In parts 1 and 2, I showed you why the Corinthians had marriage, remarriage, divorce and singleness issues. They were living in a society that dealt with marriage in a variety of ways, some of which was not biblical.
But the major problem the Corinthians had was this: The moral character within marriage had so been destroyed that divorce was very, very rampant. There are records of people who had been married as many as 27, 28, 29 times. They counted their years by their wives.
There was immorality. There was rampant homosexuality, concubines, men used their wives to clean up the house and cook the meals and do whatever else and then they had other women for their pleasure.
On top of all of that, did you know that at the time of the Apostle Paul, in those days in the Roman Empire, there was a feminist rebellion? Here is a quote from a book titled, “Daily Life in Rome.”
"Along side the heroines of the aristocracy, the irreproachable wives and the excellent mothers who were still found within its ranks, it is easy to sight emancipated or rather unbridled wives who evaded the duties of maternity for fear of losing their good looks. Some took a pride in being behind their husbands in no sphere of activity and vie with them in tests of strength which their sex would have seemed to forbid. Some were not content to live their lives by their husband's side, but carried on another life without him. Were that because of voluntary birth control or because of the impoverish stock; many Roman marriages at the end of the first and the beginning of the second centuries were childless.
"With spear in hand and breasts exposed, who took to pig-sticking. Others attended chariot races in men's clothing and some became wrestlers.
"What modesty can you expect in a woman who wears a helmet, hates her own sex and delights in feats of strength?"
Before long, marriage began to suffer. Vows were violated. Women demanded to live their own lives. And as soon as the women wanted out, the husbands could take about so much of that and then they were happy to let them out. And men began to discard their women as fast as women began to leave. And they would discard their women for going out without a veil, for speaking to the wrong person in public, for going somewhere or doing something without asking their permission. They would divorce a woman to get a richer one.
The author then says, "Thus does she lord it over her husband, but before long she vacates her kingdom, she flits from one house to another wearing out her bridal veil.”
So, you can see that the picture of marriage was a very confused thing. Others were in and out of marriage, divorce was rife. There were problems with who is really married and who is not married and what about the guy who use to live in a tent companionship and somebody sold off his wife, can he remarry again?
Now to add to this laundry list of problems, let me add this last one: Some would suggest that the best way out is never to get married, just forget the whole thing. And they began to elevate the idea of celibacy so as to become a spiritually elite person. If you weren't married and you were single and you were celibate, you were sort of a spiritual super-person. You had denied yourself the flesh. You had laid aside all of those things and totally devoted yourself to Jesus Christ. And there was a prevailing view in the Corinthian church that celibacy was the highest form of Christian life, to never get married, to have no sexual relationship at all. And it got so bad that people were not only not getting married, but condemning the people who were married. And the people who were married were leaving their partners in order to be celibate so they could be more spiritual. And people who were married to an unbeliever were getting out fast because there was supposedly defilement in being married to an unbeliever and having a sexual relationship with an unbeliever.
The idea of celibacy being a high level of spiritual devotion is still with us. It found its way into the Roman Catholic Church and it's still there. The idea that a truly godly holy person can't be married is still in the Catholic Church and priests and nuns don't marry for that reason. They wear a wedding ring, very often, as a symbol of their marriage to Jesus Christ. They say that makes them superior spiritually to the rest of us who are married. So that isn't anything that we're not familiar with.
It is noteworthy that in the end times, I Timothy 4 says, people are going to come along talking about forbidding marrying (1 Tim. 4:3). I have talked to some who in their minds believe that celibacy is the highest form of Christian living. When Paul said it is better to be as he is (celibate), they conclude that Paul was making a comparison that being married is second class to being single. As we go through the seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians, I will endeavor to show you that is not what Paul was trying to convey.
End of Part 3
