Spiritual War Bible Studies

Spiritual War Bible Studies => First Corinthians 5-7 => Study #8 => Topic started by: Hidden In Him on January 21, 2023, 10:53:24 PM

Title: 1 Corinthians 7:6-24, 32-40
Post by: Hidden In Him on January 21, 2023, 10:53:24 PM
Why Soldiers Don't Entangle Themselves In Worldly Affairs, Part 1 

     Very little focus is usually given in our time to Paul's teaching on the value in remaining single. In forty years of Christianity, I believe I've only heard or read it taught on once, and this was in reading the works of a very powerful deliverance minister. In other words, the only time I've read it taught on was by a serious soldier in Christ, and I believe this is because only those of like mind are going to see things from the same perspective the apostle Paul did. Paul had a habit of approaching issues from a very militaristic mindset, and this included the subject of marriage. As he would tell Timothy, anyone who enlisted as a soldier must not allow himself to become entangled in the affairs of this life, or he would not be able to please the one who enlisted him.
     This then was how Paul was approaching the subject of marriage, and why he would now urge unmarried believers in Corinth to remain single if at all possible. While it certainly had its benefits, marriage could potentially entangle them in all sorts of earthly responsibilities, and those determined to be soldiers in Christ needed to remain free of every hindrance and distraction to serve the Lord, though he would also acknowledge that not every man was called to forego the marriage relationship:   

     6 I say this as a concession, not as a commandment. 7 For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am, but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than be burning with desire... 32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs — how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world — how he can please his wife — 34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world — how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. 36 If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong 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 better. 39 A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40 In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is — and I think that I too have the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 7:6-8, 32-40)

     The apostle Paul admitted in the above passage that marrying would certainly be better than being consumed with the desire for it, for this already constituted a powerful distraction from the things of God. But what sorts of "problems" was he trying to spare them from in urging them to remain single, and how specifically could marriage potentially become a spiritual hindrance to a soldier of Christ?
     Paul already alluded to one of them earlier in the Chapter. Christians were being encouraged to seek the greater gifts during New Testament times, for it was the power of God that was confirming the word with signs and wonders following, and fasting and prayer was being encouraged as the means to receiving them. As mentioned in a previous study, proof of this can be seen in how some have given themselves to fasting and prayer in modern times and had the power of God manifest through them in ways that have changed entire nations. The problem, however, was that married Christians also had a responsibility to meet one another's sexual needs, and fasting weakened the sex drive, leading Paul to conclude that married couples should only fast by agreement and only for a time, lest Satan tempt them with infidelity for not having their sexual needs met.
     His teaching in the following passage is often clouded over by poor translation, but this is what Paul was teaching in 1 Corinthians 7:1-5:

     But concerning the things you wrote to me about, it is good for a husband not to touch a wife intimately. Yet because of sexual immorality, let each husband have sexual relations with his own wife and each wife have sexual relations with her own husband. Let the husband render due benevolence unto the wife, and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife has no authority over her own body but the husband, and likewise also the husband has no authority over his own body but the wife. Do not deprive one another except it be by consent for a season, that you may be unoccupied for the sake of engaging in fasting and prayer, and then come together again that Satan not tempt you because of your incontinence. (1 Corinthians 7:1-5)

     Because of the effects of fasting on the sex drive, a married soldier in Christ lacked the freedom to simply give himself to fasting and prayer whenever he wanted to, for his body was not his own. He might greatly desire the greater gifts and have a willingness to fast and pray, but if his spouse was not happy with the situation it would cause conflict, and sisters in the Lord had to be cognizant of these obligations as well, for it was often the men whose sexual needs were the greatest. When it came to married sisters, Paul may have been alluding to another potential problem as well, and that was the desire for a higher standard of living. If the wife was more materialistic and longed for a better earthly life, this might require more working time from the husband, and could ultimately result in him finding himself living with someone who for all intents and purposes was an enemy to the call of God on his life.
     This two part study will be dedicated to discussing the pros and cons of marriage in light of the spiritual war, why we've already paid a high price for ignoring Paul's teaching on it, and why the end-time army will need to correct this mistake if they hope to fulfill the purpose God has for them.


Spiritual Men Entangled In Issues And Hindrances

     It is in part because we have failed to maintain the teachings of the apostle Paul on marriage that many find themselves in the situation they are in today. As Kathryn Baxter related in A Divine Revelation Of Prayer, many men in particular who have had great callings on their lives have nevertheless squandered such opportunities by allowing themselves to become entangled in the affairs of this life:

     For several years now, I've been having visions in prayer of God raising up men and women for His glory. I want to focus on what He has been showing me about the men. It appeared to me as if the men were entangled with all kinds of issues. Galatians 5:1 came to me: "Do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." It seemed as if they had yokes of bondage around them, and all types of hindrances. The roads before them were full of obstacles, such as money problems, problems in their homes, and difficulties on their jobs. Those who were married faced many issues they could not resolve, but every so often I would see a few of them raising their hands, praising God, and being set free. The bands would just fall from them.
     The vision repeated on and off for a little more than five years. As I traveled and talked to people, I learned that God had called a number of men who had never fulfilled their spiritual callings. Because of this, there was an empty place in their hearts. They knew and understood their callings, but it seemed there was nothing they could do about them because Satan had thrown so many roadblocks and hindrances in their paths. For some of them, their marriages had ended in divorce. They could never get along with their spouses, and there were so many arguments and so much strife going on in their homes that they could not get anything done.
     I began to have a heart for these men - that God would bring them out of captivity, that they would obey God, that their families would be blessed, and that the Lord would bring healing to every issue in their lives. It seemed to me that so many little children were involved and hurt in these relationships that had not been ordained by God... His call was very strong on many of them, but they didn't know how to break free from their bondages.
     As time went on, I'd see the same men in visions. Years would go by and they never could accomplish the call of God. Then I began to understand how the Devil the works. He wants to keep things from happening in our lives, and to hinder us from understanding the call of God upon us. The Devil wants us to make impromptu decisions based on emotions rather than on the Divine will of God. (Baxter, A Divine Revelation Of Prayer, P.201-204)


     In a related vision, she also saw men of God who were trapped in a woods, entangled in branches and unable to see their way out. Yet by the grace of Almighty God, their eyes were eventually opened to see how to escape the bondages they were in.

     Later, I had visions of men who were in a wooded area, standing in dry brown leaves and twigs. They were looking up, but their eyes were closed. They seemed to be isolated from one another in this wooded area. I could see an aerial view of them, and I noticed that they were similar to the men whom I had been seeing on and off in the visions for more than five years. I could see that she were old men and others were young; they were of all ages. In fact, one man looked like he was in his eighties, and I thought, "Dear God, they've struggled so long and so hard. They just can't seem to get out of this wooded area and these bondages." It tore at my soul.
     I prayed and then called a friend... she said, "Let's pray." We prayed for God to bring these men out, tones them free , and to heal them, because there were so many deep wounds in their hearts. I perceived in the Spirit that some of them were alone now with hardly any money. Some had lots of money but no family, and it was so sad.
     Then I saw drops falling on them. The drops were blue with white light in them. Several drops would fall on the men's faces, and wash around their eyes. I began to weep and cry out, "Jesus, please set these men free and let them come forth as a mighty army in the land!" As I looked at the washing of their eyes, their eyes suddenly popped open. My prayer partner asked, "Do you know what I see?"
     "No," I said. "Tell me what you see and then I'll tell you what I see."
     "I see God crying and teardrops falling on these men's faces," she began to explain. "I saw the teardrops come on their eyes and begin to wash them - huge teardrops! I thought it was a strange-looking kind of rain"...
     Then I saw the twigs, the branches, and the entanglement fall away. There the men stood in this shadowed area, still isolated, their right legs raised, ready to march forth out if this darkness and into the light. (Baxter, A Divine Revelation Of Prayer, P.205-207, top)


     The Spirit of the Lord then gave a prophecy that these men were to become part of the great end-time army of God. Though I will not quote it here, other prophecies likewise state that the end-time army will consist of those who in the past were misunderstood, mistreated, abused and rejected:

     I shall speak to this army of men and they shall arise. They shall come out of their caves, their mountains, their wildernesses, and I shall use them in these latter days to do a work that will amaze you.. They shall march as a mighty army in the land, and they shall proclaim My destiny and My word. For these are men that I am raising up through all their hardships. They've kept their eyes on Me. They've tried their best to do My will. But now I have sent My angels to destroy the hindrances that are around them: the briars, the thorns, the dried twigs. And I shall bring them out of this wilderness, and they shall proclaim My word. They shall march through the land and they shall take it. (Baxter, A Divine Revelation Of Prayer, P.207-208)


Though Married, A Slave Is The Lord's Freedman

     Can it still be beneficial in the spiritual war, then, for a soldier in Christ to be married? Most certainly it can. When both a husband and a wife are on fire for God and fully dedicated to His service, this becomes a very problematic situation for the Devil. The closeness created by the marriage bond is unparalleled in human experience, and in the spiritual war this is important. Satan works tirelessly to play divide and conquer, so solidifying the bonds of marriage has the potential for making a marriage relationship virtually unbreakable, and this makes both partners exponentially stronger together then they would ever be apart. As scripture says, one can put a thousand to flight and two can put ten thousand (Joshua 23:10, Deuteronomy 32:30). So, too, is it taught in the word of God that children in the Lord are arrows in one's quiver (Psalm 127:3-5).
     This is why God commanded Christians not to divorce, and why Paul now reminded the Corinthians of it. Even if the spouse was an unbeliever there still existed the possibility for a great victory in the Lord, which is why Paul now urged them not to separate from unbelieving partners unless they themselves requested it:

     10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. 12 But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? 17 As God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches. (1 Corinthians 7:10-17)

     Granted, it must be said that woe be unto the man who foolishly enters into a marriage assuming his unbelieving wife is going to get saved or vise versa. Such naive believers are sowing to the wind and will in all likelihood reap a whirlwind. But should they find themselves in such circumstances by happenstance, the marriage has already been formed and should therefore not be abandoned. The potential exists for the two to become a powerful combination in the Lord against the forces of darkness, should both come to abide in Christ.
     This said, Paul will now yet again urge the Corinthians that it would be better for the unmarried if they remained in the state in which they were called, and that soldiers in Christ might make a terrible mistake if they voluntarily chose to make themselves slaves of men:

      18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God. 20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can be made free, rather use it. 22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called. (1 Corinthians 7:18-24)

     How, then, should the soldier of Christ conduct himself in a marriage with an unbeliever, or in one where he is the stronger partner spiritually and therefore unequally yoked? The key here is in understanding what Paul meant by the phrase, "a slave is the Lord's freedman, and a freedman is the Lord's slave." This simply meant that while a slave had responsibilities to his master, his master nevertheless did not OWN him, and once his obligations had been met, his time and service belonged to the Lord and the Lord alone. More simply put, a Christian husband needed to fulfill his marital obligations to his wife, spiritually, sexually, emotionally and materially. But once those obligations were met, he was not a slave to any man, and his time and energy now belonged to the Lord. This applied to Christian wives as well. If an unbelieving spouse didn't like such an arrangement, they were free to separate, but a soldier in Christ was never to compromise his calling regardless of whether an unbelieving spouse liked this aspect of the relationship or not. Such marriages would inevitably be uncomfortable for both parties anyway, so in such situations the soldier in Christ needed to pull harder in the direction God was leading him than his partner was pulling in the opposite, albeit lovingly. Should it come down to the unbelieving spouse growing tired of the situation and leaving, this would be far better than for the soldier in Christ to allow himself to compromise His calling in Christ, and potentially waste what might end up being the majority of his life.