It is good for a man not to TOUCH a woman (1 Cor. 7:1)

B. Ward Powers bwpowers at optusnet.com.au
Thu Jun 20 03:21:06 EDT 2002


B-greekers all:

In response to several comments:

Reading 1 Corinthians is like listening to one side of a telephone 
conversation. To understand Paul's meaning fully I guess you just had to be 
there. To see what he means in any particular passage we have to set it 
carefully into its context. This is true of course of any part of the 
Bible, but none more so than 1 Corinthians.

So we note:

(a) In chapter 6 he deals with every type of human-to-human sexual 
behaviour except in marriage.

(b) In 7:2-5 he discusses the question of sex in marriage.

(c) In 7:1a he says he is turning to a new matter (i.e. something different 
from what he has just been covering), something that they had written to 
him about.

(d) Again and again in 1 Corinthians he shows he knows what is being said 
at Corinth, and refers to what is being said or indeed cites it in 
responding to it, to correct or repudiate it.

(e) In 7:1 he says it is better for a man not to have sex with a GUNH. In 
7:2-5 he says each man should "have" his own GUNH (and vice versa), and 
maintain an ongoing sexual relationship with her (any interruptions being 
temporary and by agreement).

I submit that these are facts in the context of 7:1 and that they add up to 
this explanation of that verse:

That some at Corinth are saying that a man is better off not continuing to 
have sex with his own wife, that Paul quotes what they are saying (7:1b) 
and then disagrees with it (7:2-5), explaining that (in God's plan and 
intention) a husband and wife should have an ongoing sexual relationship.

To think that 7:1 is referring to a man having sex with a woman not his 
wife is to think he is going back to an issue he has already covered, 
contrary to his PERI DE hWN EGRAYATE.

To think that hAPTOMAI here means "to marry" is to attribute to this word a 
unique meaning, one out of tune with what he then discusses (the issue of 
sex in marriage).

To think that it is Paul who says that it is better not to hAPTOMAI a GUNH 
has him then immediately contradicting himself in saying that a husband and 
his GUNH should have an ongoing sexual relationship. (It has to be the 
ascetic party at Corinth saying this in 7:1b, not Paul.)

I submit that the above understanding of 7:1 does full justice to the 
wording of the Greek and the context, and is not a reading-in of 
unjustified ideas, but a drawing-out of what is implied there.

Each person will make his own judgement about this of course. But it is (in 
my judgement) a grievous error to interpret Paul to be saying in 7:1 that 
he is opposed to marriage, and that celibacy is better (a view of Paul's 
teaching for which there is no evidence).

Regards,

Ward


                                http://www.netspace.net.au/~bwpowers
Rev Dr B. Ward Powers        Phone (International): 61-2-8714-7255
259A Trafalgar Street          Phone (Australia): (02) 8714-7255
PETERSHAM  NSW  2049      email: bwpowers at optusnet.com.au
AUSTRALIA.                         Director, Tyndale College




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