifices]; a lamb [for those who insist that it was literal blood that saves, should also insist that he was truly a lamb] without spot and without blemish [without a sin nature, without Adam’s Original Sin and without personal sins]." Thus, the phrase, the blood of Christ depicts, by analogy, the saving work of Christ on the cross.

Regarding the phrase, “The Blood of Christ” see the booklet with this title by R. B. Thieme Jr. for a detailed explanation regarding this subject. In the preface of this booklet, there is an introduction to this subject titled, “The Blood Metaphor.”

THE BLOOD METAPHOR

 

“THE BLOOD OF CHRIST symbolizes the most important event ever to occur throughout the ages of angelic and human history. The phrase, “the blood of Christ,” is a metaphor for the saving work of Christ on the cross. The cross was the terrible price Jesus Christ paid for our so-great salvation. Unless believers understand the true connotation of this figurative phrase, they cannot fully appreciate what Christ has done for them. This is a sensitive subject for many believers. For some the blood of Christ has been associated with a lifetime of emotional experiences. Since childhood they have heard the blood mentioned in hushed, reverent tones; they have vigorously sung the hymns about the “wonderworking power in the blood”; or they have grown up with the idea that there was a special power in the red liquid that circulated through Jesus’ mortal body. Without even knowing its source, some believers cling to the old dogma that Christ carried His blood with Him to heaven in a bowl. This specious idea from the Dark Ages continues to perpetuate a form of mysticism around the physical blood of our Lord.

 

While some believers are ignorant of the doctrine of the blood of Christ from a simple lack of expository teaching, others are ignorant as part of a devastating system of hidden arrogance in their souls. The first category of individual has enough objectivity to listen and learn; he simply needs biblical information. The other type, however, is affected by a much more serious and complicated malady. Instead of being interested in what the Bible has to say, he considers his own view of the blood to be more important than God’s view. He would rather resist divine viewpoint than permit his pride to be deflated. To such a believer, the true doctrine of the blood is not simply a matter of learning something new and important; it is a challenge to his colossal arrogance. As the old saying goes, “Do not confuse me with the facts!” The only antidote is humility—recognition of the authority of the pastor-teacher who consistently teaches the Word of God. Bible doctrine will deflate pride and establish true spiritual growth on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.

 

There is no biblical basis for attributing mystical or unusual properties to the physical blood of Christ. The term, blood of Christ, is far more significant than any magical power falsely ascribed to His bodily fluids. We will see in great detail that His physical blood has absolutely nothing whatever to do with substitutionary atonement.

 

In the Bible, αἷµα (haima), “blood,” can have several literal meanings which include human blood and animal blood. However, when the New Testament speaks of the blood in relation to the sacrifice of Christ, it does not refer to literal blood. “The blood of Christ” is always a figure of speech. The Greek lexicographer, Walter Bauer, devotes an entire paragraph to the figurative use of the word in relation to Christ. He describes “the blood and life as an expiatory sacrifice . . . especially the blood of Jesus as a means of expiation.” Likewise, Vine states, “the blood of Christ . . . betokens His death by the shedding of His ‘blood’ in expiatory sacrifice [absolving or declaring free of guilt].” Bullinger categorizes phrases such as “justified by His blood” (Rom. 5:9), “redemption through His blood” (Eph. 1:7), “brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13), and “released us from our sins by His blood” (Rev. 1:5) as double metonymy [a figure of speech: the name of a concept for that of another to which it is related] referring to the “merits of His atoning death.” Further, Kittel’s Theological Dictionary confirms that “the blood of Christ in the New Testament is simply a pregnant verbal symbol for the saving work of Christ.” “Pregnant verbal symbol” means figurative language. In other words, Christ did not bleed to death to pay the penalty of sin. The term, blood of Christ, is a metaphor for His expiatory death in which He received the judgment that removed the penalty of sin.” Now, let’s return back to our subject of Redemption.

 

Redemption removes the condemnation of the Mosaic Law. Galatians 3:13, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us. For it stands written [Deuteronomy 21:23], `Cursed is everyone [this Old Testament verse was applied to Jesus prophetically] who hangs on the wood.'" He became a curse for us by bearing our sins. Every violation of the Mosaic Law that we have ever committed was born by Christ on His own body on the cross.       

 

Redemption is related to mediatorship. Hebrews 9:14-15, “How much more [a fortiori] shall the blood of Christ [His work on the cross], who through the agency of the eternal Spirit [God the Holy Spirit who sustained Him], offered Himself without blemish [no Adam’s Original Sin and no  personal sins] to the God [the Father], purify your conscience from dead works [If a Christian should  understand the cross and how Jesus through His spiritual life was able to handle such a great judgment, it should motivate the Christian to remove dead works from his conscience] to serve [as royal priests] the living God. (15) And for this reason, he is a Mediator of a new covenant [the New Covenant to the Church as found in the New Testament epistles] in order that since a death [substitutionary atonement] has taken place resulting in redemption from the transgressions which were under the first covenant [the ritual system and priesthood found in the Mosaic Law to Israel] so that those having been called [those who understand and respond to the gospel message via Common Grace] might receive the promise of eternal inheritance [as children of God].”

1 Timothy 2:5-6, "For there is one God [in essence], and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, (6) who gave Himself as a redemptive ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time [God brings the gospel to the unbeliever at the exact right time]."

Colossians 1:14, "By whom [Jesus Christ] we have redemption [this work occurs at salvation] resulting in the forgiveness of sins [at salvation, the forgiveness of all pre-salvation sins occurs and after salvation, every time the believer names his post-salvation sins to the Father, they are forgiven as well]."

A few points for clarification:

 

1. The following translation is an incorrect one and in effect defines redemption as the forgiveness of sins. “In whom, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” This incorrect translation translates the word ‘forgiveness’ as if it were an apposition which it cannot be.

 

2. In classical Greek, the apposition is found only in the Nominative or Genitive cases, and never in the Accusative case, however there are a few cases found in the Koine Greek. Paul in defining a very important doctrine such as Redemption uses Classical Greek.

 

3. Furthermore, it makes no sense when one translates ‘forgiveness’ as appositional since ‘forgiveness of sins’ does not define Redemption. Redemption is Jesus Christ paying the ransom price of sins through judgment which has nothing to do with the forgiveness of sins except to provide the basis for forgiveness. During the last three hours on the Cross, Jesus suffered judgment only. However, this judgment will be the basis for forgiveness of sins beginning at salvation and thereafter. In other words, sins were not forgiven on the cross, only judgment.

 

4. In this sentence, we have a double accusative of object and result. The first accusative namely ‘redemption’ is the primary object of the verb. The second accusative namely ‘forgiveness’ is the ‘secondary accusative of result’ which follows as a result of the first clause, ‘we have redemption’.

 

5.  So, when an unbeliever makes a decision to appropriate the work of Redemption through faith in Christ, his pre-salvation sins are forgiven immediately as part of the salvation package and he is entered into fellowship with God the Holy Spirit where he remains until which time, he commits his first post-salvation sin. At which time, he has the option to name his sin or sins to God the Father. If he chooses to do so, he will be forgiven and entered again into fellowship with God the Holy Spirit.

 

6. Man’s volition was not involved when God the Father made the decision to judge Jesus for every sin of the human race. Man’s volition is involved in the forgiveness of both pre-salvation sins and post-salvation sins.

 

7. Only the person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation is forgiven of his sins. Therefore, the unbeliever is never forgiven of his sins since he does not want fellowship with God.

 

8. Forgiveness and fellowship are the two sides of a coin: on the one side is forgiveness, on the other side is fellowship.

 

9. As soon as a person is forgiven of sins, he has fellowship with God. Since the unbeliever does not desire fellowship with God, there is no need for forgiveness. Hypothetically, if both judgment and forgiveness had taken place on the cross, all members of the human race would have fellowship with God whether they had believed or not: totally weird and bizarre. 

Reconciliation:

 

The doctrine of reconciliation is defined as that category of soteriology (the biblical doctrine of salvation) which explains the removal of the barrier between God and mankind through the salvation work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. In this definition, mankind is reconciled to God, not vice versa. God is never said to be reconciled to mankind. Although the work of reconciliation took place on the cross, it must be appropriated (or ratified) through faith in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, "Now all these things are from God who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation [the responsibility to evangelize the unbeliever]. (19) Namely, that God [Father] by means of Christ [through His work on the cross] was reconciling the world to Himself [God the Father] by not imputing their sins to them [the members of the human race], having deposited in us the doctrine of reconciliation [this deposit is the understanding of the doctrine of reconciliation in the Christian’s soul]. (20) Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We invite you on behalf of Christ to become reconciled to God [by believing in Jesus Christ]. (21) He [God the Father] caused Him [the humanity of Christ] who knew no sin to be made a sin offering as a substitute for us in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

 

Ephesians 2:14-17, “For He himself is our reconciliation [welfare, benefit, harmony, and blessing], the One having made both [Jews and Gentiles] one [through union with Christ], and has abolished the dividing wall of the barrier; (15) Having canceled in His flesh [He bore our sins on his body] the barrier, the Law of the Commandments [the Decalogue and all other moral commandments] by means of the ordinances [priesthood, tabernacle and sacrifices: a complete Christology and Soteriology] so that He might create in himself the two [Jews & Gentiles], resulting in one new species [in union with Christ], causing harmony and blessing; (16) And that He might reconcile unto God the both [Jew & Gentile] in one body [the Church] through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity [by removing the barrier]. (17) Also, having come, He [Jesus Christ] communicated reconciliation to you [how to be reconciled with God], the far away ones [the Gentiles], and to them, near [the Jews].”       

Other passages dealing with Reconciliation:

 

Acts 10:34-36, "Then Peter opened his mouth and said, `I most certainly understand that God is not one to show partiality, (35) but in every nation the person who reveres Him and accomplishes the purpose of imputed righteousness is acceptable to Him. (36) The doctrine which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace [reconciliation] through Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all [Jews and Gentiles].” Reconciliation teaches the removal of the enmity between man and God through the agency of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, this reconciliation is appropriated or ratified by personal faith in Christ. Colossians 1:19-20, “Because in him [Christ] he [God the Father] has determined with pleasure that all the fullness [of blessing] should have permanent residence [in Jesus Christ]. (20) And through Him [Christ] to reconcile the all things to Himself [God the Father], having made reconciliation through the blood of His Cross [propitiation, reconciliation and redemption] through Him [Jesus Christ] whether things on earth [believers alive] or things in heaven [believers who have died].”

 

Ephesians 4:3, “Be diligent [consistent exertion, pursue assiduously with constant, unremitting perseverance to accomplish the divine objective; for the positive believer the Durative Present; for the negative believer the Tendential Present] to guard [preserve, maintain: the iterative present to designate action repeated at various intervals] the unity [the common characteristics of the Royal Family of God] from the Holy Spirit [the Filling of the Spirit], by means of the bond [the bonding agent is the Spirit via the Baptism of the Spirit which joins the believer to Jesus Christ] of reconciliation [all believers have been reconciled to God the Father through Christ who is the bonding agent; reconciliation at salvation is the means of establishing unity in the Royal Family; when Christians understand this, it helps to unify them experientially].”

Ephesians 6:15, “After you have put combat boots on your feet [prepared to communicate the gospel message], with the readiness to communicate the Gospel of reconciliation.”

Romans 5:8-11, "But God demonstrates His love [impersonal love] toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died on behalf of us [substitutionary spiritual death]. (9) much more then, having been justified [declared righteous and qualified to go to heaven at the point of our salvation] by His blood [His work on the cross with emphasis on reconciliation], we shall be delivered from wrath [of final judgment] through Him. (10) For if, while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son [and we were], much more, having been reconciled [and so his beloved children], we shall be delivered by His life. (11) And not only this, but also we glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have received reconciliation."

 

Greek words dealing with Reconciliation:

 

1. The Greek verb katallasso means to change someone from a state of hostility into a state of tranquility and peace, from enmity to reconciliation.  The Greek noun katallege means reconciliation.

 

2. The Greek compound verb apokatallasso, an intensified form of the verb, is found in Ephesians 2:16 and Colossians 1:22.  It means to transfer from a certain status (real spiritual death) to another quite different status (eternal salvation). 

 

3. The Greek noun eirene is translated "peace." It is a synonym for reconciliation, emphasizing the saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross as removing the enmity between man and God, the removal of the barrier between man and God.

 

The Peace Offering of the Levitical sacrifices portrayed the doctrine of reconciliation, Leviticus 3:3, “From the sacrifice of the peace [reconciliation] offerings he shall present an offering by fire to the Lord [God the Father], the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails [the fat representing the perfect righteousness of Christ],”

 

Reconciliation was prophesied in Isaiah 57:17-21, "Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain [function of evil in Judah], I was angry [anthropopathism to express the divine attitude toward evil in that client nation]; I struck him [anthropomorphism to express divine judgment toward evil]; I hid My face [anthropomorphism to express divine rejection of evil]; therefore, I was angry, but he went on turning away [continual apostasy] in the way of the right lobe [mental attitude of black-out of soul, life in the Cosmic System]. (18) I have seen his ways [his evil ways], but I will heal him [reconciliation].  I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners [perpetuation of the pivot in Judah], (19) creating the praise of his lips. Peace [reconciliation] to him who is far off [gospel to Gentiles through Israel as missionaries] and peace to him who is near [evangelism in Israel], says the Lord. `Therefore I will heal him [remove the barrier as a result of positive response], (20) but the unrighteous [adikos in the Greek: the ones without imputed righteousness] are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud. (21) There is no peace [reconciliation],’ says my God, for the godless   [asebes in the Greek: the unbeliever].’”

Jesus Christ as a Mediator provided the work of Reconciliation:

 

1 Timothy 2:3-6, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of our Savior, the God (4) who (God the Son is the antecedent of this relative in the Greek) desires all mankind to be saved and to come to a metabolized knowledge of the truth (5) for God is one [in essence] and the one [person of the Godhead] even (is) a mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus (6) who gave himself a redeemer [as a ransom: freed us from the slave market of sin], a substitute for all, [resulting in] the testimony [of the gospel message] given at the proper time (the unbeliever receives the gospel at the right time in his life).”

 

The Greek word mesites has both a general meaning and a technical meaning. The general meaning refers to anyone who arbitrates, one who gives advice. The technical meaning refers to Jesus Christ in hypostatic union as a mediator between God and fallen mankind.

 

Moses, not Jesus was the arbiter of the Mosaic Covenant. Jesus Christ could not function as mediator of this Covenant since He was not yet in hypostatic union. Jesus Christ first became a mediator at his birth but did not function in that capacity until the cross at which time He provided the work of reconciliation.  Since the Mosaic Law was given to Israel in 1441 B.C., Moses functioned as the umpire, the arbiter of the Mosaic Covenant between God and the people of Israel.

 

Unconditional covenants do not require an arbiter. On the other hand, conditional covenants require an arbiter (a mediator in the general sense), and since the Mosaic Law was conditional, Moses was made the umpire. Whereas the unconditional covenants such as the Abrahamic, Land and Davidic required neither an arbiter nor a mediator. In the Mosaic Law there was no equivalency. Another words, Moses was not equal with God and man. Therefore, there was no mediator in the technical theological sense, but in the general sense of an arbitrator. Moses was the arbiter, the umpire of the Mosaic Law. 

 

In its technical sense, a mediator must be equal with both parties regarding integrity. Jesus Christ as God has perfect divine integrity and so has equivalency with both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ in His birth had equivalency with Adam as he was created perfect. Furthermore, Jesus remained impeccable during His entire life and so exceeded the integrity of the 1st Adam. Thus, Jesus on the cross was qualified as a mediator to reconcile mankind to God.

 

Propitiation

 

Propitiation is the Godward side (God must be propitiated) of the work of Christ in salvation.  God the Father was satisfied by Jesus as a High Priest offering himself on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Hence, in propitiation the justice of God judged our sins (the sins of mankind including Adam’s Original Sin) and the righteousness of God was satisfied with that judgment. Thus, Propitiation frees the justice of God to immediately impute to anyone who believes in Jesus Christ, His righteousness.

 

Explaining Propitiation in the Age of Israel:

The Ark of the Covenant: Inside the ark were three items namely the tables of the Law which speaks of sin as rebellion against God, the manna, which speaks of sin as rebellion against the provision of God and Aaron's rod that budded, which speaks of sin as rebellion against God’s delegated authority.

 

On the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), on the 10th day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar (Leviticus 26:29) equivalent to autumn, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies twice, once for himself and for his family (Leviticus 16:6) and sprinkle the blood of a bull over the Propitiatory Seat (Mercy Seat) as per Leviticus 16:14, and entered a second time for the sins of Israel (Leviticus 16:9) and sprinkle the blood of a goat as per Leviticus 16:15. The animal blood which was sprinkled over the Propitiatory Seat (Hebrew: kapporet; Greek: Hilasterion) represented the saving work of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

 

The Ark which taught propitiation was a wooden box 45" by 27" by 27" made of Acacia wood overlaid with gold. The wood represents the humanity of Christ; the gold represents the deity of Christ. Together, they represent the Hypostatic Union. Over the top of the Ark was a covering which was called the Mercy Seat (propitiation-throne).  There were two golden cherubim over-shadowing this Mercy Seat called the cherubim of glory (Hebrews 9:5). These cherubs of glory represented God the Father’s divine glory specifically his righteousness and justice. One angel represented His righteousness and the other His justice. After the high priest had sprinkled the blood on the Mercy Seat, as it were, the angel representing the Father’s righteousness upon looking at the sins of Israel depicted by the Tables of the Law, Aaron’s rod which budded and the pot of Manna demanded that these sins be punished. The justice of God then punished the humanity of Christ on the cross for all the sins of Israel [also applies to all sins [depicted by the blood on top of the Mercy Seat. After which, the cherub representing the righteousness of the Father viewing the blood was propitiated (satisfied). Romans 3:25 says that Jesus Christ was publicly displayed as the mercy seat, the place of the propitiation, “whom God [the Father] publicly displayed as a mercy seat [propitiation] by His blood [representing the work on the cross with emphasis on propitiation] through faith in Christ to demonstrate His [Father's] righteousness, because of the passing over of previously committed sins by the delay in judgment from God. [All sins of the Old Testament were not judged until Christ went to the cross).”

The parable of propitiation, Luke 18:9-14, “And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves [that is to accomplish salvation through self-righteousness] because they were self-righteous, and viewed others with contempt: (10) Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (11) The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. (12) ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ (13) But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘O God, be propitious to me, a sinner [provide me with salvation on the basis of the propitiatory work of Christ on the cross]!’ (14) I say to you, this man [the tax-collector] went down to his home having been justified [declared righteous and so qualified to go to heaven] rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself [in this case the arrogant unbeliever] will be humbled [he will be rejected by God the Father], but he who humbles himself [in this case the grace-oriented tax collector] will be exalted [will be entered into the family of God]."     

              

Propitiation is taught in the Old Testament by a burnt animal sacrifice in Leviticus 1 and specifically in verse 9b of this chapter, “a pleasing [a propitious] aroma to the Lord” and a food offering made of grain as taught in Leviticus 2, and specifically in 2b and 9b of this chapter, “a pleasing aroma to the Lord.” The burning of the animal sacrifice depicted the work of Jesus on the cross whereas the burning of the unleavened grain cake depicted the impeccability and integrity of Jesus during his 33 years prior to the cross. 

 

The love of God provided for the propitiatory work of Christ, 1 John 4:10, "By this love exists: not because we have loved God, but because He has loved us [unconditional love] and sent His Son, a propitiation for our sins."  The Propitiatory work of Christ provided unlimited atonement, 1 John 2:2, "And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world."

“You were bought with a price [redemption]; do not become slaves of men [by emphasizing relationship with people over relationship with God].” Therefore, sanctification is an issue.

 

Sanctification:

 

There are three categories of sanctification in the Christian way of life. Positional sanctification is union with the person of Jesus Christ at the moment of salvation. Experiential sanctification refers to the spiritual life after salvation. Ultimate sanctification refers to when the believer receives his resurrection bodies at the Rapture. Positional sanctification makes every believer in union with Christ a saint (set apart in Christ) positionally higher than angels as taught in Hebrews 1-2. Positional sanctification removes all the barriers related to arrogance, prejudice, antagonism, and discrimination. It removes racial prejudice, cultural differences, social distinctions, personal antagonisms, economic barriers, ideological differences, sexual discrimination, environmental subjectivity, pre- salvation religious prejudice.

Sanctification means to be set apart to God for a special purpose, to be consecrated, to be pure, to be without sin. There are three sanctifications: Experiential, Positional and Ultimate.

Experiential Sanctification is a part of the Christian’s experience while living in his mortal body on this earth. Experiential Sanctification is the function of the spiritual life after salvation. This spiritual life depends upon three spiritual skills: The Filling of the Holy Spirit, the metabolizing of Bible doctrine, and the utilization of the Ten Problem Solving Devices. Through the application of the spiritual skills the believer develops spiritual righteousness, in effect he becomes set apart (experientially sanctified) to God.

 

There are five Greek words related to this subject: hagiazo a verb, hagios an adjective, and three nouns: hagiosmos; hagiotes, and hagiosune.  Let’s take a look at few passages and see how these words relate to the different categories of sanctification.

Experiential Sanctification:

John 17:17, “Sanctify [the aorist imperative of hagiazo] them by means of truth [developing experiential righteousness by metabolizing and applying the Word via the Filling of the Spirit]. Your word is truth.”

1 Peter 3:15a, “But sanctify [set apart as more important than anything else] the Lord Christ in your hearts [set Christ apart as someone special through your spiritual advance which takes place in your soul] . . .”

One of the key points differentiating Experiential Sanctification from Positional and Ultimate Sanctification is that it depends upon human volition. While on this earth, you are free to succeed or free to fail, depending on the decisions you make from your volition. (The Christian can only succeed in the spiritual life if he is in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit; that is functioning under the power and authority of the Spirit. The Christian is failing when he is out of fellowship which means that he is grieving (Ephesians 4:30), and quenching (1 Thessalonians 5:1) the Spirit.)

 

Therefore, since the believer’s volition only functions in the matter of Experiential Sanctification, only in his experience on this earth can he fail and sin. The Christian cannot sin or fail in any way in Positional Sanctification (in union with Christ) or in Ultimate Sanctification (in his resurrection body).

Positional Sanctification: 

1 Corinthians 1:2, “To the Church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus [hagiazo: set apart as a new spiritual species to God in Christ] called saints [hagios: set apart ones, consecrated unto God] together with all who call on the person of [metaphor for believing in] our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours.”

1 John 5:11, “And this is the deposition that God has given to each one of us eternal life, and this [eternal] life is in His Son [since the believer cannot fail in union with Christ, he cannot lose his eternal life].”

The Power of the Sin Nature broken via Retroactive and Current Positional Sanctification:

 

Romans 6:2: Emphatically not [Paul’s abhorrence to a falsely drawn conclusion]! We who have died to the sin nature [Retroactive Positional Truth], how shall we still live in it [the power of Sin Nature]?

 

The sin nature acquires power when the believer yields to one of the lusts of the sin nature. When the believer yields to one of these lusts, he simultaneously breaks fellowship with God the Holy Spirit. The desire to please the Lord is all but forgotten for these lusts monopolize the believer’s motivation and employ both sin and good, a good produced via human dynamics and power. This destructive power can only be broken via the Recovery Procedure.

 

The Recovery Procedure must be used by the Christian in order to break the tight grip the Sin Nature has on him when he is out of fellowship.  It is called, ‘The Recovery Procedure’ since it is a procedure and the only way the believer can recover fellowship with God.

 

Naming our sins to God the Father is a conditional procedure and not a promise to be applied by faith. A promise is a divine declaration or assurance that something specified will or will not happen, whereas a procedure is a course of action (naming our sins) by which a result is obtained (forgiveness of our sins). A promise requires faith; a procedure requires action. This confession or citing one’s sins places the Christian back under the authority of God the Spirit and allows him to use the two powers of the spiritual life. In this sphere of divine power whatever good the Christian produces would be classified as divine good since it would be produced by the power of God the Holy Spirit and the power of God’s word metabolized in the soul. 

A few more points to bring greater clarification:

 

1. The old sin nature, the sovereign of human life, is no longer the controlling factor in the life of the believer. Positionally the old sin nature is dead; its power has been broken.

 

2. However, after salvation the old sin nature still resides in those contaminated cells of the body, but through the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation the power, the sovereignty, the rulership of the old sin nature has been broken.

 

3. Though still present in our body of corruption, the old sin nature has been robbed of its power to rule our lives. The only reason it still rules is because we exercise our options in favour of it.   

 

4. A new power, the power of the Holy Spirit and metabolized doctrine, has replaced the power of the old sin nature, so that we have an option to go with the old sin nature or to go with the two divine powers. 

Ultimate Sanctification:

Ephesians 1:4, “just as He [the Father] has elected us for Himself in Him [positional sanctification in Jesus Christ] before the creation of the world, that we may be set apart [experiential sanctification] and blameless [ultimate sanctification] in the presence of Him [Father].”

1 Corinthians 7:24

Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called [until you are sure that it is God’s will for you to make a change, don’t change].

 

ἕκαστος ἐν ᾧ ἐκλήθη, ἀδελφοί, ἐν τούτῳ µενέτω παρὰ θεῷ.

 

In other words, let everyone remain in the status in which he was called.  For example, if you were a businessman when you were saved, remain a businessman. If you are a housewife, remain a housewife. Principle: Use your circumstances as your field of service. 

 

1 Corinthians 7:25

Now concerning virgins I have no command from the Lord [in other words, the Lord did not teach this subject during His three-year ministry], yet I give my judgment as one who by the mercy from the Lord is trustworthy [Paul under the authority of the Spirit represents the Lord].

 

Περὶ δὲ τῶν παρθένων ἐπιταγὴν κυρίου οὐκ ἔχω, γνώµην δὲ δίδωµι ὡς ἠλεηµένος ὑπὸ κυρίου πιστὸς εἶναι.

 

He is simply saying that the Lord did not cover this in His teaching during His three years of earthly ministry. The reason He didn’t cover it is very simple, the apostles were only able to comprehend a limited amount of information. “Yet I give my judgment,” carries exactly the same weight as if Jesus Christ had said it personally for God the Holy Spirit so directed Paul that he gave what Christ would have given.

 

1 Corinthians 7:26

 

I think then that this is good in view of the present distress [the persecution of Christians at that time in the Roman Empire], that it is good for a man [a single man as brought-out in the next verse] to remain as he is.

 

Νοµίζω οὖν τοῦτο καλὸν ὑπάρχειν διὰ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἀνάγκην, ὅτι καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ οὕτως εἶναι.

 

At the time of Paul’s writing, there was a great persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire. Satan was launching a counter offensive primarily through Nero against the great advance of Christianity. Principle: In time of great adversity and persecution, it is better to be single than to be married.

 

1 Corinthians 7:27

 

Are you bound [or chained: 2nd person singular perfect passive indicative of deo; the cognate noun desmos means chains and the cognate desmios means a prisoner] to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife [divorced]? Do not seek a wife.

 

δέδεσαι γυναικί; µὴ ζήτει λύσιν· λέλυσαι ἀπὸ γυναικός; µὴ ζήτει γυναῖκα.

 

This verse teaches the importance of objectivity and the need for virtue in dealing with the subject of marriage. “Are you shackled to a wife?” This question implies some form of slavery in marriage. “Do not seek to be divorced.” This does not mean that all married people are shackled, but it does mean that many are. This is in the perfect tense, enslaved in the past with the result that you are trapped. Passive voice infers that you didn’t realize what you were getting into. The indicative mood is the reality of having made a bad marriage, even so you must from the integrity of your soul, take the responsibility for your decision and stay in your shackles!

 

 “Are you divorced from a wife? Do not seek a wife.” One of the greatest mistakes occurs when after a person is legitimately divorced, he immediately begins to look for a new mate. However, if the Lord should bring a mate along after a two or three-year hiatus, then okay.

 

Regarding children, they are often the victims of divorce and remarriage, especially where the parents are arrogant and self-centered, and looking for self-gratification. When there are children involved, they must come first in one’s decision to divorce or to remarry.

 

1 Corinthians 7:28

Nevertheless, if you marry [a volitional decision], you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries [a volitional decision], she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

 

ἐὰν δὲ καὶ γαµήσῃς, οὐχ ἥµαρτες· καὶ ἐὰν γήµῃ ἡ παρθένος, οὐχ ἥµαρτεν. θλῖψιν δὲ τῇ σαρκὶ ἕξουσιν οἱ τοιοῦτοι, ἐγὼ δὲ ὑµῶν φείδοµαι.

 

If you marry especially in a time of great pressure, such as in the first century when Christians were being persecuted, you are not only going to have the pressure from Christian persecution but the additional pressures of being married and especially having children during times of persecution. This may be more than you care to bear. So, think before you leap into a marriage and before you leap into family life especially when living in a historical downtrend.

A few points for clarification:

 

1. While asceticism is wrong in forbidding marriage, the state of matrimony is a disaster without virtue from spiritual advance. No matter how wonderful your spouse is, married people have troubles that single people never have.

 

2. Marriage is a divine institution, and is, therefore, one of the most important factors in the stability of a society. It is the index as to whether the client nation is going up or down. Even so, it is a problem manufacturing organization.

 

3. Loneliness in single status is the easiest problem in the world to solve. Whereas the problems in marriage do not lend themselves to a simple solution.

 

4. The amalgamation of two people under one roof in marriage is a divine institution, but it does have its troubles. Paul is trying to spare you from the shock of your marital problems especially if you are entering marriage thinking it is a panacea.

 

5. This is a statement about a first marriage, but the principle applies to a second marriage as well.

 

1 Corinthians 7:29

 

But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened [we are getting closer and closer to eternity], so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none [Married Christians must make very good use of their time since they have much less time for the Lord than unmarried individuals];

 

τοῦτο δέ φηµι, ἀδελφοί, ὁ καιρὸς συνεσταλµένος ἐστίν· τὸ λοιπὸν ἵνα καὶ οἱ ἔχοντες γυναῖκας ὡς µὴ ἔχοντες ὦσιν,

Single Christians have more time to concentrate on spiritual matters. So, time is vitally connected with the believer’s service and production on the earth. Proper utilization of time is one of the believer’s greatest problems. There is nothing wrong with marriage, but it can become wrong for certain believers, like Paul who had special responsibilities which could not be fulfilled under the marital status. Furthermore, this verse should make the single Christian desiring to serve the Lord to think twice about getting married.

 

The single person has more time to devote his life to the Lord than does the married person even more so when there are children. So, to change from single to marital status should be a solemn decision, and should never occur apart from careful deliberation. He should consider that time is consumed to make a success of marriage, to train and educate children, to provide for the family etc. whereas the single person does not have these responsibilities.

Planned and Redeemed Time:

 

There is such a thing as planned time. Though the following passage relates to making money, it can apply to other pursuits as well. James 4:13-17, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city, and shall work in that place for a year and we shall both transact business and make a profit.”

 

The falsely motivated believer under the influence of monetary lust concentrates on selfish planning which totally excludes the Lord. Following are five areas under which he deviates from God’s plan for his life.

 

1. Time: The falsely motivated Christian uses time given by God for his selfish desires.

 

2. Geography: The falsely motivated Christian looks for a place to make money in business rather than a location where he can learn the word of God. Of course, today with computers, one can learn from any location.

 

3. Objective: The falsely motivated Christian plans his life around gaining material rewards in time, rather than around eternal reward.

 

4. Operation: The falsely motivated Christian is so occupied with making money (or family life) that he ignores God’s perfect grace provision.

 

5. Motivation: His motivation is based on profit (pleasure) rather than pleasing the Lord.

 

James 4:14, “Yet you do not even know what kind of life you will have tomorrow.  You are just a vapor trail in the sky [a mist, wisp of smoke], visible for a short time and then you vanish [physical death].

 

When the believer learns and executes God’s plan for his life, his life has purpose and objectives.  His primary purpose in life is to reciprocate God’s love.  God has loved him from eternity-past, now the believer must learn to love God in time (1 John 4:19). His strategic objectives are to reach Occupation with Christ which makes him a phenomenal witness before man, and to pass Evidence Testing which gives him a testimony before the angels and glorifies God to the maximum. On the other hand, the believer who does not execute God’s purpose for his life lives a life without purpose and objectives - he is nothing but a wisp of smoke!

 

James 4:15, Instead you ought to say [think], "If the Lord has willed, we shall both live and do this or that [executing God’s will for our life].”

 

James 4:16, But now you keep on boasting with arrogant words; all such boasting is worthless.

 

A legalist for example may boast about all the great things he has done and is doing for the Lord, when in reality he is producing dead works and encourages others to do likewise through his boasting. An ignorant government may boast about how it will bring peace in the Middle East, yet with little understanding of the spiritual conflict involved (Genesis 12:1-3) or the Muslim religion (Genesis 16:12) and may even get involved in anti-Semitism and only aggravate the situation. The arrogant believer lives outside of God’s plan and does not consider God’s plan in his decision-making process. 

 

James 4:17, Therefore to the one having known the honorable thing to do and not doing it, to him it keeps on being sin.”

 

The greater the knowledge, the more lucid are the issues of the spiritual life and the failures related to the spiritual life. Some Christians learn enough of God’s Word to understand their objectives, but for one reason or another they fail to execute accordingly. The sin of not executing God’s plan also means that the believer will spend most of his time, if not all of it out of fellowship with God. If the believer persists in avoiding his responsibilities to God (execution of the spiritual life) and remains out of fellowship, he will inevitably die the sin unto death (1 John 5:16).

 

There is the principle of redeemed time, Ephesians 5:16-18, “Keep on redeeming [purchasing] the time [the time allotted to each believer], because the days are evil [The Church Age is a time of concentrated evil].   (17) Therefore, stop becoming fools [Either the believer refuses to learn or refuses to apply what he has learned. So, he has neither wisdom nor common sense.], but keep on understanding what is the will [plan, purpose] of the Lord. (18) Also, stop being intoxicated with wine by which there is indulgence in sensual pleasure [a disorderly lifestyle of dissipation and preoccupation with oneself] but keep on being filled [controlled] by agency of the Holy Spirit.”

 

In eternity past, God allotted a certain amount of time to each believer to execute his plan. (Sometimes the believer’s life is cut short. However, this is not a problem since God the Father can calculate from his omniscience how far that believer would have advanced if he had been given the appropriate allotted time.) The Christian redeems the time by making every day count for his advance in the spiritual life. In this way the believer overcomes evil rather than being overcome by evil.  

 

The principle of utilized time is our passage, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

 

1 Corinthians 7:30

 

And those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; [All of these are legitimate, but can be overdone]

 

καὶ οἱ κλαίοντες ὡς µὴ κλαίοντες, καὶ οἱ χαίροντες ὡς µὴ χαίροντες, καὶ οἱ ἀγοράζοντες ὡς µὴ κατέχοντες,

 

Beware that legitimate living does not hinder the redemption of time. Legitimate living is being married, doing things for the family which things take a lot of time and effort etc. What are the three areas of legitimate living?

 

a) Sorrow. Every person in life spends a certain amount of time in sorrow such as in death, separation from people we love, and so on. Sorrow primarily is an emotion and it is a legitimate thing. There is a time for grief but all of our time must not be monopolized by grief, sorrow. The point is, we must not perpetuate this legitimate sorrow. If you keep on and perpetuate a legitimate sorrow you become morbid.

 

b) Happiness. This is also a legitimate function which is an expression of someone with the capacity for happiness. However, one can spend so much time bathing in one’s happiness that it hinders his time for the Lord.

 

c) The pursuit of pleasure, those things which are relaxing to you personally. This means to purchase material things for your convenience and pleasure. Many things can be bought, and it is not wrong, but the use of these things must not hinder the Lord’s service.

 

1 Corinthians 7:31

And those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away [including time].

 

καὶ οἱ χρώµενοι τὸν κόσµον ὡς µὴ καταχρώµενοι· παράγει γὰρ τὸ σχῆµα τοῦ κόσµου τούτου.

 

This refers to the legitimate operation of the world; this isn’t worldliness. The point is that we are all here for a certain amount of time and the issues before us as believers is how we are to utilize that time.

 

1 Corinthians 7:32

 

But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;

 

θέλω δὲ ὑµᾶς ἀµερίµνους εἶναι. ὁ ἄγαµος µεριµνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κυρίου, πῶς ἀρέσῃ τῷ κυρίῳ·

 

1 Corinthians 7:33

 

But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,

 

ὁ δὲ γαµήσας µεριµνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κόσµου, πῶς ἀρέσῃ τῇ γυναικί,

 

The single Christian man can concentrate his full energy on pleasing the Lord, whereas the married man must concentrate some of this energy on pleasing his wife. The married man out of necessity will be more concerned about the things of the world.

 

1 Corinthians 7:34

 

And his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

 

καὶ µεµέρισται. καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἄγαµος καὶ ἡ παρθένος µεριµνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κυρίου, ἵνα ᾖ ἁγία [καὶ] τῷ σώµατι καὶ τῷ πνεύµατι· ἡ δὲ γαµήσασα µεριµνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κόσµου, πῶς ἀρέσῃ τῷ ἀνδρί.

 

The unmarried woman versus the married woman: The unmarried woman can dedicate both her body and soulish energy for the Lord. Whatever she does physically, in body, will have something to do with Christian production, and whatever she does soulishly, in spirit, means that she has plenty of time to take in the Word. The married woman on the other hand has limited time for the Lord. This verse says that a married woman and Bible doctrine inevitably come into conflict.

 

1 Corinthians 7:35

This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.

 

τοῦτο δὲ πρὸς τὸ ὑµῶν αὐτῶν σύµφορον λέγω, οὐχ ἵνα βρόχον ὑµῖν ἐπιβάλω, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ εὔσχηµον καὶ εὐπάρεδρον τῷ κυρίῳ ἀπερισπάστως.

 

Paul does not command single life, but lays out the cost of married life. He wants believers to take a more serious viewpoint of marriage and to weigh carefully the time it takes to make a successful marriage and the time it takes to discipline, train and care for children and how all of this may take away from your relationship with the Lord. Furthermore, the believer should consider all the distractions that will occur in married life especially in family life. The single life of the advancing believer has not only more time, but it is a life of undistracted devotion to the Lord. 

 

1 Corinthians 7:36

But if any man [a father] thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter [by not permitting her to marry some man whom she has met], if she is past her youth [she is probably in her twenties and has some sense], and if it must be so, let him [the father] do what he wishes [in giving his consent], he does not sin; let them marry [the couple that want to marry each other].

 

Εἰ δέ τις ἀσχηµονεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν παρθένον αὐτοῦ νοµίζει ἐὰν ᾖ ὑπέρακµος, καὶ οὕτως ὀφείλει γίνεσθαι, ὃ θέλει ποιείτω· οὐχ ἁµαρτάνει· γαµείτωσαν.

 

Why and when to leave single status? We must remember that the Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written and at the time in which this was written the father decided when, where, how, and with whom the daughter would marry. He had to give his permission.

 

In context, this appears to be a young lady who has both human and spiritual maturity. So, she is not going to make a choice for a husband on the basis of libido but on the basis of understanding people, herself, and on the basis of the will of the Lord. This means that she is probably in her mid-twenties and is well qualified to make a proper choice. Her father understands that his daughter has good judgment and so gives his consent to her marriage.         

 

1 Corinthians 7:37

 

But he who stands firm [steadfast] in his heart [in the right lobe of his soul], being under no constraint, but has authority over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin daughter, he will do well.

 

ὃς δὲ ἕστηκεν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἑδραῖος, µὴ ἔχων ἀνάγκην, ἐξουσίαν δὲ ἔχει περὶ τοῦ ἰδίου θελήµατος, καὶ τοῦτο κέκρικεν ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ καρδίᾳ, τηρεῖν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ παρθένον, καλῶς ποιήσει·

 

In this case, we have a daughter who does not wish to marry and her father simply agrees with her and supports his daughter in her decision not to marry. He establishes a policy stating his daughter does not have to get married if she doesn’t want to. The father or guardian is right in not forcing her into marriage.

 

1 Corinthians 7:38

 

So then, both he who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well [since she will do well in marriage], and he who does not give her in marriage will do better [since the Lord has a special ministry for this woman in single life].

 

ὥστε καὶ ὁ γαµίζων τὴν ἑαυτοῦ παρθένον καλῶς ποιεῖ, καὶ ὁ µὴ γαµίζων κρεῖσσον ποιήσει.

 

1 Corinthians 7:39

 

A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord [he must be a Christian].

 

Γυνὴ δέδεται ἐφí ὅσον χρόνον ζῇ ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς· ἐὰν δὲ κοιµηθῇ ὁ ἀνήρ, ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ᾧ θέλει γαµηθῆναι, µόνον ἐν κυρίῳ.

 

1 Corinthians 7:40

 

But in my opinion she [the older widow] is happier if she remains as she is; and I think that I also have the Spirit of God [I am under the authority of the Spirit and obedient to His will].

 

µακαριωτέρα δέ ἐστιν ἐὰν οὕτως µείνῃ, κατὰ τὴν ἐµὴν γνώµην, δοκῶ δὲ κἀγὼ πνεῦµα θεοῦ ἔχειν.

 

Older widows are commanded not to remarry, 1 Corinthians 7:8, “Now, I say to the unmarried for their benefit [the dative case of advantage for both men and women] and to older widows for their benefit [dative of advantage] that it is good for them to remain [potential mood depending upon the principles of the next verse; if they are young widows, then it is recommended that they remarry] even as I [Paul remained single that he might operate under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice]”

A few points regarding remarriage:

 

1. The problem of young children in the home and the potential of remarriage. If you have the right of remarriage and your children are still young, but the potential new husband will not accept them, do not marry him. Do not force your children into having to put up with someone who does not like them or they do not like him. You cannot build your happiness on your children’s unhappiness. If the children do not accept a potential step-father, do not marry that man.  

 

2. If there is compatibility between children and the new mate, then marriage is a possibility. When you have responsibility for children, do not forget them because of love for a man. The problem is that the potential husband is not only marrying you, but he is accepting the responsibility of fatherhood of children by another man, and this requires a virtue which many men do not possess.

 

3. If you are a mother completely occupied with your adult children by a previous marriage, do not marry. Your obsession with the success or failure of your adult children by a previous marriage will destroy a second marriage.

 

4. If a woman marries a man who has custody of children by a previous marriage, you will have problems which may be more than you can handle unless you are spiritually an adult.

 

5. If both a woman and a man have possessive adult children, the chances are slim that the marriage will succeed because the children will constantly interfere and be critical.

 

6. It is not advisable for an older widow to remarry.

 

7. Before a young widow remarries, she must have objectivity. She must have wisdom to analyze the potential second husband in the light of his spiritual life. If he is jealous of her deceased first husband, the marriage will not work. Do not remarry simply because you are lonely or want a legal sex partner. These motivations will cause the marriage to fail.

 

8. As the number of marriages by one person increase, the possibility for happiness decreases. Even marriage to a right man is severely tested and no guarantee of happiness.

 

This concludes our study on 1 Corinthians 7.

 

In Remembrance of Independence Day, July 4, 2023

 

On the 23rd of March, in 1775, a man called Patrick Henry took the floor of a meeting held at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. The meeting had a formal name—the Second Virginia Convention. He closed his speech with this: They tell us, sir, that we are weak - unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of Hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?

Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.

Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat, but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged, their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable - and let it come!

I repeat it, sir, let it come!

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace, but there is no peace. The war is actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have?

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! The Colonies came to stand with Patrick Henry in his quest for liberty. Many died, over many years, as the war for independence dragged on. But when the last “Redcoat” left American territory, the new and independent country was free of British rule.

 

The Continental Congress declared on July 4, 1776, that the thirteen American colonies were no longer subject to the monarch of Britain, King George III, and were now united, free, and independent states.

 

Jefferson had written the following indictment against King George III:

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people [of the thirteen colonies] who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation hither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium [reproach, contempt, abuse] of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain . . .

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