Episode 282: It is good for a man not to touch a woman

1 Corinthians 7-10

On marriage (it's better than burning)

7 ¹ Now concerning the things that you wrote me: It's good for a man not to touch a woman.

² Yes, but to avoid fornication, let every man have a wife and let every woman have a husband.

³ Husbands and wives should be kind to each other.

⁴ The husband has power over his wife's body, and the wife has power over her husband's.

⁵ To avoid being tempted by Satan, don't deprive your spouse of sex.

⁷ I'd prefer that everyone be like me and not marry.

⁸ If you are a widow or are unmarried, don't get married.

Unless you can't control yourself, that is.

⁹ Because it's better to marry than to burn.

On divorcing an unbelieving spouse

¹⁰ But if you're married, stay married.

^12-13 I'm speaking for myself, not for the Lord.

If you have an unbelieving spouse, who is willing to stay with you, don't divorce.

¹⁴ The unbelieving spouse is made holy by the believing one.

Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they're holy.

¹⁵ But if an unbelieving spouse leaves, let them leave.

It's okay to divorce them.

On circumcision (don't get uncircumcised)

¹⁷ Stay the way you were when you became a Christian.

¹⁸ If you were circumcised, don't get uncircumcised.

If you were uncircumcised, don't get circumcised.

¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing. It just doesn't matter.

On slavery (If you are a slave, stay a slave)

²¹ If you were you a slave when you became a Christian, stay a slave.

²⁴ Whatever you were when you became a Christian, that's what you should be.

On virgins, marriage, and the end of the world (The end is coming. There's no time for sex)

²⁵ I have no commandment from God about virgins, but here's what I think about them.

²⁶ It's good for a man to be a virgin.

²⁷ If you're married, stay married. If you're unmarried, don't get married.

²⁸ It's not a sin to get married. If a virgin gets married, she hasn't sinned.

You'll have trouble in the flesh. But I'll spare you the details.

²⁹ But the end is near, so there's no time for sex.

So if you have a wife, don't have sex with her.

³² An unmarried man cares about God and God's things.

³³ A married man cares for the things of this world, and for his wife.

³⁴ The same is true for women.

³⁸ So it's okay to get married, but it's better not to.

8 ¹ Knowledge makes people proud. Love inspires people.

² Those who think they know something, know nothing.

⁴ As for eating meat that has been sacrificed to idols:

⁸ Well, either eat the meat or don't eat it. It doesn't matter.

⁹ But if you eat it, try not to upset any weaklings that see you eating it.

I've seen Jesus

9 ¹ I'm an apostle. I've seen Jesus. I made you believers.

God doesn't care about oxen

⁹ It's written in the law of Moses, “Don't muzzle an ox that treads the grain.”

¹⁰ Does God care about oxen or about us? About us, obviously.

I am a Jew or a Gentile (depending on who I'm with)

²⁰ When I am with Jews, I pretend to be a Jew.

²¹ When I am with gentiles, I ignore the law of Moses.

²² I'm all things to all people, so I can save some of them.

Some of God's greatest killings

10 ⁷ Don't be idolaters, as were some of our ancestors, who sat down to eat and drink, and then rose up to play.

⁸ Don't fornicate, like some of them did, when God killed 23,000 of them in one day.

⁹ Don't tempt Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by serpents.

¹⁰ Don't murmur, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

¹¹ All these things happened as examples to us, who are living when the world ends.

The body and blood of Jesus (He that sups with the devil must have a long spoon)

¹⁶ Isn't the cup that we bless, the blood of Christ?

Isn't the bread that we break, the body of Christ?

²⁰ But the Gentiles sacrifice to devils, not to God.

Don't associate with devils.

²¹ You can't drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils.

You can't eat at the Lord's table, and at the devil's.

Don't ask, don't tell (when it comes to food)

²³ Everything is lawful to me, but not everything is expedient.

²⁴ Try to make everyone else wealthy, but not yourself.

²⁵ Eat whatever is sold in stores, asking no questions for your conscience's sake.

²⁷ Whenever you go to a believer's house, eat whatever is put in front of you.

Don't ask any questions for your conscience's sake.

²⁸ But if someone says to you, “This was sacrificed to idols.”

Don't eat it for his or your conscience's sake.

³² Don't offend anyone - not the Jews, Gentiles, or the church.

³³ I please everyone in all things.