1 Corinthians 7:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Corinthians 7:2

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It sounds a little gloomy at first sight, a little reluctant, as though the apostle can only establish the benefit of marriage on a moral basis, but actually it is much more than that. Apart from the fact he is going to go on to establish that this is a very special bond that must not be violated, the verse really is very positive. It is by way of marriage that God has given to man a context for reproduction and for living, which involves purity and exclusive loyalty, and kindness. ‘To avoid fornication’ – the utter confusion and horror of the absence of marriage bonds. ‘Let every man have’ – and look at these strong possessives – ‘his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband’. There is ownership implied here, and it is mutual. Not just that he owns her, but she also owns him. She is his, and he is hers. There is a very strong mutual possession, a wonderful bond, and it avoids all the horror and confusion of anything else. Of course, the normal condition is to be married. Don’t ever forbid marriage, the apostle says elsewhere in 1 Timothy 4:3. He warns that in the latter days the people who forbid marriage will be people who are false teachers, who get their ideas from seducing spirits, and they will be teaching ‘doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy.’ What fierce things to say about people who discourage or forbid marriage! So, though it may sound as though the apostle makes the single state superior to marriage, he quite plainly does not. Marriage is ordained of God; marriage is the general condition of men and women. But he is emphasising that both single and married states are noble and blessed before God. That is the balance that he gives to us.

Application

Well, there are very noble reasons that the apostle gives elsewhere; but he states the obvious here, relating to the letter they had sent to him. ‘Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.’ That is a very expanded way of expressing what he has to say, and it draws attention to these statements. These are tremendous phrases. ‘Let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.’ They are beautiful words. ‘His own wife’, ‘her own husband’ – just consider that language and think of it. ‘His own wife’, to possess. She belongs to him. He belongs to her. The husband, the wife – a precious possession; one to be held to; one to be so valued; one to be esteemed and appreciated: someone to possess, to guard – my only one. Just let the words linger in your mind. We read back in Genesis 2 that when Eve was made from Adam’s side, Adam uttered those words, ‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.’ Do you think he was just speaking biologically? Do you think he was simply making an obvious physical observation – ‘She has come from my bones and my flesh’? No, he states a literal biological fact; but he says it in such a way that it expresses his deepest feeling. This is what he thinks of Eve: ‘She is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh’. And while it is not biologically true of husbands and wives now, nevertheless, those words are words we should be able to say. They express the closeness of the possession – bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. ‘Her concerns and her pains are mine, as though they were mine’. ‘His concerns and his pains are mine, as though they were mine’.

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1 Corinthians 7:2 Commentary and Bible Study