To Marry or Not to Marry

It is good for a man not to be married is good. I say wool jobhunting recess which is in the Bible now noticeably folks before you all panic. He does not say it is the only good is also good. Countless lawmakers now have abandoned the traditional view of marriage, so we live in such a society. How do you defend what the Bible says about marriage and how can you be sure your relationship with your spouse honors Christ John MacArthur shows you today on grace to you as he continues. A study titled restoring marriage. But first John, when you think about all of the people we're reaching right now spiritually hungry individuals who will listen and learn and grow today. It's a very personal ministry that grace to you has isn't it.

And it's also a ministry that people make very personal investments in yellow.

I think radio itself is a very personal ministry, and most people listen to the radio by themselves. I think I supposed most people listen to the radio in their car or maybe through these days your phones or whatever. So it is a very personal experience and that's wonderful because you not lost in the crowd that it you know I'm preaching on Sunday. A gracious, appreciative, thousands of people and you can kind of come and go.

If you're sitting in the audience.

The there.

The preachers not the preachers not under any illusion that everybody is listening to every word, but radio and even the. The Internet is a personal conversation you you're engaged with an individual that's that's a dynamic reality. We've seen the Lord use the dynamism of that reality through the years in people's lives in powerful powerful ways. So I want to say thank you to those of you who listen and love, grace to you in particular those of you who supported that to takes it to another personal level gets very personal when you pray for us and very personal. When you give to this ministry, we have no other resources than the ones that are sent in by our listeners and that's absolutely true. Everything that we receive here to function in the ministry comes from people who listen and learn from the means that grace you provide. So God sees your sacrifice and God is faithful to bless you for that. But you'll never see your full reward until we all get to heaven together and will find out how the Lord used us together in ways that we never ever could have imagined.

We value your trust in us. We value your generosity and your prayers. So thank you for standing with us as we unleash God's truth one verse at a time and now follow along as we go to our study on experiencing God's blessing in your marriage yes and friend.

Let me just say if you'd like to learn more about supporting Grace to you and helping us take God's truth to people around the world. Visit our website Jide TY.org right now. Stay tuned as John MacArthur continues his study titled restoring marriage.

The Bible has a lot to say about marriage. There is much in the New Testament about marriage. Our Lord Jesus taught much about marriage.

He referred to marriage many times in the gospel records he stated in Matthew 19 that man and woman were made for each other. God made them for each other. He states that they should join themselves together and become one flesh, and that this was marriage, and this was actually a joining together by God himself. Jesus also emphasized that marriage was to be monogamous that was to be to becoming one flesh. Something that was first stated by God in Genesis chapter 2 Jesus also taught in Matthew 19. Marriage was to be unbroken. God hadn't changed his attitude at all about divorce. Jesus also taught not only that it was designed by God to be monogamous to be unbroken but that was only for this life. Matthew 2230 Mark 1225 Luke 2035. All of those indicate that marriage is only for this earth, not for heaven. The Lord had a lot to say about Mary but all that he said was pretty much theology pretty much the basic identification of marriage. Anybody didn't really get into the practical application of that that he left for his later word through his apostle so that when we read the epistles we find much more information about marriage, particularly of course the apostle Paul who has much to say about the subject of marriage and says it repeatedly throughout his epistles from various and sundry angles now one of the chapters in which Paul elucidates the basic truths of marriage as first Corinthians chapter 7.

Here Paul takes the basic things that the Lord said even refers to some of the statements of the Lord, and he goes on from there to make application of those date there is a great gamut of things covered in the seventh chapter and will have to take them as they come and I'm sure when were done will have a great amount of information will be very helpful to, but of course the most important thing is not to just learn what it says what to do what it says in the make application in our lives.

And of course that's our prayer now footnote to begin with.

Many people, unfortunately, have decided that the first thing to do with the seventh chapter of first Corinthians is just check it just get rid of it because there are disclaimers throughout the chapter. Paul is trying to tell us that this chapter is nothing but his opinion and they say you see, if you look for example at verse 12 he says, but to the rest speak I not the Lord. So he wants to make it very clear to begin with, that this is his opinion not God, and then these folks will tell us in verse 25 again supports this now concerning virgins. I have no commandment of the Lord. So I have nothing to say from God. I'm just going to shoot my mouth off your take up some space. Then verse 40. She is happy or is she so abide after my judgment and I think also that I have the spirit of God and here we find he doesn't know whether his got God or not.

So they would say to us that this is a rather hopeless attempt at mixing opinion with Revelation and the best thing to do is junket. However, that's a rather ridiculous views since Paul statements there are easily explicable if there saying another light.

What Paul is saying here and I agree that there is no such assortment of sentences in any other chapter that he ever wrote what he is saying here is very interesting. The reason that he says in verse 12 to the rest speak I not the Lord is not to say that what he says is unimportant, but to say that what he says is new true, it is not quoting something from the Gospels that our Lord said back up to verse 10 you'll see what I mean.

Under the married I command, yet not I but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband and you see he quotes right out of the Lord's words in Mark 10. So when he says it's not the Lord but myself. He is saying. I'm no longer quoting the teaching of Jesus. He is not saying it doesn't matter what I say and it's human opinion. No, he is simply saying. Sometimes I'm quoting Christ. Sometimes I'm not. It's as if he says quote" and really what he's doing is putting himself on an equal basis with right in terms of Revelation. I've told you before, I don't like red letter editions of the Bible because they assume that what Jesus said is more important than what anybody else said it's all the revelation of the spirit of God.

And when Paul says the Lord said this, but I said this isn't saying what I say doesn't matter he sang were on the same level in terms of inspiration, the spirit of God has given me these true so Paul is simply saying if I if I'm pulling the Lord.

I'll say it if I'm not, I'll tell you it's not a quote of the Lord's, it's some new information now. He then begins in chapter 7, to speak of the practical side of marriage, sometimes quoting the Lord for the basic theological principle and then going on to speak the new truth of the practical now in order for us to understand the context of his writing.

We have to know something of the problems of the Corinthian in order for us to know the problems of the Corinthians we have to know something about the time in which they live, and there's a most fascinating things to know marriage was a big problem to the Corinthians.

They had all kinds of problems about what to do and in terms of marriage first one look at it. Concerning the things about which you wrote on the meat. Now the Corinthians, wrote a letter to Paul, it most likely was delivered by the people mentioned in chapter 16 verse 17 Stefan is Fortunato's in the Caicos who came along from Corinth and the Corinthians had four major questions they were asking Paul and from chapter 7 through 11. He deals with the questions they asked in the letter before that he speaks what he wants to and after that chapter 12 he says now going back to spiritual things back the things that concern me but this little block in the middle of the things they were asking him about they had some specific question. They wanted some information about marriage, chapter 70 over that they had questions about things offered to idols, chapters 8, nine, 10 deal that they had questions about women in the church. Chapter 11 deals that about the Lord's table.

Also in chapter 11.

Those four major areas were great concerns of their because they were having problems with the adjustment of the life of the church in the community in relation to that marriage was one of the problems.

And that's the one he begins to deal with the chapter 7 Naomi Caleb about the Roman marital situation in the 1st Pl., Rome had no uniform set of marital laws. You could get married at least four different ways, all of which were recognized as marriage in some sense the first thing would be that there were many slaves tens and hundreds of thousands of slaves and they didn't they would even consider human so they didn't even have any of the rights of a citizen really. And when they want to get married or come together and in what really was just a living together rather than official marriage, the owner of the slaves would agree to what was called a con to Bernie him which simply means 10 companionship the owner would say, all right, you too can live in a tent together and that consummated a certain kind of slave married now if he didn't like the way they were doing together and he did particular care for the situation. The slaveowner can go and are taken apart or he could sell off the husband or he could sell off the wife so you had a lot of real problems in the early church because so many of the early Christians were slaves and they would've had such mixed up marital background know what is the early church going to do. Is that possible to say all right all of you that are just tent companions cut out, get out of there. It isn't fair not right by looking say that and say they said that what Paul did do was not try to break up everything but to try to teach them the sanctity of the marriage that they had.

Whatever the legal basis of it if they were living together under a 10 companionship thing. He was simply say to them stay together prove yourselves true to one another love one another, make everything of that marriage is God designed it to be because that's really all the choice they had a slaves.

There was another way that you could be married another kind of relationship and this was called USS US US. And this particular custom meant that a woman and a man could live together for one year at the end of the one year they would become identified husband what today we would call at what common-law marriage that was a way to be married so the church would've had to face people who were common-law marriage who had no legal paper or anything to identify their marriage and again the New Testament doesn't say anything about what they ought to do other than the sanctity of the marriage that exists under whatever it exists, just maintain it. There was another way: deal in mono, which is marriage by sale, where the father sold his girl to the husband of the guy would come across with the right price, you could have the daughter was somewhat facetious, but that's how it worked out so that was the kind of marriage: deal and Martin, which was a sort of a charitable work that thing you financially, but that the most elevated, the most notable the patrician people married under the thing that was called con Fari audio coming together on a high level. This was the classy kind of Mary and you want to know something very interesting. The entire marriage ceremony. As we know it today in the Christian church comes from this pagan Roman Mary, it does not come from Hebrew custom in the Old Testament. It does not come from a New Testament basis.

It's entirely the Roman pagans ceremony affect the human wedding last how long normally seven-day so you know were not net negative were way far from the Hebrew customer wedding, but this one was a one afternoon or one evening thing the two families came together they picked out of matrons would be like the maid of honor and a best man type thing.

The couple joined the right hands. That's why we still do that in a marriage ceremony they recited Vallas and after the vows. There were prayers offered. That's the standard procedure only. They offer the prayers to Jupiter and Juno. There were flowers. Flowers were customary in a bridal wreath was the really the beginning of what we know today as the bridal bouquet. The bride always wore a veil which was lifted there was a ring and that's where the whole idea of the wedding ring began.

It was always put on the same figure.

This figure where I got my where you got yours because in their wonderful ability of medical science in their dissecting of the human body they discovered that a nerve ran from the middle of this finger right to the heart, and says that nerve was connected to the heart. That's the place where the ring not to go that whole thing was the Roman system of marriage when all that was over they went to another place and believe it or not they had a cake that's right. So now you know where the whole custom came from. Now, here are four different ways they come into a church. The church is founded and people are married or sorted, married or living together, or whatever.

There were all kinds of problems.

What you going to do what you do draw new laws for the Roman Empire can't do that church can't impose its laws on the Roman Empire. What Paul does what all the New Testament writers and teachers would do would be to simply teach the sanctity of marriage. Whatever. What you happen to get into it. Just make the most of it. Now that you're there. That's the point. Now those were some of the problems they were delivered but added that here were the real great prep. 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 2728 29 times they count of their years by their wives and it was a high divorce rate. There was immorality there was rampant homosexuality concubine needs men use their wives to clean up the house and cook the meals and do whatever else and they had other women for their pleasure. This was a bad situation on top of all that. Did you know that at the time of the apostle Paul in those days in the Roman Empire. There was a feminist rebellion. Nothing new is ever happen folks.

I want you to know that nothing new.

Solomon was right is nothing new under the sun, and this is a quote from Jeremy Carpino's written history book called daily life in Rome said alongside the heroines of the aristocracy, the irreproachable wives and the excellent mothers who were still found within its ranks. It is easy to cite, emancipated, or rather unbridled wives who invaded the duties of maternity for fear of losing her good looks. Some took pride in being behind their husbands and no spirit activity and vied with them in tests of strength which their sex would have seem to forbid. Some were not content to live their lives by their husband side but carried on another life without him, whether because of voluntary birth control or because of the impoverished stock. Many Roman marriages at the end of the first beginning of the second centuries were childless. The movement even became more widespread juvenile. He says this is a quote with spirit hand and breasts exposed to took to pig sticking others attended chariot races in men's clothing and some became wrestlers always wondered where women wrestlers got their start in ancient Rome. Juvenile says this again writing the Roman viewpoint. What modesty can you expect in a woman who wears a helmet hates her own sex and delights in feats of strength." Not exactly my kind of work Goodman before long marriage began to suffer vows are violated.

Women demand to live their own lives and as soon as the women wanted out husbands to take about so much of that and they were happy to let them out and men begin to discard their women as fast as women begin 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 doing something without asking their permission, they would divorce a woman to get a richer one. Cicero did that and women begin to shed husbands juvenile rights – does she lorded 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. It was a very confused thing there was in and out of marriage, divorce was rife there were problems with was really married and who is not married and what about the guy used to live in 10 companionship and somebody sold off his wife and he remarried again that a lot of problems about resolving everything on me at one of the probably in the midst of all this.

Some would suggest the best way out is never to get married just forget the whole thing and they began to elevate that the idea of celibacy becoming a spiritually elite people if you weren't married and you were single and you are celibate you are sort of a spiritual super person you would deny 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 and being married to an unbeliever and having a sexual relationship with an unbeliever. So the Corinthian church had a lot of problems about marriage. Some people are bang in the gavel for celibacy, and of course the Jews would be banging the gavel for marriage because they thought was a sin not to be married so the Corinthians had a lot of questions and they wrote and asked him help us with the problem of marriage and so in this middle section he stops to help them about the subject of what to do about marriage and celibacy etc. etc. now I want you to look at will look at the seventh chapter want to look at four key ideas that appear in the first seven verse they deal with the whole problem of whether to be celibate or Meriwether to be single America Sony people are caught in the throes of this thing right now you know what to get married or not to get married so we don't have any option at this point, you're either single and have found anybody interested all your married and you're stuck so, but some of you do have that option and you don't know whether to look for somebody to marry or whether not to. You don't know whether it's right to remarry or whatever.

So maybe the spirit of God to pinpoints of things will help you four key ideas coming at the problem from the standpoint of celibacy or being single and you can follow along as we look number one celibacy is good. Verse one now concerning the things about which you wrote on to me.

It is good for a man not to touch a woman. There, now that sounds if you just take that literally it sounds a little picky right there when I was in high school was advertise this particular church group was going on here right and there was this one lady was going to be the chaperone and she was really really a prudish person and so we had a hayride with two wagons boys on one wagon, girls on the other way. I will never forget that we talk about a bummer that's it right you know that rivals the school heard about where the basketball team wore long pants.

You know I mean you can just take things a little too far, but this was the situation and her justification under forget that this will talk about. First Corinthians 71 if you were there, you might be bumping touching. It's good for a man not to touch a woman. Well folks, if you take that as a blanket literal statement Adam and Eve would've been the last people that ever lived on the face of the that's not the point is not talking about that the concept touching a woman is a euphemism for sexual intercourse. That's what mean that is it significance, and I can show that to you very simply from several Old Testament passages. The first one is Genesis 20 verse six and here was a potential case where adultery could have been committed in the family of Abraham. But in verse six, God said unto him in a dream yea I know that thou didst distant the integrity of thy heart, for I also withheld me from sinning against me therefore allowed ID not to touch her to touch her means to have a physical relationship in Ruth chapter 2 Ruth and Boaz Boaz had that desire to keep Ruth pure let thine eyes be on the field Ruth 29 that they do reap and go thou after them have I not charge the young men that they shall not touch the in Proverbs. I'll give you one more 629 so he that goeth into his neighbor's wife.

Whosoever touches her shall not be innocent course you know isn't talking about a tap on the shoulder, talking about a relationship, physical, sexual, is the idea. So verse one is saying is good not to have a sexual relationship. Any simply saying is good to be single. It is good for a man not to be married is good.

I say wool John how can you say that's what it says in the Bible now noticeably folks before you all panic. He does not say it is the only good is also good to be married is simply saying it is an evil to be single you know that's a problem the day because so many people think if you're not married, some wrong with well she's not married. I wonder where the quirks are.

There's got to be something wrong there must be some skeletons in the closet. We have visible innuendos and inferences we say poor fella must have some abnormalities can't find anybody in this whole world will take you on your in bad shape at what he says lack, it is a good thing not to be married.

He's already talked about the sexual immorality thing in chapter 6. That's not what he's talking about here is talking about marriage. Now he doesn't say it's it's bad to get married and he doesn't say it's better to be single, he just says it's call it's profitable, it's beneficial. It's good to be on Mary. Nothing wrong with that at all is very good is not using comparatives. He said he affects now the reason is so urgent. They say this because of the Jews in the church.

The Jews, he seems to teach that if he didn't have a wife, you are a sinner, they said this Amanda does not have a wife and a child has slain his posterity and lessened the image of God in the world. Seven kinds of people couldn't get to heaven. They had a list number one on the list, a Jew who has no wife number two, a wife who has no children that you said God said be fruitful and multiply, and if you don't you're disobedient to the commands of God, no, no doubt, this pressure was coming on the Corinthian church in the Jewish members they were saying you've got to be married and the Gentiles who didn't want to get into the big mishmash of marriage and who wanted to get some higher devotional level with God were saying forget it, man were to be solid and working to strictly remove ourselves from marriage and with us alive. Totally given over to God and Paula starting out by saying it's good to be saying this fine nothing wrong with that at all similar about the Old Testament.

It says not good for man to be alone while you can be single and still not be alone. He could have Fran Psalm 68, six as God sets the solitary and families. Maybe your family is your friends. But God will give you somebody to fulfill the need for other friend but it's good to be single if you're single. It's good not bad not evil is not wrong. It's good to see his grace to you with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us.

John's a pastor, conference speaker and Chancellor of the Masters University in seminary. He is titled, her current series restoring marriage know if John's verse by verse. Teaching is blessing you, helping you understand Scripture and apply it to your life. Let me remind you that as mentioned before, today's lesson we are listener supported to partner with Grace to you and to help encourage and strengthen believers across the globe.

Contact us today.

You can mail your tax-deductible donation to Grace to you. Box 4000 panorama city, CA 91412 four. Express your support when you call us 855 grace you can speak to an operator weekdays from 730 to 4 o'clock Pacific time, or make a donation anytime on our website TTY.thank you for helping us reach as many people as we can with the life-changing power of God's word and out turning the corner a bit. If you're looking to better understand what Scripture says about Mary or any other topic.

Let me encourage you to get a copy of our flagship resource MacArthur study Bible, with nearly 25,000 study notes and detailed introductions to each book of the Bible.

This all in one spiritual library is designed to help you grasp God's life-changing truth and apply to get the MacArthur study Bible available in the new King James new American Standard and English standard version.

Call 855 grace or visit our website TTY.now for John MacArthur on Phil Johnson. Thanks for listening today and join us at the same time tomorrow when John continues his series restoring marriage with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on grace to you