In Our own Mind

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

IN OUR OWN MIND

1 Cor 7:36-38

36 If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. 37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin — this man also does the right thing. 38 So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does even better.  

NIV

There seems to be an alternate way this portion is translated with it being about a father and his daughter, whether he allows marrying or does not allow her to marry, even if she is getting older, or past the flower of her age. However, both seem to carry the same basic idea. There is no set rule that states someone must marry, or they must stay single. However, it also seems that Paul is pushing the single aspect of life. This has to be his opinion rather then his following the leading of the Spirit because, as we have determined before, God is the one who established the union between a man and a woman and included in His creation of them a sensual desire for the other in order to procreate and fill the earth. Again, we have to know this is the plan of God for if all virgins, or as the Greek word could be seen as an unmarried daughters, were to not marry, there would be no children born and mankind would become extinct. Therefore, according to the plan of God is it better for an unmarried daughter to marry and have children. Today, this whole idea of being married has bitten the dust. Far too many are procreating without the legal contract of marriage, however, once a union has occurred between a man and a woman they are married in the eyes of God. With this in mind, then adultery is also rampant in our society today because of the multiplicity of partners in this physical union without a marriage contract. We always come back to the instructions for men who are leaders in the church. They must be the husband of one, or as the Greek could be translated, a certain wife. That is, they must be married. God does not intend for man to be alone. For then there would have only been one man in the whole of the earth, with no way to reproduce himself, thus filling the earth. This is the one thing that we should settle in our own mind, to follow the plan of God. Although Paul is talking about if a virgin is to marry or not marry, or if a man gives his maiden, or unmarried daughter to marry of not still carries the idea that the woman is to marry a man. Now there is the case that some may not marry, and we have that situation in our culture today, and singleness is not a sin, as long as that person remains faithful to their singleness, having no physical unions whatsoever, thus remaining a virgin. This also applies to those who are married, as they must remain faithful to their marriage. Are there failures in both areas, we have to think this is the case for not one of us is without sin, and some have failed being faithful, but then this is where repentance and forgiveness follow. It still comes down to making up our own minds as to how we are to live. We must settle the matter in our own minds.