Paul's Marriage Counseling Service

Sex. yeah, that's right, I said SEX.

Paul takes it upon himself to be very clear to the Corinthians concerning their private lives, which, as we learn, aren't so private. There is prostitution, incest, and other unruly things rampant among the pagan culture the Corinthian Church has come out of, and Paul wants it gone. Addressing these issues directly as easily as they are dealt with, Paul then comes to a finer issue: Marriage. The Corinthians, even righteous ones, are caught up on issues of remaining single and the morality of divorce. Being frank as always, Paul rather explicitly endorses being single; he explains the freeing nature of bachelorship, being able to go anywhere and do anything for Christ with no home and family attached. He directs the same advice to women, saying that it is in the same way good to be unmarried. Paul also makes the important distinction that it is much better to stick to one person and marry than to be unreliable in one's single life. This can be confusing, but Paul makes it plain that marriage is a difficult decision that must be made individually and with great personal searching. On the subject of divorce, however, the situation gets even more dicey. Paul quotes Christ in saying that a woman that has divorced her husband must rejoin with him or face the single life forever, and that divorce itself in any case is to be avoided. Moving on, Paul then inserts an exception: if there is an unbeliever in a marriage who leaves their spouse, they should be let go; they are not in Christ, and are not sanctified through their spouse. Sifting through the what-ifs in divorce proves to be of great importance to Paul, and he spends a good time going over each one, but continually reiterates his love for the single life. Paul is likely the ultimate example of one married to his work.

I think one would have to be pretty ignorant not to draw a few parallels from the problems of the Corinthians to the problems in the cultures of the modern world; they're everywhere. Divorce is a normal thing, virginity at marriage is smirked at, and single people are all dweebs. The desire of Paul in writing the letter is as relevant as ever; it should be our job as Christians to endorse the morality of the Bible - not to force them, but to make clear across the board that we mean what we teach. On the home front, these issues are seeping into Christian relationships too, and we must be very blunt about correcting these, as Paul is to Corinthian believers. Sexual immorality is a problem that will never go away until Christ returns, but to ignore the consequences of falling into it is to dishonor the body of Christ.