Bible Reading Challenge #14
Paul’s Thoughts on Marriage, Divorce, and Sexuality
Paul is clear: sex outside of marriage is against God’s design (7:1).
Marriage is the God-given place to enjoy the gift of intimacy. Husbands and wives should not deprive one another, because withholding can open the door to temptation (7:2–5).
Paul acknowledges that singleness is a gift and even says he wishes more people could embrace it as he has—but he also knows that’s not everyone’s calling (7:6–7). For those who struggle with passion, marriage is a good and God-honoring path (7:9).
For those already married, Paul calls couples to stay together—even when one spouse is not a believer (7:10–11). A Christian husband or wife in such a marriage can be a powerful witness of God’s love and grace (7:12–16). But if the unbelieving spouse chooses to leave, the believer is not bound (7:15).
Reflection:
What situation has God placed you in right now—married, single, widowed, or walking through a difficult relationship?
What does it look like to honor Him in that season?
How might you encourage someone else who is navigating a tough circumstance—whether singleness, an unbelieving spouse, divorce, or loss?
Bible Reading Challenge #13
1 Corinthians 6:9–20
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Reflection
In this passage, Paul speaks clearly: sin has no place among God’s people. That’s easy to “amen” in a church service, but it’s harder when we look honestly at our own lives. We are all prone to greed, idolatry, and sexual sin. We are all tempted to push the limits of desire.
In verse 12 Paul makes a striking point: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Freedom in Christ was never meant to be an excuse for reckless living. Yet many in the church today, in reaction against the strictness of past generations, swing to the opposite extreme—brashly indulging in language, substances, or lifestyle choices under the banner of “freedom.” But this isn’t true freedom—it’s abuse of freedom.
The goal of our life is not to test the boundaries of grace, but to live in grateful response to the washing, sanctification, and justification we’ve received in Christ. We were not saved so we could enlarge our sin debt. Salvation leads us to desire a different kind of life. Our bodies are not toys for indulgence—they are temples of the Holy Spirit, bought with the blood of Christ.
Paul ends this chapter with a charge that remains just as powerful today: “So glorify God in your body!”
A Question to Carry
What would it look like for you—this week, in your words, habits, and desires—to glorify God in your body?
Bible Reading Challenge #12
1 Corinthians 6:1–8
When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? ² Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? ³ Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! ⁴ So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, ⁶ but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? ⁷ To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!
What Does This Teach About God?
Though Paul is addressing a very practical issue in Corinth, this text reminds me that God is sovereign over all. He will judge the world. Justice is in His hands, and the unjust will receive their due sentence. The call here is to trust God’s justice rather than grasp for vengeance.
How Can I Live Differently?
Verse 7 stands out: “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.” The very fact that believers were taking each other to court—airing their disputes before unbelievers—was a tragedy for the church, which was meant to be known for love.
Let’s be honest: bickering in the church is still a problem. We may not argue over carpet colors, but we do carry broken relationships into Sunday gatherings. Frustrations, disappointments, and long-held resentments cloud our fellowship. Grudges are nursed, slander is spoken, and division quietly festers.
Today, I call you to repent of these things. If you have a grievance, handle it directly. That might mean confessing to God or to the person you’ve wronged. It might mean releasing a grudge you’ve been holding. It might simply mean choosing to think the best of someone instead of rushing to judgment.
Jesus said His disciples would be known by their love. May we be a people who forgive quickly, encourage freely, and celebrate one another often. In doing so, we display the love of Christ that holds the church together.
Bible Reading Challenge #11
I encourage you to read Eugene Peterson’s commentary/translation of 1 Corinthians 5:6–13:
6–8 Your flip and callous arrogance in these things bothers me. You pass it off as a small thing, but it’s anything but that. Yeast, too, is a “small thing,” but it works its way through a whole batch of bread dough pretty fast. So get rid of this “yeast.” Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kind of ingredient. The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast. So let’s live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread—simple, genuine, unpretentious.
9–13 I wrote you in my earlier letter that you shouldn’t make yourselves at home among the sexually promiscuous. I didn’t mean that you should have nothing at all to do with outsiders of that sort. Or with criminals, whether blue- or white-collar. Or with spiritual phonies, for that matter. You’d have to leave the world entirely to do that! But I am saying that you shouldn’t act as if everything is just fine when a friend who claims to be a Christian is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory. You can’t just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. I’m not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don’t we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.
3 Things I Take from This
Non-believers will live in sin—why wouldn’t they? Our concern should be less about managing their behavior and more about their salvation. Transformation begins only after someone encounters Christ.
Believers are expected to live in a way that aligns with Christ. Perfection isn’t attainable, but the pursuit of holiness is. We all wrestle with sin, but the real danger comes when we stop wrestling and instead participate openly and unashamedly.
The church is responsible for its members. We cannot sit idly by and condone immorality of any kind within our fellowship. For too long, the church has been loudly opposed to some sins while suspiciously silent on others. Paul’s warning is clear: a little “leaven” corrupts the whole loaf. We must actively confront sin—within our walls and within ourselves—so that the church remains pure, genuine, and true to Christ.
Bible Reading Challenge #10
1 Corinthians 5:1–5
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
A Moment to Teach
Did you catch what Paul is furious about? There is a man in the church openly sleeping with his father’s wife. More than the grotesque immorality itself—so shocking that even pagans would not approve—Paul is outraged that the church knows about it and allows it.
Sexuality is a major topic in our world today as definitions of gender, marriage, and relationships are being reshaped before our eyes. But here’s the reality: none of this is new.
Scripture is filled with accounts of sexual sin—Noah’s daughters scheming to get pregnant by their father, the men of Sodom seeking to abuse Lot’s guests, Hosea’s wife chasing after other lovers. Prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, affairs—these are not modern inventions. They’ve marked humanity since the fall.
But Paul won’t let the church shrug and say, “That’s just how it is.” He calls for action. Do not condone this. Do not tolerate this. Do not let this kind of rebellion continue unchecked inside the church.
Now—this matters: Paul is not telling Christians to hunt sin in the world. He’s addressing someone inside the church, someone who claimed Christ but lived in blatant, unrepentant sin. That’s why Paul is so strong. A lifestyle of unrepentant sin cannot coexist with a genuine confession of Jesus as Lord.
For those outside the faith, our greatest concern is not first their behavior but their need for Christ. Only after someone encounters the grace of God can we expect to see their life transformed. But for those who name the name of Jesus, love sometimes looks like correction—because sin left unchecked destroys both the sinner and the witness of the church.
And even here, the goal is not punishment but salvation: “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”
So, church, let’s be people of both grace and truth. Let’s love sinners deeply, but never call sin good. Let’s refuse to compromise truth in the name of tolerance, while always longing for repentance and restoration.