Book 27

 

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 2 * PART 3 * BOOK 27

I CORINTHIANS 6:11 – 9:7

Now to pick up where we left off in the last lesson, and that will be in I Corinthians 7:4. Remember in dealing with these circumstances the situations are probably a lot different than many of us are confronted with, and yet as our society is crumbling, and as we are falling more and more into a social fabric that Corinth was, then this Chapter 7 is probably more appropriate than most of us would like to admit. Now as we start with verse 4 we find Paul dealing with the relationship between the husband and the wife he says:

I Corinthians 7:4

“The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.”

So where does that put us? Well it puts us on equal ground, and in the marriage relationship it is fifty-fifty. Iris and I have often said it’s more like eighty-twenty from both sides, but that still boils down to a fifty-fifty relationship. Now what Paul is talking about here is the satisfaction of the sexual needs of both parties of the marriage union. And that is picked up then in verse 5, and since it’s a fifty-fifty situation the husband is to be aware of the needs of the wife, and the wife is to be aware of the needs of the husband, consequently:

I Corinthians 7:5

“Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, (I think Paul is warning here never to use sex as a lever against your spouse. In other words don’t withhold sex in order to gain an advantage. Now granted other things can enter in like emotional stress or physical impairment, but all things being normal, don’t withhold consent for very long so) that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.”

Do you see what we’re all up against? The sex drive is powerful, there’s no doubt about it, and God put it there for a purpose. But we’re not to abuse it anymore than we do anything else, and so if there is a consent between the two to refrain for a period of time then that’s all well and good, but don’t overdo it. Always remember Satan is always there to tempt one or the other to go outside the marriage relationship. Now verse 6.

I Corinthians 7:6,7

“But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. (Then in verse 7, Paul says something that throws a curve at a lot of people) For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.”

Now we know that once Paul began his apostolic ministry, from all Scriptural indications he was alone. But my whole premise is that he had at one time been married, and had children. I’m going to take you back for the reference to Acts Chapter 26 where we see a very revealing part of Paul that too many people ignore. Most of those people think that Paul was a bachelor, and never married, and consequently he had a thing against women, and marriage. No he didn’t. But Paul was certainly alone at the time he starts his ministry as an apostle. But here in Acts we find Paul rehearsing his past life when he was active in Judaism, and a Pharisee. And he was persecuting the believers in Jerusalem who had become followers of Jesus of Nazareth, and he was trying to stamp them out because he thought he was doing God a favor. And you pick that up in Acts 26:9, and here Paul is telling these people about his conversion on the road to Damascus.

Acts 26:9,10

“I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. (as a religious fanatic) Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice (vote) against them.”

Who was the ruling body of Jews that would have been voting what to do with these believers? The Sanhedrin. Now here is where I maintain that Paul was married. If I understand the Jewish Old Testament economy, a person could not be a member of the Sanhedrin unless he was married, and had children. And the purpose was how could you judge in the area of families and relationships if you’ve never had the experience. Now let’s bring that into the New Testament into I Timothy Chapter 3, and here Paul carries it right on into the leadership of the Church with the same situation. How could leaders of the Church lead intelligently, and from experience if they’ve never had the responsibility of being a husband and a father.

And here is where I always point out that no matter what denomination you’re from, or what you think of the Apostle Paul, where do you get the reasons for your Church government and organization. Well you get it from Paul, and here we have the qualifications for a Pastor or Bishop, and the Deacons.

I Timothy 3:1-4

“This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, (pastor) he desireth a good work. A bishop (pastor) must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, (can’t be an alcoholic) no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;”

You come on down to the deacons, and it’s the same thing. So this whole process of leadership in the realm of the spirit demanded that Paul was married, and had children. What happened to them we don’t know. I think, and I may be as wrong as wrong can be, but I think that after his conversion on the road to Damascus, that just totally upset his whole apple cart of life so to speak. And he turned his back on that well paying position as a member of the Sanhedrin, as a member of the Pharisees, and you know in Galatians Paul says:

Galatians 1:14a

“And profited in the Jews religion…”

In other words, I think Paul was making big money as one of the religious leaders of Israel. And he turned his back on all that, and I think his wife and kids rebelled at the very thought of it, and she probably left him. Like I say, that’s my thought, but the Scriptures don’t tell us what happened to Paul’s wife. But whatever, I have to feel that at one time Paul was married, and had children, but something happened to them because from the time we pick up the Apostle Paul in the Book of Acts, he is alone. He doesn’t call himself a widower, or a bachelor, we just know that he doesn’t have a wife or family. Now then coming back to I Corinthians Chapter 7 it’s that single state then that Paul is referring to when he says:

I Corinthians 7:7a

“For I would that all men were even as I myself….”

Now there had to be a reason for the man to say that, because he certainly wasn’t putting the kibosh on marriage and family. But all through Paul’s letters, what was he expecting to happen at any moment? The Lord to come, and on top of that I think by the Sovereign Grace of God, Paul had a little bit of foreview of the horrible persecution that was going to come upon the Christians. Now then if all of a sudden persecution was to fall, how much easier it would be for people to be single. That stands to reason where a poor little wife wouldn’t have to suffer the consequences of her husband being taken away in the middle of the night. Or having children suddenly kidnapped away from them, and not knowing what happened to them. It would be better to just be alone, face persecution, face death, and have it over with. And so I think both of these things have to be brought into our understanding of what Paul is teaching here. That number 1, The Lord’s coming (he thought) was at hand. Paul says that throughout all his letters, and of course it didn’t happen. So he tempers these relationships with that in view, plus the inkling of the horrible persecution that would be coming across the Roman Empire. So take all that into consideration. Now verse 8:

I Corinthians 7:8

“I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.”

Again he’s telling even the women that it would be better if they remain single, than to get involved again and go through the trauma of losing their husband to the forces of persecution. But in the next verse he’s going to give them an out.

I Corinthians 7:9

“But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.”

Now what’s he talking about? Well if they cannot control their sexual desires, and it gets to the place that they are tempted to commit adultery to do that, then Paul says you’re better off getting married. That comes right back to what he says in verse 2.

I Corinthians 7:2

“Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”

Now we come down to verse 10, and this is difficult, and I know a lot of people don’t like to face this head on, but we have to because it’s in The Book. But I’m going to temper it somewhat by assuring people that even though we are guilty of the sin of adultery by virtue of remarriage and so forth, yet every sin is forgivable. There is nothing that The Lord will not forgive, but again I think society as a whole and especially the Christian community has to understand how God looks at these things. And that’s what we have to go by. How does God look at it? Not what society thinks, not what our denomination thinks, but what does God say? And again, the problem with our whole attitude toward marriage among our young people is because they have not been taught what God says about this marriage relationship. Now verse 10:

I Corinthians 7:10-16

“And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, (so this is The Word of God) Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband; and let not the husband put away his wife. But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, (still in paganism) and if he be pleased to dwell with her, (who is now a believer) let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, (who is a believer) and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: (who is a believer) else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. (Paul says `let the unbelieving spouse go if that’s the way they want it.’) A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, (Who is a believer) whether thou shalt save thy husband? (who is lost) or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shall save thy wife?”

Now we know that we can’t save our spouse and the spouse can’t save us, so what’s Paul talking about? Well let me bring you back again to Peter’s little epistle in I Peter Chapter 3. Here, especially in the city of Corinth, and this is the only letter where Paul deals with these things, and so consequently I have to feel that the Ephesians weren’t under this kind of situation, nor the Philippians, or the Colossians. Maybe to a degree they were, but not like they were here in Corinth. It was just beyond comprehension, and everyone of these converts of Paul had been in idolatry. So if they were married then naturally they both were, so if one of them is saved and comes out of idolatry, and becomes a believing Christian then here we have in the home this division, as one is still in idolatry, and the other a believer. How were they going to handle it? The same would be for missionaries who minister to people who have more than one wife in the family. We’re so immune to all these things, we’ve been so protected in our American society, but these things were real to these people. Now look what Peter says here.

I Peter 3:1

“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; (sounds like Paul doesn’t it?) that, if any obey not the word, (they’re not a believer) they (the husbands) also may without the word (without preaching at them, without dragging them to church, without bringing them under the television ministry, without saying a word, that lost husband may) be won by the conversation (or manner of living) of the wives,” Now verse 2:

I Peter 3:2-4

“While they behold your chaste conversation (manner of living) coupled with fear. (a reverence fear, rather than being scared to death) Whose adorning (speaking of the Godly, believing wife) let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; (but rather let her win the husband by) but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, (that born again spirit within that believing woman) even the ornament of a meek and quite spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”

Now what is Peter admonishing the believing wife to do? Listen, don’t nag that unbelieving husband, don’t preach at him, don’t try to drag him to church because that’s not going to work. So what does the wife do first and foremost? She lives an exemplary Christian life in front of him.

I remember when I was teaching up in Iowa, and I had a Saturday night teenager class, and we would have 45 or 50 kids that would come in every Saturday night for Bible teaching. One of the neighbors of the host home wanted to know, “what in the world is going on in your house on Saturday night?” So Gladys the host, said, “well we have a Bible study for young people.” The neighbor lady wanted to know if there was a chance that she could come and sit off in the corner someplace, and listen and watch, and naturally there wasn’t a problem with that. So this lady, who was a doctor’s wife, had a lovely home, but her husband was something else. And they don’t mind me telling this story on them, as they share it with everyone now. But anyway, she came to that class on Saturday nights over a few weeks time, and Mary Beth was gloriously saved.

Well it wasn’t but a few weeks after that, and Iris and I were attending a wedding where she was also, and she met us out in the lobby of the church, and she started to weep – I mean weep. I said what in the world is the problem. And she said, “My husband John.” I said, “Yeah, I’ve heard about John.” You see John had more than one mistress, and his wife knew it, and as a result of her Salvation he became her number one burden. And so I took out my Bible and showed her these verses here in I Peter, and I told her that this wasn’t going to be easy, but my Bible tells me that if you can do it, then God will do it. Well she said, “I’m willing to try.” So I told her just to do what she knew John likes. If he loves a good T-Bone steak have one ready when he comes in. If he likes hot apple pie, have one ready for him. Well to make a long story short, do you know how long it took to win John? 4 months. And old John told the story himself.

John said, ” I was in my office one Sunday morning, and had just seen my last patient, and I was in a hurry to get out to the country club. I was just gong to spend the day boozing it up with my buddies. Before I could get out of my clinic, The Lord just came on me with such conviction that my wife was such a far better person than I could ever hope to be, that right there in my office I dropped to my knees and said `Lord, I’m a sinner, save me, and The Lord did.'” And this man has now been a Church leader almost ever since. He is a living example of what a believing wife can do without saying a word.

Most women get the idea that they’re going to drag their husband to church, and get everybody trying to collar him, and that’s not the way to do it according to my Bible. I’ve also seen it the other way around. In one instance the husband came to the class first and was saved, and got a burden for his wife to be saved, but she wanted nothing to do with The Word of God when he tried to read it to her. But he just kept living the example, and finally one day The Lord in His Sovereign Grace caused a friend of hers, who was a believer, to just stop in for coffee one morning, and in the process of having a cup of coffee, led this lady to The Lord. And they are still living the exemplary Christian life together today. So I know this works. So back to I Corinthians, and this is all Paul is saying, that if a wife or husband finds themselves still in a marriage relationship with a rank pagan unbeliever, to just hang in there. Don’t break up the marriage if at all possible, but live the example so that the day will come when they will open their heart to The Gospel (Ref. I Corinthians 15:1-4) and then you can have a happy marriage relationship, a happy home, and of course the children will more than likely follow suit.

 

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 2 * PART 2 * BOOK 27

SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS CONCERNING MARRIAGE – PART 2

Now back to where we left off at the end of the last lesson where Paul has just been almost crying at the question, “Don’t you know that you have no right, as a believer, as a child of God, as a member of the Body of Christ, to be unioned with a harlot.” Now that doesn’t necessarily limit that to a professional prostitute, because anytime you go outside of God’s bounds for sexual actions it becomes the same thing. Now verse 17:

I Corinthians 6:17

“But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”

Now again I always have to clarify that when Paul teaches that Christ is the Groom, and we are the Bride, and there is that marriage relationship. I hope that most people understand that that is merely a positional term. It certainly is not a sexual term because that’s going to all pass off the scene. Let’s look at Romans Chapter 7 for a moment where Paul uses that marriage relationship analogy there also. Even as he writes this to the Corinthians he also says to the Romans:

Romans 7:4a

“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; (In other words by the Work of the Cross we are now under Grace, and not under law) that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,…”

The concept here is that as soon as we become a child of God we are literally brought into union with Christ just like a husband and wife in the marriage relationship. And you find this concept all through Paul’s writings as he always writes to the Church, the Body of Christ, that’s you and I as believers. Now let’s look at one more in the Book of Ephesians Chapter 5, and verse 22, this is a series of verses that we have used over the years, but here again the marriage relationship is likened to our relationship spiritually with Christ.

Ephesians 5:22,23a

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, (not like a slave master over his slaves, but what is again the comparison?) even as Christ is the head of the church;….”

My, what a comparison. And I always have to remind people in order for Christ to become the Head of you and I as members of the Body of Christ, what did He have to do? He had to die, and suffer for us. Praise God the power of the resurrection overcame that death, but nevertheless He suffered and died for us as members of the Body. Now what does that tell a husband that he should be ready to do? The same thing. We should be ready to die for our wives if necessary. Verse 23 again:

Ephesians 5:23,24a

“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the saviour of the body, Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ,…”

And here is where I always teach that you can’t find anywhere that Christ is the King of the Church. It’s just not scripturally right to refer to Him as our King, and I know most people do. He is not our King, He is the Head of the Body. A King rules over his subjects, and we’re not Christ’s subjects. We’re joint-heirs with Him. We’re in a whole different position than the servant of a King. Now granted Christ is still going to come and be King of Kings and Lord of Lords absolutely, but The Book says, as members of the Body we’re going to be reigning and ruling not under Him, but where? With Him. See what a difference that makes. Now verse 25:

Ephesians 5:25

“Husbands, love your wives, (that’s a command) even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it:”

Now of course when Paul uses that term “Church” he’s not talking about that building on the corner, or some denomination that says, “They’re the only ones that will be in heaven.” (and there are some of those), but rather he’s talking about that universal compilation of believers who have been brought into the Body of Christ by a work of the Holy Spirit. And then that Body of Christ is in union with Him, and is joint-heirs with Him as well. Now let’s come back to I Corinthians again, and verse 18. Since we are now in union with Christ then we are to be just as careful about our fidelity to Him as the husband and the wife should be to each other. This is the whole moral principal now of Biblical teaching, and here it is:

I Corinthians 6:18

“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without (outside) the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.”

Now what’s Paul trying to scream at these Corinthians? Well I don’t care what your past lifestyle has been, I don’t care if you did take all this immoral activity for granted, now as a child of God you are on totally different territory. You are now a totally different person, and when you begin to involve yourself with immoral activities you are literally adulterating your position with Christ. Is that plain enough? I hope so, because this is exactly what the picture is. The believer has absolutely no business involving himself in extra-marital relationships. The marriage and family relationship is holy, it’s sanctified, and God has ordained it that way. You know that’s why I quit goose hunting long, long, ago when I found that that geese are monogamous. In other words a goose only has one mate for life, and if you shoot it’s mate it goes through the rest of it’s life alone, and I just couldn’t be a part of that anymore. If wild geese can be monogamous then why in the world can’t intelligent human beings? Well Paul is going to deal with that in the next chapter. Looking at the last part of verse 18 again we find:

I Corinthians 6:18b

“but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.”

I used to teach teen-agers in Sunday School class years ago, and would use the illustration of fire. Fire under control is one of the greatest things that God has given mankind. It warms our homes, and there’s nothing nicer than a good glowing fireplace or wood heater on a cold winter blustery day. Steel is another good example. How much steel would we ever produce without fire? None. In so much of our everyday life, fire under control is an absolute necessity, it is a blessing of God, but turn fire loose in a wildfire situation, and what have you got? Devastation, and tragedy, and destruction, and you name it. My what fire can do when it’s wild. Now that’s what sex is for the human race. Under the controls that God mandated it’s just as glorious as that fire in the fireplace. But you turn it loose as the world has done today, and what has it become? It’s a tragedy. Ruined lives, ruined families, ruined marriages, and all because of misappropriating this gift from God that we call sex.

I Corinthians 6:19

“What? know ye not that your body (this body of flesh and blood in which we live) is the temple (or the dwelling place) of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, (he’s there because of an act of God) and ye are not your own?”

Why aren’t you your own? Because you have been bought with a price. Now let’s turn to I Peter, Chapter 1, and verse 18 to follow this up. I know some people don’t think I know anything but Paul, but here’s one from Peter.

I Peter 1:18

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;”

Remember Peter is a Jew writing to Jews, and so he’s talking about all the traditions of Judaism, and all the Old Testament economy. And he says, “You weren’t purchased with that.”

I Peter 1:19

“But (you were) with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”

So what was the price of our redemption? The blood of Christ, and you don’t hear that much any more do you? We have been bought with the blood of Christ, and you just can’t bypass that, you can’t go around it, under it, or over it. It’s one of the basic tenants of Scripture, and how many times have we used it here in our study. We’ll look at it again as we start back to I Corinthians. Let’s stop in the Book of Hebrews Chapter 9 for a moment because I don’t want anyone to think that I’ve dreamed this up.

Hebrews 9:22

“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; (that goes back of course to the Old Testament sacrifices, but the last half of the verse is what we’re looking for, and were we are today.) and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

There is no forgiveness of sin without the shed blood of Christ. Now you know when we were back in the Old Testament I made comment to the fact that the word “atonement” was a misnomer. Those animal sacrifices never brought about atonement even though it was called the Day of Atonement. They couldn’t because it took the blood of Christ to fulfill the atoning work, and so we are now atoned, and we’re redeemed, and we’re brought with a price “The blood of Christ.” Now reading verse 20 again in I Corinthians Chapter 6:

I Corinthians 6:20

“For ye are brought with a price: therefore (and you know I always say what’s it there for? Well it’s there for since we’ve been bought with a price, the blood of Christ) glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

In other words, in this body of flesh in which we live, everything we do in this body should be to the glory of God. And what’s Paul driving at? If you’re going to be hobnobbing with the prostitutes, or with the immoral, then you do not glorify God in your body. It’s bringing reproach upon Him. Do you see that? Now all of that is an introduction to Chapter 7. And like I said, here’s a chapter that I wish I could just skip over, because I’m not a marriage counselor, but here Paul is dealing with the nitty gritty of the marriage relationship. And the reason that he’s having to deal with this is because these Corinthians had written him a letter of questions. And these questions were plaguing these Corinthian believers, and remember they had just come out of paganism. They were ignorant of how Christians should behave on several different matters. But here they were congregating in a small church, with lots of questions, and no Bible. They had some of the Old Testament of course, but none of the New Testament. And here Paul is answering these questions one by one.

I Corinthians 7:1

“Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.”

So the question must have been, “Is it right for men and women to marry?” And you might ask the question, “How in the world could they come up with a question like that?” Well you must again realize the situation. You know I’ve always taught from day one that when you read a portion of scripture the first thing you determine is who wrote it, and to whom was it written, and the third part is, what are the circumstances. Well here we have Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, writing to the congregation in the wicked city of Corinth who have come out of abject immoral, idolatrous background, and they are all hung up on this marriage relationship that now is Biblical compared to what it is in paganism. Now you want to remember that in paganism under idolatry, the marriage relationship didn’t amount to that much. It was really just a place to propagate the family, but so far as any moral integrity, or fidelity of the marriage relationship, the pagans knew nothing of that.

And so now they are going off the deep end. “Is it right for us to marry?” Now don’t misinterpret the last half of verse 1 when Paul says that it is good for a man not to touch a woman. He’s not saying that they shouldn’t get involved and get married. But he is saying in the light of these verses in Chapter 6 that as believers now men as well as women, have to be careful in their contact with people of the opposite sex in their everyday experience. And when Paul says, “That it’s good for a man not to touch a woman,” and if I under stand the Greek at all, what he’s talking about is that a man should not get physically involved with a woman to excite the sexual sense. He is certainly not bringing in the shaking of the hands with women. Even in the early Church they granted the “Holy Kiss” where they would embrace much like our middle easterners still do, and that also caused problems in the early Church, and so that was finally pushed out the back door.

So Paul is answering their questions, “It is not good for a man to touch a woman, not to embrace her, or get involved with her enough to excite the basic instinct of her or him.” But he is not saying that they can’t get married. And I know that a lot of people take this verse to mean that Paul is anti-marriage. No, he is not anti-marriage. In fact before we go any further let me show you some verses to back that up. Let’s go to the Book of Hebrews for a moment. We’ve already seen what God said back there in Genesis concerning the marriage relationship, and that they were to replenish the earth, they were to have children, and they were to enjoy the marriage relationship. Now look what Paul writes in the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 13, and verse 4. And he’s not going to utterly contradict this with his statement in I Corinthians Chapter 7, so you have to put the two of them together.

Hebrews 13:4a

“Marriage (As we understand it) is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled:…”

Now you know we’ve come mercifully away from Victorianism, which was the extreme in the other direction. Sex in Victorianism, was such a dirty word that it couldn’t be mentioned in public, and it was almost taboo except for the purpose of child bearing. Well that certainly wasn’t right, but now on the other hand we’ve gone too far the other way. Now completing verse 4 we find the other side of the coin opposite marriage being honourable, and the bed undefiled.

Hebrews 13:4b

“… but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

God is not going to wink at that. They’re not going to get away with it, and they’re going to face up with it some day. The Great White Throne Judgment is waiting for the lost, and they’re going to come up before God with all this on their record. Now if you will come back again to I Corinthians Chapter 7 again.

I Corinthians 7:2

“Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, (or falling into the trap of immoral activity) let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”

Now we have to be careful. Is the sole reason for getting married, not to be tempted to go out and be promiscuous? Well of course not, but it does have that redeeming effect, that if I have my wife, and she has me, then we’re not tempted then to go out into the world, and be promiscuous with those we have no business being with. And so this is what Paul is saying. Also I’ve got to bring you back to that situation at Corinth with all their rampant prostitution, and for a young man it was a constant temptation. So Paul says, “rather than being tempted with that, have your own wife.” Now verse 3:

I Corinthians 7:3

“Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: (we’re living in a day where you see so much wife beating, and wife abuse. Well why is that? Well again it’s because these people have not been taught plain, simple Biblical principals. And that is that a husband is to treat his wife as something that he would die for, and not as something that he can beat around the house. That was not God’s intention of the marriage relationship.) and likewise also the wife unto the husband.”

I had a letter recently asking why God condoned slavery? Why did He ever permit it to happen? Well, when you analyze the greatest period of time of human history, what percentage of the people were actually educated enough to carry on and be an entrepreneur, or be a good enough business person to make a good living. Not very many. The vast majority was totally illiterate, were totally incapable of decision making, and we saw that in Russia, after 70 years of communism. So under those kinds of circumstances a benevolent master was the best thing those people could have.

I think that most of you are aware that when slavery was holding forth in the South, there were masters like that. And those slaves loved them, didn’t they? They had it better than they could have ever hoped to have it out there on their own. But you see man has totally again adulterated God’s purposes, and instead of masters being benevolent they became bestial, and less than merciful, and then slavery became awful, and God never intended it to be that way. Well it’s the same way here. The husband and wife relationship, if it’s as God intended to be, should be a happy situation 365 days a year. There is absolutely no reason for husband and wives to be on a constant battle ground. I can say from experience, Iris and I have been married for 43 years and I think our kids will tell you that they have never heard us raise our voice at one another. It’s not because we’re so perfect, but rather because we know that The Lord is in control of our home. And this is way He wants it.

 

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 2 * PART 1 * BOOK 27

SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS CONCERNING MARRIAGE

As we get ready to resume our study let me share with you a comment we received yesterday from one of our television viewers. She said in a letter that she even feels like she loves all the people in our studio audience, as it seems like she is part of us, and that’s the way we want you to feel. We want you to be part of this ministry. Now let’s get back into what this program is all about, and that is pretty much a verse by verse study of The Word. In our last lesson we got down to verse 11, but we will go back a couple of verses and start with verse 9.

We must always remember the background for Corinth. I can’t emphasize it too much or too often. This was a unique situation. This was a unique congregation of believers unlike anything else that Paul experienced, because you see Corinth was such a bustling commercial city located between two sea ports. So you had people coming in from all over the then-known world, tremendous exchange of money, wealth, and culture, and all the rest of it. But the main thing you have to understand as you read Corinthians is that the city of Corinth was steeped in paganism, in pagan idolaters, and the worship of the Greek gods and goddesses. So with that kind of background, and such gross immorality, and we think it’s getting bad in America, but listen we haven’t quite reached yet the level of Corinth. Our country will probably get there before long at the rate we’re sliding, (II Timothy 3:1-5) but as yet we are not as far down the tube as Corinth was, and so here is where Paul is now as he writes to these Corinthians believers, just recently converted out of that kind of a lifestyle, now look what he says in verse 9:

I Corinthians 6:9,10

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: (in other words don’t think for a minute that just because God is a God of love, and God is gracious, and merciful, that He is going to let these kind of people into His Heaven short of their Salvation.) neither fornicators, (the grossly immoral people) nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

None of those will inherit the kingdom of God They are in the hands of Satan, and they are going to be where Satan will be for all eternity, but they don’t have to be – look at the next verse.

I Corinthians 6:11

“And such (what’s the next word?) were (past tense) some of you: but ye are washed, (in other words they had been cleansed of all their wickedness) but ye are sanctified, (they were now set apart for God’s purposes) but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

And to comment on being justified, you remember when we studied in the Book of Romans it’s that judicial act of God whereby He declares the sinner, “Just as if they had never sinned.” In other words God cleanses, and justifies the idolater as though he had never fallen down before an idol. He justifies the drunkard just as though he had never taken a drink. He justifies the adulterer just as though they’d never committed adultery. Now this is the beauty of Salvation by Grace. So in verse 11 he tells us that we are washed. You know I’m always emphasizing so much of what Paul writes, but on this one just turn back to the Gospel of John, and here we find The Lord Jesus Himself uses the term with regard to the twelve disciples, or to the eleven, because Judas never was washed. So in John Chapter 13 we have Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, and we’ll begin at verse 6, and this was just shortly before His crucifixion.

John 13:5-9

“After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, `Lord, doest thou wash my feet?’ Jesus answered and said unto him, `What I do thou knowest not now; (remember scripture, and God dealing with men is a progressive thing. Peter didn’t understand what Jesus was doing right then, but he would somewhere down the road.) but thou shalt know hereafter.’ Peter saith unto him, `Thou shalt never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered him, `If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.’ Simon Peter saith unto him, `Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.'”

In other words what’s Peter saying? “Well if washing my feet can do this much then give me a bath. My what greater experience than to have The Lord of glory give you a total bath, and Peter wasn’t the least bit shy about the matter. Now verse 10:

John 13:10,11

“Jesus saith to him, `He that is washed (past tense) needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. (Now here the Lord is talking about the twelfth disciple which was Judas, which you pick up in the next verse.) For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.'”

So it wasn’t indicating in verse 10 that Peter’s Salvation wasn’t complete, that it was, but why then need the foot washing? Well as I have explained before, the main place of bathing were the public baths. And after they had left the public bath with their sandals on they had to go down those dusty trails and roads, and by the time they got home, what condition were their feet in? They were again filthy. So did he have to go back and get another bath? No he’d had his bodily bath, but he had to wash his feet. Well the indication is then that’s it’s the same thing in our Christian experience. Once we’ve been saved we’re washed. See? Now let’s come back to I Corinthians, and this is what He’s even telling these horrible Corinthians who had been in the most gross of sins.

And even to today we’re living in a society where a good percentage of America has had at least some exposure to the Scriptures. They have probably been to Sunday School when they were kids. A lot of denominations put their children through catechism and so forth, and this at least is exposing them to some of the things of The Bible. But these Corinthians had none. They knew absolutely nothing of the things of God. They knew nothing of Adam or Abraham, or Moses and the Law, they were pagan, they were idol worshipers. When we were in Corinth we came to this out-cropping that must have been at least 200 feet high, it was almost a sheer cliff, and right at the top of this out-cropping is this temple to the goddess. And I asked the guide how in the world did they get the building material from down here to up there? Slave labor, many, many hours of hard work, not to build some beautiful library, campus, or place of education, but rather a temple to a female goddess. Imagine, but you see that’s all they lived for. Whatever they could work, and sweat, and do to somehow appease their gods and goddesses. Now this wasn’t just Corinth, it was the whole ancient world. Now then along with the worship of these goddesses (and that was even worse than the worship of the male gods), was gross immorality, and I’ve pointed this out ever since we’ve been in the Book of Corinthians. This gross immorality was just part and parcel of their everyday experience, they didn’t know any different. And it wasn’t just the common people, it was all the way to the top. Now coming back to Chapter 6 we find Paul telling the Corinthians:

I Corinthians 6:11

“And such were some of you: but (now) ye are washed,…”

Now just like the eleven disciples, they had their Salvation, they were washed of their sins, and iniquities, and so were these Corinthians. So what does it all boil down to? Just like Paul said in Romans, “That where sin abounds, what is always greater?” God Grace! That is if the individual wants to partake of it. Now then Paul says at the end of that verse:

I Corinthians 6:11b

“…but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

Now here again is the working of the Three Persons of the Godhead. God the Father in Heaven looks down on sinful men. And the Holy Spirit in turn convicts sinful men of the finished work of God the Son, and so the whole Triune God comes in and washes these kinds of people of which you and I are no different. We might not have been steeped in idolatry, or practicing gross immorality, but the potential was there. My heart was born just as wicked as these Corinthians, and so was yours, but as a result of the Grace of God, and the finished Work of the Cross, and our faith in it, we too have been washed, sanctified, and justified. Verse 12, and this may throw a curve at people.

I Corinthians 6:12

“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

Now what is Paul saying? Is Paul saying, I can go ahead and steal? Is Paul saying I can go ahead and commit adultery? Or covet? No. What Paul is really saying is that he is no longer under that demanding burden of the Law, but is now under Grace. Now let’s go back and compare some Scripture, and the first one we will go to is Romans 6:14, and this is where we get it the most clear.

Romans 6:14

“For sin (or that old adamic nature) shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”

Now if you’re not under the Law then it doesn’t have any effect on you. And that’s what he means back in verse 12 when Paul says: “All things are lawful unto me,…” because I’m not under the Law. Now a thought just comes to mind of another Scripture in Romans Chapter 7, and let’s look at verses 5 & 6:

Romans 7:5,6

“For when we were in the flesh, (we were like those Corinthians) the motions of sins, which were by the law, (all the things that the Law was revealing) did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; (by the Law) that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” (of the Law)

Now what’s Paul saying? That we’re no longer under those demands of the Ten Commandments of Moses, but rather we are now under the control of the Holy Spirit. Now let’s be logical. Will the Holy Spirit ever lead a believer to do something contrary to the Law? No, of course not. The Holy Spirit will never lead someone into adultery, or idolatry, or stealing, now that’s just logical isn’t it? But without that burden of the Law, and the fear of breaking it, we now have Grace, and the Holy Spirit is the One Who leads us, and guides us, and directs us so that we keep the Law, but it’s under a whole set of different circumstances. And that’s exactly what Paul is talking about here in I Corinthians when he says:

I Corinthians 6:12a

“All things are lawful unto me…”

Paul is not under that burden of Law per se, he is free from that, but he’s not going to take advantage of it, and make license of it, because the Holy Spirit is now controlling every part of his life, and so it should be with us believers. Now in verse 13 we’re going to come into something that we’re going to cover a little more in detail, I think, when we get over to Chapter 8, but here in this verse Paul brings out one of the physical aspects of everyday life, and that is:

I Corinthians 6:13a

“Meats for the belly, (or food for the stomach) and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them….”

In other words, those are part of our temporal existence. We can’t go a day hardly without food, we get hungry, and that’s the way God intended it, but the day is coming when that won’t be true. When we get our new resurrected body we’re not going to have to eat three meals a day. I think for those of us who love to eat The Lord is going to have the pleasure of eating, otherwise He wouldn’t have eaten in His resurrected body there on the shores of Galilee. And you know that He ate fish that morning, and I imagine like me He had some bread. But anyway the resurrected body is not going to need food, and demand it day after day. So this is part of our temporal existence. Now in the rest of verse 13 Paul goes on into another area of everyday life, and that’s sexuality.

I Corinthians 6:13b,14

“Now the body is not for fornication, (The body was not created for man to live in immorality) but for the Lord: and the Lord for the body.” The body was created for The Lord, and The Lord for the body, it’s a two way street. Now verse 14:

“And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.”

Now here’s just one little introduction to resurrection which is going to come full-blast when we get to Chapter 15. When we get to that chapter we will see more on resurrection than any other place in The Bible. But you see here Paul is just sort of whetting our appetite, he’s giving us just an inkling of that which is yet to come.

I Corinthians 6:15a

“Know ye not…”

You know what he’s saying? Well how did these believers know? Well Paul was with these people long enough to lay out all these Biblical principals of morality, and spiritual things. Now granted he wasn’t with them long. If it hadn’t been for the miraculous working power of God, Christianity would have never gotten off the ground. It was just an impossible set of odds, because these Corinthians were all so steeped in idolatry, and the Jews were just as steeped in their Judaism that, had it not been a miracle, Christianity would have never survived. Paul was never in any one place very long. Now I can see the Jewish Church at Jerusalem prospering to a certain degree because the disciples continued on with that ministry teaching the Jews only, and they stayed there for many years. But every place that Paul established a church it was only for a short time. I think Antioch was the longest and that was only about 1 1/2 years. At Thessalonica it was just for about 2 or 3 weeks, and then he moved on, so how in the world did those new believers fresh out of paganism make it? Well I can’t understand it, except that it was the miraculous power of God that Christianity was now to take off and start permeating the whole Roman empire.

I Corinthians 6:15

“Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? (remember Paul is talking to believers) shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the member an harlot? God forbid.”

Now you see we think this is horrible language. Why has The Bible got this in here for? Hey this was their whole lifestyle. Remember when those 1000 prostitute goddesses of Corinth would leave their temple at night they would in turn go out into the street, and the men of that city were confronted with that every night of the week, and so this is why The Bible is so explicit. It was so rampant, and it didn’t stop there. Their immorality went to the very depths, and we’re seeing it happen in our own country today. Our society is getting closer and closer to that of Corinth, so this letter is becoming more appropriate for our society with each passing day. Now verse 16:

I Corinthians 6:16

“What? know ye not that he which is joined (that is sexually) to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.”

Well where does Paul get this? Let’s go back to the Book of Genesis, Chapter 2 for a moment and I’ll show you.

Genesis 2:21-24

“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man, And Adam said, `This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.'”

Now in our present day weddings the kids like to have two candles burning, and at the end of the service they snuff the two, and light the one. Well that’s the whole concept, but you see they take it so lightly. In a recent poll over 50% of young married couples expected their marriage to end up in divorce within the first year or two. Now this is shocking, and I know it is, but these marriages don’t last. They go into the marriage with absolutely no commitment, and do you know why they do it? The Church has failed to teach our young people, as they no longer understand these Biblical principals of marriages, sex, kids, and all the rest. It’s completely unknown to them so consequently they can enter into this marriage relationship with no commitment, or no moral foundation, no anchor. No wonder we’re in trouble.

But you see the Biblical concept has never changed from the Garden of Eden to this day, and that is “God intended for one man married for life to one woman,” and if death interrupted it, as we’ll be seeing over in Chapter 7, then yes they were free to remarry. Now remember even the taunters of Jesus’ day brought up the subject of divorce. They said,“Well Moses granted a writing of divorcement. How about that?” Well what was Jesus’ answer? “Granted because of your sin, Moses granted writing of divorce, but in the beginning it was not so.” In the beginning when God laid out the format for marriage and family it was one man for one woman until death do them part. Now come back to I Corinthians Chapter 6.

I Corinthians 6:16

“What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot (prostitute) is one body?…”

So you become one with that prostitute. That’s some sobering thinking isn’t it? So consequently Paul says:

I Corinthians 6:18

“Flee fornication.” (Immorality)

 

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 1 * PART 4 * BOOK 27

I CORINTHIANS 4:3 – 6:11 – PART 2

Now back to where we left off in the last lesson, and we’re still dealing with the problems that were besieging the Corinthian Church. They were believers, they were saved, and we’re going to meet them in glory some day, but they had problems. As I mentioned a couple of lessons ago, Paul is addressing them in response to a letter they had written to him asking how they were supposed to deal with these things, and so consequently by Holy Spirit inspiration Paul is just unloading on them. And of course, the reason is the things that were a problem in Corinth in A.D. 60 are the same problems we have today. The human race doesn’t change, and so we still have some of the same problems in our Churches and personal lives as the Corinthians did. Now we’ll start with verse 9 and in these next few verses are some rather shocking statements.

I Corinthians 5:9,10

“I wrote unto you in an epistle (and evidently Paul wrote more than just these two letters to the Corinthians) not to company with fornicators:” (or immoral people.) Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.”

Do you know what that’s saying? If you were to go through a whole week of life, and never rub elbows with someone who is immoral, or is in sort of a gross sin, you’d have to leave this world. Because it’s impossible, and here we are in Oklahoma, and we like to think that we’re in The Bible belt, but really we’re no different than any place else. And those of you who work in large office complexes, or in a large production facilities, and you’re rubbing elbows with the cross-section of our society then you are rubbing elbows with every one of these classes of people. There are the immoral, the covetous, the wicked, I mean they are the norm no matter where we live. So when Paul says not to have fellowship with immoral people, he said I’m not talking about the immoral people out there in the work place, but rather I’m talking about those who are immoral and members of your church. Just look at verse 10 again.

I Corinthians 5:10,11

“Yet not altogether with the fornicators (or immoral) of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; (for if you’re not going to rub elbows with them then you must leave this world.) for then must ye needs go out of the world. (But now the flip side) But now I have written unto you not to keep company, (don’t have fellowship) if any man that is called a brother (claims to be a believer) be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.”

So with a fellow believer such as this you are not even to sit down and eat. Now I know this is strong language, but what was the purpose? To make that person feel that he is being set aside and left out. That he is no longer part of the Christian company. And what’s the purpose? To bring him to his senses. Because after all, if a person has been genuinely saved even though he goes out into sin, and if The Lord hasn’t yet taken him out, as we saw in the last lesson, way down deep this person is miserable. He can’t be happy. Don’t tell me that a sinning believer can be happy, they can’t be because they know that they are doing wrong, and The Lord is dealing with them. And then if fellow believers began to shun them it’s really going to come home. So this is the purpose of it all. It isn’t to purposely be nasty or anything like that, but God has got a reason, that if you have a person that is an acquaintance believer and is acting like this, then ostracize him or her for a while, but let them know why. Because the Scripture has admonished us not to have fellowship with those kind of people who claim to be believers, and we’re talking only about believers here. Now verse 12:

I Corinthians 5:12

“For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?…”

In other words, what’s Paul saying? I have no authority to judge the lost world. Here we need to go back to Romans 8:6. We have to understand that this isn’t just one little quirk of Scripture. This is a continuing doctrine throughout Paul letters on how to behave as a believer. I mean this is what it all boils down to, this is practical everyday living for you and I as believers.

Romans 8:6

“For to be carnally (or fleshly minded outside of Christ, outside of a Salvation experience) minded is death; (spiritual death. They will someday be eternally separated from God if they never step into Salvation) but to be spiritually minded (that is to have Salvation) is life and peace.”

As we saw back in Romans 5 that to be justified by faith is to have the peace of God. Now verse 7.

Romans 8:7

“Because the carnal mind (the old sinful nature of lost people) is enmity (an enemy) against God: for it (the carnal mind) is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

And in that light you’ve heard me say it more than once, and you’ll hear me say it again if The Lord tarries, “You cannot legislate Christian morality.” You just can’t do it. You can’t force the unbelieving world to to live a Christian life. Forget it, because they’re going to go their own way, they’re going to do their own thing, and there’s nothing we can do about it except pray for them I guess. Remember the lost are enemies of God, and are not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can they be. Now verse 8:

Romans 8:8

“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Even if a person is good, if they have not experienced Salvation they cannot please God. Now coming back to I Corinthians we find Paul saying that he can’t have anything to do with the unsaved world. Those immoral Corinthians I have nothing to do with them except preach them The Gospel of Salvation, that Jesus died for their sins, was buried, and rose again. And that’s all we can do. All we can do is sow the seed, and we can’t force anything, we can’t push it down their throat, because it’s something that only God can do. Now looking at verse 12 again.

I Corinthians 5:12

“For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? (Now Paul comes back to the believing community) do not ye judge them that are within?”

Now remember we stressed back in Romans that we’re not to judge, and for the most part that’s true. But when it comes to discipline within the believing community, and we are totally aware as the Corinthians were in Chapter 5 of a gross immoral sin, are we just to turn the other way, and say, “I can’t judge!” No way. We are to take the bull by the horns, and we are to point out to that person that they are living in sin. Let me show you a verse in Galatians in Chapter 6, and as I said when I started teaching these letters of Paul, that it was a lot harder to keep people interested in practical Christian living, and doctrine than it is when I teach the Book of Genesis or Revelation. But this is so practical, this is what we need today regardless what happens down the road prophetically.

Galatians 6:1

“Brethren, (Paul is speaking to believers) if a man (or woman) be overtaken in a fault, (in other words a rather gross sin) ye which are spiritual, (in the Church leadership) restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

But you see the average attitude of the Church today when someone falls into a gross sin is they make light of it, they joke about it. Hey have you heard – But that should never be the mindset of the believer. If we hear of a Christian who has fallen into sin, it should just break our heart. We should be burdened and pray for that person, and as he instructs here if you’re in a place of Church authority or leadership you should go to that person and do all that you can to restore them into fellowship. You don’t condemn them, and say so be it. Then Paul says to do it in the spirit of meekness, and not with pride – like, this could never happen to me. Oh yes it could. Because he says next “lest thou also be tempted.” and fall into the same trap. None of us are totally immune, and never forget that. And then verse 2:

Galatians 6:2

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

Even these people who are having a time of living a good upright Christian life, bear their burdens, help them to overcome their weakness. Be an encouragement to them, because there’s no need to be a Christian failure, there’s no need to constantly live in sin, these people can overcome it. Now back to I Corinthians once again.

I Corinthians 5:13

“But them that are without (The unsaved) God judgeth. (That’s His prerogative, and never ours. But coming back to the Church environment Paul says) Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”

Now that is having dealt with them, after trying to get them to recognize their sin, and confess it, and get victory over it, and if they still refuse, and will not, then Paul says to put them aside until they come to their senses. Now we come into Chapter 6, and yet another problem. I mean it’s almost discouraging in a way that this little church in Corinth of born again people brought out of paganism, had turned their backs on idols, and yet they were plagued with problems. But do you know why they’re in this Book? Because we have some of the same problems today. And so this becomes tremendous lesson material for everyone of us, for every local congregation.

I Corinthians 6:1

“Dare any of you, having a matter against another, (a fellow believer) go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?”

In other words what’s happening? Hey these Corinthians have gotten into a real wrangle with one of their fellow Church members. And instead of taking this matter before the local church body, or maybe to the pastor, and church leaders, the elders, deacons, or what ever you want to call them, where were they going? To the lawyers – to the courts. I was reading a quote I believe in one of Charles Stanley’s book last night, that someone had come to him with a statement, “That whenever divorce comes into the picture, who are the only ones that really profit?” The lawyers. Everyone else gets hurt, everyone else comes into a place of devastation, but the lawyers walk away smiling. And Paul is saying here not to go to the world’s lawyers and to the courts with your problems. Keep them if possible in the confines of the believers. Now of course there comes a point when you may have to go to the world’s judicial system, and I dealt with that back in the Book of Romans. But when it came to mundane things among believers, Paul says, “Settle it within the confines of the local church.” Now verse 2:

I Corinthians 6:2a

“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?…”

What do you suppose that’s talking about? The Millennium! This is where I get the idea that yes we’re going to have places of responsibility when The Lord sets up His Kingdom. And we’re going to have responsibility according to the faithfulness you’ve been in this sojourn here on the earth. And yes we’re going to reign and rule with Christ just like it says in the Book of Romans. But here Paul sort of puts the frosting on the cake, and says, “Now look, get practiced up.” That’s what he’s saying. Learn how to deal with problems with people because the day is coming when you will be doing it constantly. You’re going to be ruling over the world, under Christ of course. And so we’re going to have these places of responsibility, and here Paul says, “My land, why can’t you deal with some of these problems within the local Church if one day you’re going to rule the world?” Pretty practical isn’t it? Now continuing on with verse 2:

I Corinthians 6:2b

“…and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”

Now do you know what Paul is saying? The world out there has none of the wisdom that God has imparted to every believer. You and I are unique in that regard, God has imparted wisdom to the believer just by virtue of your being a saved person. You have more common horse sense than the greatest educated philosopher out there in the world, and Paul is driving that home. “Listen you have a wisdom that the world doesn’t have. Now use it.” Now verse 3:

I Corinthians 6:3

“Know ye not that we shall judge (judge here refers back to government or ruling) angels? (Angels are even going to be beneath us. What a position we have waiting for us someday when we reign and rule with Christ, and we’re even going to be above the host of the angels as we reign and rule with Christ on that earthly Kingdom for that 1000 year millennium rule. Then if you have that kind of future) how much more things that pertain to this life?” It’s really something isn’t it? Hey believers we’re somebody when God is in it, absolutely we are. Now verse 4:

I Corinthians 6:4

“If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.”

That flies in the face, doesn’t it? Ordinarily who do we depend on to be the leaders of the church? Well the ones who are most looked up to, and maybe those who have a little more of the world’s goods than the rest of us. But what does the Scripture say? “Hey use the person at the bottom of the totem pole, those that aren’t esteemed as much as the rest, and verse 5:

I Corinthians 6:5

“I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? (Now we know that they didn’t have a huge church, but listen they had a pretty good cross section of the society of Corinth who had become believers. But it appears no one was willing to use the wisdom that God had given them.) no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?”

Paul says, “They’re there if you will just give them the opportunity.” But Paul says, “You don’t do that.” Where are they going with their matters? They’re going out into the city judges into the courts.

I Corinthians 6:6

“But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.”

How many times do we read accounts of this kind of doing in our daily paper? And it just becomes a shame to Christianity in general. So you see things haven’t changed. It was no different in Corinth as it is in America today. Now verse 7:

I Corinthians 6:7,8

“Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, (Paul is condemning them for their short coming) because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.”

Now in the next verse Paul is going to pick up a new theme, and we’ll finish it today or we’ll pick it up again in our next lesson. And Paul will be dealing with the whole concept of Christian marriage. And it’s important to remember that Corinth was a city of pagans, and most generally in the pagan world there is no real sanctity in marriage. The marriage was just simply a place to have children, but so far as any fidelity, any integrity of the marriage relationship, there was none. There was a story in one of the major news magazines within the past year about the nation of Thailand, I believe it was. And of the rampant prostitution in that country. It was so rampant that the average Thai husband thought nothing of going to a house of prostitution, and this reporter was interviewing one of these young wives. And the question was, “Doesn’t it bother you when your husband goes to one of these places?” And the wife said, “No, because it’s a custom. Mama put up with it, Grandma put up with it, and so on.

Well the city of Corinth was no different, and these people had been saved from that kind of background. But just because they were saved from it didn’t mean that it still didn’t have that pull. Do you see that? So now then beginning with verse 9, Paul is going all the way through Chapter 7, and this is a Chapter I wish I could just leap over because I’m not a marriage counselor by any stretch of the imagination, but again it’s such plain language that we’re going to go ahead and deal with it. So beginning with verse 9 we find:

I Corinthians 6:9a

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?…”

Now you know we have groups that more or less in their doctrines maintain that somehow or other everybody is going to go to Heaven. That there is no such things as an eternal doom for the lost. Well that’s not what The Book says. The Book says even from the pen of this Apostle, “That the unrighteous are not going to go to Heaven.” They will go to the other place, hell. All right now continuing on with verse 9:

I Corinthians 6:9b,10

“…Be not deceived: (and here Paul lists them again. This old Book is right up front, it doesn’t pull any punches, It tells it like it is, and what does it say?) neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Now that’s what The Book says, it’s plain as day, and now verse 11.

I Corinthians 6:11a

“And such were (past tense) some of you: (now that tells you exactly what some of the Corinthians believers had been. It tells you exactly where they had come from. They had been in that whole category of wickedness, at least some of them had.) but ye are washed,…”

From here I wanted to go to John’s Gospel, and pick up this same theme about being washed in John Chapter 13, but we’ll pick it up next time. Paul says that you are washed, what does that mean? You’re clean even these Corinthians who had come out of an abject immoral life style, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them had some of the sexually transmitted diseases that we have even today. But they’re saved, they’re washed, they’re Heaven-bound. So looking at verse 11 again:

I Corinthians 6:11

“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God.”

Now it’s the same way for people today. It doesn’t matter how vile the background, when we’ve been justified, then we’re “washed.”

 

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 1 * PART 3 * BOOK 27

I CORINTHIANS 4:3 – 6:11

Now let’s come right back to our study, and begin I Corinthians Chapter 5. We love to hear when you write and say that you study right along with us. That just thrills our hearts. As you know we never try to promote any particular group or ourselves, but we just want to help people to understand The Bible, because it’s the greatest Book on earth. But you know there are so many that won’t even attempt to read it because they say, “Well I can’t understand it.” But, oh yes you can, and the whole secret to understanding The Bible and having it come to life for you is this; pay attention to whom a particular Scripture is written to, and don’t confuse Israel with the Church. God was careful in separating the two, and we should be also. And for the most part when God is speaking to the Church Age believer (that’s you and I) He does this through the Apostle Paul’s writings. A lot of the things that were applicable to Israel are not to the Church today.

But I always have to remind you that the things that God hated in the land of Israel He still hates today. God does not change. The God of Israel in Genesis is the still the same God that we deal with today, but He deals with us, the Church, under far different circumstances. We are now on resurrection ground, we are now being dealt with as people who are to believe for their Salvation that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, as recorded in I Corinthians 15:1-4, and not merely a Shekinah glory back there in the Temple in Jerusalem. We’re not under a mandate to keep the Law and so forth. But nevertheless always remember that God has not changed in His attitude toward sin, and righteousness.

Now I think that we are ready for I Corinthians Chapter 5, and I might remind you that this is not a very pretty chapter. It’s another one of those chapters that I’d just as soon skip over, and not have to comment on. But if we’re taking this more or less chapter by chapter we have to deal with it. And here Paul writes to this same carnal congregation that we’ve been dealing with for a long time:

I Corinthians 5:1

“It is reported commonly (in other words this wasn’t something that was being done in a corner, but rather this was something that was open, and the whole Corinthian congregation knew about it.) that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.”

In other words those pagan Gentiles wouldn’t do what this couple is doing, and what is it? Probably a step-son and his step-mother are more or less living together as husband and wife, and it was a gross immoral situation even for Corinth, as immoral as that city was. And then here is the real point of condemnation from Paul.

I Corinthians 5:2

“And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.”

That is from the Church congregation, not to put him to death, but to remove him from fellowship. Now let’s analyze these two verses. Here we have this instance of gross immorality within the confines of the local Corinthian Church, they all knew about it, and yet did it bother any of them? Evidently not, so Paul tells them that they’re puffed up. I think the Scofield Bible has a very good footnote at the bottom of this page. Remember there are three segments to this congregation. They were those who liked the teaching of Peter, Apollos, and Paul, but we find none of them bothered by this act. You would think that one of these segments would be up in arms, and say, “We’ve got to do something about this. This is bringing reproach upon the name of Christ throughout the city of Corinth, because even the pagans know what is going on.” It was something that wasn’t being hidden. Now verse 3: We’re going to find Paul is going to do something about, he’s not going to let it slide.

I Corinthians 5:3

“For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, (Paul says that although I’m not with you in body, but I am in the spirit, I) have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,”

Paul is telling them there is no room for argument, you have to deal with it. This is what we have to realize that even in our own society we are fast becoming not much better than Corinth. Isn’t that right? Our whole moral fiber is just simply falling away. It is just simply rotting away from under, and these very same acts can take place in local churches, and no one thinks anything of it. I’ve had people call from various states that ask the question, “Well what are we supposed to do? This couple is living in sin, they are open about it, they walk in church as though nothing is amiss.” Hey that’s not the way it is supposed to be, and this is what Paul is having to deal with. If there is gross immorality, or a gross act of covetousness, and so forth, then the Church has to make a point of it. And you can’t just turn your eyes, and say, “Oh well let them live, because it’s a free country.” Not in the realm of the Church it isn’t supposed to be. So Paul is telling us the remedy. You have to take this couple, confront them with it as a Body of Believers. And then in verse 4 we find.

I Corinthians 5:4,5a

“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, (you see this is a corporate thing now, it’s the Church, The Body Of Christ, located in Corinth) and my spirit, (and naturally the Holy Spirit would be) with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh,…”

Now remember the flesh, soul, and spirit are not the same. So Paul is not demanding the destruction of this man’s soul and spirit as a believer. Now this person is a believer, or they wouldn’t be addressing him as such in the Corinthian letter. But they could turn such a person as this over to the power of Satan to destroy his physical life or flesh. And we know according to Job that this is in the power of Satan when God grants it to him. In the dealing with Job, we find Satan could go no further with Job than God permitted, and it’s the same way here. Paul is saying in so many words: That if this couple will not clean up their act, and come away from their open sin, then turn them over to the power of Satan to destroy the flesh, to take their lives physically from them lest they keep on bringing reproach to the name of Christ. That does not mean that they’re going to be annihilated spiritually. Let’s look at that aspect as we continue:

I Corinthians 5:5b

“…that the spirit (of this individual) may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

Now I know this is hard for a lot of people to comprehend, that people living in this kind of a sinful condition are still saved? Yes. That’s what The Book says. But these kind of people if they’re believers, aren’t going to get away with it. It has to be dealt with by the Church, and God’s going to deal with it. Now the Scripture says that even though God is going to take these kind of believers out of their physical existence, they won’t lose their Salvation, and then he admonishes the believing community that we are never even to pray for the death of someone like this. We can find this in the little letter of I John. I hadn’t intended to do this until we get to Chapter 11, but since we’ve gone this far with it we might as well go ahead. In I John Chapter 5 let’s drop in at verse 16, and here he’s dealing with pretty much the same kind of a situation. It may not have been as gross, but it was sin in the Church.

I John 5:16

“If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. (In other words, their sin isn’t as gross as the sin we saw in the Book of Corinthians) There is a sin unto death:…”

In other words, in the life of a believer who goes into deep sin, open sin, God has mandated first and foremost a discipline action on the part of the Church to restore such a one to fellowship, and you find that in Galatians Chapter 6:1

Galatians 6:1

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

You see we’re all human. Every human being is just as prone to fall into sin as the next one, but hopefully if we’re spiritually taught, and have kept these things, this won’t happen. But it can happen to anybody. John is delineating that there were some sins that would not cause God to take them out of their physical life. But some sins He will, and I’ve seen it happen, and I’m sure you have where a believer will refuse to come away from his sinful lifestyle. You can deal with them, and deal with them, and all of a sudden, “Bingo.” Just a sudden heart attack, or sudden car accident, and they’re gone. Well God takes them home lest they keep on bringing reproach to His Name. And that’s exactly what John is dealing with, and so he says:

I John 5:b

“…There is a sin unto death: (a believer can come to that place where God will take his life. Now then look at the very last part of that verse) I do not say that he shall pray for it.”

In other words no believer or Church Body ever has the right to pray for the death of an erring believer, because that is never permissible, that’s in God’s hand. Now let’s look at verse 17.

I John 5:17

“All unrighteousness is sin: (whether that sin be a little one or a great one) and there is a sin not unto death.”

Now what’s implied here in verse 17? That some sins are gross enough that it will cause God to take that believer out ahead of time. Now let’s come back to I Corinthians Chapter 5, and here’s where we have it. This man is evidently committing a sin unto death if he does not repent of it, and turn around. If he’s going to continue on living with his step-mother in a marital relationship, then God’s going to take him out, and that’s all there is to it. Now verse 5.

I Corinthians 5:5,6

“To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit (soul) may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Now Paul comes back to the Corinthians as a congregation.

“Your glorying (remember the words `puffed up?’) is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”

What has happened to the Church of today? Just exactly that. I remember years and years ago, we were visiting in a church and I heard a Sunday School teacher or preacher, say, “You know the Church has gotten into dire straits because as these various social sins came along, we would just say, `Well we can accommodate that,’ and then here would come something a little more drastic, and we would say, `We’re not going to cause a ruckus, we can accommodate, we can live with that.'” So over the years what has happened? All the gross sins of the world have now come into the Church, and the Church thinks nothing of it. Well I’m not going to stand here, and say that we can reverse that. I can understand that Church discipline today is almost an impossible thing. But I have to say what The Book says, and The Book says, “We have to deal with born again church members who are bringing reproach to the Name of Christ.” We have to do whatever has to be done to bring them back, or bring them to the place where The Lord will take them home. And the lesson here in verse 6 is if you’re going to leave a little leaven it isn’t very long until it takes over the whole lump. You people who bake bread know that. You put in a little bit of yeast, and you can’t keep part of the dough unleavened, it’s all going to come under the effect of the yeast. Well Paul is using that analogy for the Church. If we allow open gross sin then it won’t be long until the whole congregation will lose their testimony, and do you know what the world will say as they drive by? I don’t live any worse than they do, I don’t need Christianity. And then we wonder why we’ve lost our testimony, well that’s the reason. Now verse 7. How were they to deal with it?

I Corinthians 5:7a

“Purge out therefore the old leaven,…”

Or that which is causing the whole lump to be leavened, purge it out. In fact, what do our Orthodox Jewish people do before Passover? Well, they go through the whole house from the basement to the attic, looking for leaven or yeast. What was the picture? Well it went all the way back to, of course, the Passover in Egypt. The very next day after Passover were the seven days of unleavened bread. They were now to be pictured as a nation whose sins had been atoned for or cleansed, and they were to picture that with the unleavened bread. Paul is bringing that same analogy into our teaching today. We have to look at sin in our individual lives. We have to look at sin in the life of the Church just like leaven in the bread of Egypt. Now reading on.

I Corinthians 5:7a

“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, (now what does it mean that we’re unleavened? Well we’ve been forgiven, we’ve been cleansed, and so far as God is concerned we are without sin. But if we leave a little bit of leaven in our life, then it isn’t too long until it begins to expand and expand, and then it will consume us.)For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”

I don’t have to take you into the Scriptures because you know what happened; but what happened on the night of Passover in Egypt? The Israelites put the blood on the two side posts and the one at the top, and in your mind’s eye you can picture the outline of the Cross, and I’m sure that’s what God had on His mind. Alright, here is the beauty of it. These Jews who had been slaves now in Egypt had been told that if they would kill that sacrificial lamb, and then place the blood on the two door posts and lintel, and at the stroke of midnight as they would be in those little huts there in Egypt, the death angel was going to go over all the houses in Egypt and kill every first born male.

Now as the Israelites huddled together in those huts, were they in fear of the death angel? No, not if they were people of faith, because they had put the blood on the door, and they had absolutely nothing to fear. They didn’t stand in those little huts quivering in their boots, they were secure knowing that the blood was on the door, and they were covered. Now Paul is bringing that all the way up to the Church age. That even as our Passover, when Christ died on that Roman Cross, and shed His blood for you and I, and when we come under that blood we are passed over from any judgment. Let me take you back to the little letter of I John again for a moment, and this time we will look at Chapter 2, and we’ll begin with verse 1:

I John 2:1a

“My little children, (who’s John writing to? Believers) these things write I unto you, that ye sin not….”

Now God never encourages the believer to sin, but God being Omnipotent, God being the Creator, God knows that we are going to sin, and some a little quicker than others, but we’re going to sin. That old Adam is so powerful that even though we reckon him as being dead according to the Book of Romans, yet he pops up and gets his licks in, and we sin. Okay, but now read on in that verse.

I John 2:1b

“…And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, (Who?) Jesus Christ the righteous:”

Now can you imagine what happens up there in Heaven when a believer sins? Oh immediately our Advocate comes right to the Father, and says, “But Father, he’s under the blood, and he’s a believer; or she’s under the blood.” So Christ picks it up on our behalf. Now that’s a glorious, glorious assurance that even when we sin we’re still under the blood just like the nation of Israel was back there in Egypt. And nothing could touch those Israelites, the death angel couldn’t touch them because they were under the blood. And you see this is where believers have to find themselves, and that’s not license to sin. God’s Grace is not license for us to do whatever we want to do. Just because we know that we have this promise and assurance that if we sin, we are still forgiven, we are still washed, but we now have to have that cleansing, and maybe in the next lesson we will come to the words, “you are washed,” and then of course I’m going to take you to John’s Gospel. But for now in this little letter let’s look at verse 2, and we find that not only is Christ our Advocate, He is also our:

I John 2:2

“And he is the propitiation for our sins:…”

Now it’s been a long time since we’ve dealt with that word in Romans Chapter 8, but for you who have been with us ever since we started, do you remember how I explained the word `propitiation?’ Everything that you can possibly put together back there in the tabernacle, back there in the wilderness including the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant, the veil, the Ark of the shew-bread, the candlestick holder, the altar of incense. the brazen laver, the brazen altar, the sacrificial lamb, the fence around the tabernacle. Do you remember when I went through all that? Every single aspect of that tabernacle in it’s composition, the gold, silver, and stone, and all the rest. Every one of them were a picture of the work Salvation that Christ accomplished at the Cross. And I call that whole work, “propitiation.” Everything that you see in the tabernacle is the work of propitiation. And that included His work as High Priest, it included the shed blood of the sacrifice. it included His interceding for us back there in the Holy of Holies, and it’s still appropriate even today. Oh, this tremendous work of propitiation.

I John 2:2b

“…and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Now I read again the other day where a guy was promoting that Christ only died for the believer. Well he’s probably got his scripture for it, but I can’t go along with that, because my Bible says, “That Christ died for everyone!” But not every one will be saved because not every one will appropriate it. But the potential is there. Now let’s come back to I Corinthians Chapter 5.

I Corinthians 5:8

“Therefore let us keep the feast, (even as Israel did in a symbolic way back there in the wilderness) not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Now what do you suppose Paul is alluding to here? Remember we’re still dealing with the sins of believers in that local congregation, but they weren’t the only people who were falling far short, because evidently there was also malice, and other forms of wickedness in the congregation. And it was leaven that was permeating that little congregation. It’s a wonder that it ever survived isn’t it? Here was that little group of believers that was plagued with almost every sin that you could think of, and yet God didn’t give up on them. God just kept them in a place of growing, and we know that Paul came to the place that one day I’m sure he was proud of the Corinthians.