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As we come to First Corinthians chapter 7, there are three important – indeed, fundamental – things that relate to Paul’s inspired instructions about marriage. First is that the context of his words is specific to the time and circumstances of the Corinthian Christians. Christianity was beginning to be persecuted with the force of law, so less “leverage” could be applied against an unmarried Christian than against one who was married. Those trying to force a Christian to renounce their…

The church at Corinth was established by the apostle Paul when he arrived in that ancient city in Acts 18. The social and moral environment he encountered there was very similar to our modern western society; Corinth was an very wealthy city, and the Corinthian people were famous in the ancient world for their obsession with luxury and decadence. They were also renowned for both religious “diversity” and for flagrant immorality. To describe someone as a “Corinthian” in that era…

In Romans 14, Paul speaks to the matter of “judgement” as it relates to the way Christians view one another and evaluate one another’s motives. Those engaged in sin often try to rationalize their misbehavior by asserting, “I’m not hurting anybody but myself, so butt out and quit judging me!” Paul points out in vs. 7, however, that “None of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.” In other words, the claim that a sin affects “only”…

In the ninth through eleventh chapters of Romans, Paul writes extensively about national Israel’s relationship with God, and he emphasizes that it was based on God’s covenant with Abraham – not on the law given through Moses. Although Israel had enjoyed many benefits and advantages because of their relationship with the Lord, Paul points out that these blessings were not restricted only to the physical descendants of Isaac and Jacob. Instead, he emphasizes that all those who are “children” of…