Reasons for Remaining Single, Part 1: Because of the World A

Even though Peter calls marriage the grace of life, and even though Paul exalts marriage as the picture of Christ's relation to the church, and Paul states even that marriage is the norm, even though our Lord Jesus Christ acknowledged the strength of the marriage bond in Matthew 19, it is still true that for some people singleness is best.

Maybe you're in your 30s or 40s and you're still single. Maybe you know someone like that and you wonder why he or she isn't married. Is it somehow disobedient for a Christian not to marry, or could there be good motives, even clear biblical ones, for staying single? Consider that today on Grace To You as John MacArthur continues a study for young people preparing for marriage, people who have strong marriages, and those who've endured a failed marriage, and everyone in between. It's titled Guidelines for Singleness and Marriage. Now to show you some advantages that single people have over those who are married, and to show you how your relationship status, no matter what it is, can best glorify God, here's John MacArthur. We're going through the book of 1 Corinthians, and this is a very practical book which deals with problems among Christians, problems in the church of Christ. Chapter 7 deals with problems surrounding the issue of marriage. We come to a very interesting section that I've entitled Reasons for Remaining Single.

Now that is an unusual title and it's a very unusual topic, a very unusual section of Scripture. They're not against marriage, but the Bible is very balanced in the area of marriage, and it recognizes that for some people singleness is better than marriage because God has gifted them to be single. And the church must maintain a balance in understanding this. Even though Peter calls marriage the grace of life, and even though Paul exalts marriage as the picture of Christ's relation to the church, and Paul states even that marriage is the norm, even though our Lord Jesus Christ acknowledged the strength of the marriage bond in Matthew 19, it is still true that for some people singleness is best. Now the Bible does teach about being single. In fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, we have already seen three basic principles about being single. Number one, being single is good.

Verse 1 of chapter 7 says it is good for a man not to touch a woman, and we saw that the phrase to touch a woman means to have a sexual relationship. It is good for a man to be celibate. It is good for a person not to marry. First of all then, to be single is good. Secondly, to be single is a gift. God gifts certain people with the charisma of singleness. Verse 7, every man has his proper gift of God, one after this manner and another after that. And therefore, to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I.

It's good if you have the gift to remain single. Thirdly, we've learned that your marital status has no relationship to salvation. When you become a Christian, it is not incumbent upon you immediately to get married, nor is it incumbent upon you immediately to get single and dump your wife or your husband in order that you might have greater devotion to God. And this is precisely the conflict in Corinth. The Jews were saying you must get married. The Gentiles were saying you must be celibate or ascetic, and the Apostle Paul says no. Verse 20, let every man abide in the same calling in which he was called.

Whatever situation you were in, verse 24 says, when you were saved, stay there. If you're single, that's good. If you're married, that's good. All right, then we've learned that singleness is good. Singleness is a gift, and if you don't have the gift, don't try to be single.

You'll only frustrate yourself. Thirdly, singleness is not necessarily related to salvation. You don't have to get married immediately upon being saved, and you don't have to get unmarried immediately upon being saved.

You can be equally surrendered whether you're single or married. Now, in verses 25 to 40, Paul expands on this basic presentation. The Corinthians were asking questions.

According to verse 1 of chapter 7, concerning the things about which you wrote, Paul is replying to direct questions they were asking. And the question he's answering here is, should they get married? Is it better to be single to serve God with a devoted heart and a single mind, or is it necessary to get married like the Jewish traditionalists were saying in order to fulfill the will of God? The Jews said you had to be married or you would violate God's command to replenish the earth, and the Gentiles coming out of a philosophical asceticism would say it's better to be single and you can devote yourself totally to God.

Paul is saying both are good. Some have the gift of singleness and if they do, that's good. Some do not have the gift of singleness and it's better for them to marry and that's good as well. Notice, being single and being married has no relation to spirituality. Single people are not more spiritual and neither are married ones. But now in order to kind of prod those people who have the gift of singleness to use that gift and not to get married, he adds verses 25 to 40.

And this is an encouragement to single people to see whether or not God has not given them a gift that they are to maintain and stay single. Now notice verse 25 and we'll start at that point. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy. Now concerning Parthenoi, the word virgins, to whom does this refer?

Well there have been all different opinions offered by strange and weird groups, but there isn't really any difficulty in interpreting the word. The word simply means virgin. Parthenoi simply means virgin, someone who is unmarried. Now since it is used with the feminine article, it is referring to unmarried girls. Virgin girls is the objective in the statement. Now concerning virgins, that's precisely who he has in mind. I might add that once in Revelation 14.4, the word is used to refer to bachelors.

But here with the feminine article, he has in mind single girls. Concerning single girls, he says, that is unmarried women, unmarried virgin daughters, I have no commandment of the Lord. Now when the Lord settled a question with a direct statement, Paul said so. For example, in verse 10, he says, the Lord said, let not the wife depart from her husband. And he's quoting Jesus. He says here now, regarding unmarried girls, regarding single daughters, I have no command of Jesus. He didn't say anything and he means by that, I can't quote any recorded words of Christ. Jesus didn't say anything about this. When the Lord stated a command, he said it. When the Lord gave no command, Paul also said that. In verse 12, he said, to the rest speak I, not the Lord.

In other words, here's something now that I'm going to speak. It's not less authoritative, it's just that the Lord didn't say anything about it. So he can't quote Christ. So he says, now the Lord had nothing to say about this, but I give my judgment. Notice it in verse 25, not just as an ordinary man, but as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy or to be believable. I am giving my judgment. Now does that mean that this is Paul's opinion?

Not really, not at all. You see, there are issues which the Lord spoke about and there are issues which the Lord did not speak about. Now notice this. Of the ones that the Lord did not speak about, the apostles often spoke. Now sometimes when the apostles spoke, they gave absolute authoritative dictums. But sometimes they only gave guidelines because there could be no absolutes. Now in this section, he is saying, look, I am giving you a guideline. I am giving you good advice. Incidentally, it is not just Paul's advice, it is the advice of the Holy Spirit through him. But there cannot be an absolute. He cannot say, all of you must be single or all of you must be married because for some there is marriage and for some there is singleness. And so he says, let me give you some advice as to the general principles to apply in each case.

I'm giving you my judgment on this. I'm giving you general guidelines and they are not independent of the Holy Spirit. In verse 40 he says, and I consider, not I think so in the terms of our use in English, but I consider that I also have the Spirit of God. And it's sarcastic because those people who were confusing them were saying, well, we have the mind of the Spirit. And Paul is simply saying, I consider that I have the mind of the Spirit too.

So that the Spirit of God was behind it. This is Paul's counsel, general principles to govern the whole attitude of believers towards singleness. Now concerning virgin daughters, there is no direct quote of the Lord that I can give. But I'm going to give you my opinion or my judgment, my assessment, not just as an average man, but as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. It isn't just the counsel of a wise man, but one who had obtained mercy of the Lord.

What does that mean? One who was worthy of confidence. One who by special mercy of God had been given an unusual insight into truth.

I'm speaking to you as one who is pistas. That's the word translated here, faithful. It means believable, trustworthy.

That is a frequent use of that word in the New Testament. Worthy of confidence. You can trust my judgment. God has given me by His mercy unusual insights into truth that you can trust. Paul felt himself indebted to the mercy of Christ for those inward truths that he had. Christ by His grace had made him a believable creature, had made him an authoritative apostle. And so he's saying, you Corinthians can accept my wisdom here. You can accept these principles. You can take them with confidence because Christ has given me unusual mercy. He has been unusually merciful to me in those inward graces which allow me to speak the truth. Now let me summarize what he means by verse 25. In regard to single daughters, I have no absolute command for every case.

Every case is different. But through God's grace, He has put me in a position to give you good advice and that advice is believable. And you can take that advice and apply it to every situation. Now let's look at verse 26, I suppose therefore that this is good.

Stop there. And then go to the end of the verse. I say that it is good for a man so to be. I suppose therefore that this is good. Now please, the word suppose is misleading again. The word suppose isn't Paul saying, well, let's see, I suppose.

No, nomidzo in the Greek means I hold or I consider. It is not a guess but a conviction. I hold the conviction that this is good. What is good? That it is good for a man so to be. So to be what? A virgin, unmarried.

And here he adds the concept of a man to the feminine form in verse 25. It is good to be unmarried. It is good to be single, he's saying. It is good to be an unmarried virgin.

And we've seen that idea already in 7-1 and in 7-8. Twice there he says it's good to be single. To be single isn't wrong if you have the gift. And that's why it's ludicrous for the church to make misjudgments on single people. And I think especially in our day to day when there is just a plethora of information coming out about the family. The family is fine and we must concentrate on the family and there's a proper emphasis there obviously. It's a high, high emphasis that has to be made but at the same time there must be the balance and consideration of what it is to be single and still have identity and acceptance on an equal basis in spiritual life as anybody who's married and not to be particularly thought abnormal.

If you have the gift, it is a good thing. Don't seek to marry. It is a good thing to remain single. Now that's Paul's advice and it comes from the Holy Spirit. Now Paul then supports that idea with five reasons for remaining single.

Reason number one for staying single and some of you who are married may identify with these and look back and say, I knew that I should have stayed single. Those of you who are very concerned about the social pressure to get married may realize that that social pressure is just that, social pressure and not the will of God. And you'll reconsider that pursuit in your life. For whatever purposes God has, we'll pray that He'll make application to your life.

All right, number one reason to stay single is the pressure of the system, the pressure of the system. Notice verse 26, I suppose therefore that this is good. What is good? That it is good for a man so to be. To be what? To be unmarried. Because of the present distress.

Do you see it in the middle of verse 26? Because of the present distress. On account of the immediate necessity, might be a more literal translation. On account of the immediate necessity.

Because of the present distress. Now the word anankē here has a secondary meaning which I think is very helpful in explaining the passage and that is that it means violence. And the Apostle Paul is saying, incidentally, it is used to speak of violence and it is translated best that way in Luke 21, 23. They're talking of the violence of the Great Tribulation. It refers to violence in 1 Thessalonians 3, 7, 2 Corinthians 6, 4 and 2 Corinthians 12, 10. The same word refers to violence and is best translated violence. Well here, I think that that is also the best translation.

It is better to be single because of the immediate violence. And what do you mean by this? Well Kittel says that this denotes the tensions that exist between the new creation in Christ and the old cosmos. Tracing the use of this word through the New Testament, Kittel comes up with the idea that when a person becomes a Christian, he immediately gets into a violent conflict with the system. Now Paul is speaking of the violence and the distress and the pain and the suffering that can come to anyone who confesses Christ. It is difficult to be a Christian, Paul is saying, and it is especially difficult to be a married Christian because of the distress and the violence of the system.

Now Paul had had many experiences that would help us to understand this. Paul would go into a town and they would beat him. He would go into another town and they would stone him. We'd go into another town and they would give him stripes with a whip.

He would go into another town and they would put him in jail. On and on and on through the man's life, there was pain and suffering, pain and suffering. Now can you imagine the intensity with which that problem would be magnified if the Apostle Paul had had a dear wife at home and a group of little apostles running around the house?

Well that would have been much more complicated. And everything that Paul endured, he would have had in the back of his mind. But if it happens to me, then who takes care of my wife and who takes care of my children? And how can I keep doing this while my wife sits home in fear and the constant edge of heartbreak and my children in fear that their father will never return? I must be home taking care of them, nurturing them, raising them.

That's my primary obligation. You see, in the violence of the world in which Paul lived, marriage was a terrible encumbrance to somebody who was a Christian, at least in the sense of the ministry that he had. The Corinthian Christians could well remember what the Corinthian Jews had tried to do to Paul the very time he came to their city. Now Paul is saying because of the, notice this, the present or the immediate violence, Paul is anticipating something here. There is a violence that is going to come when the wholesale pagan persecution breaks out and Paul could see it coming. He knew that a girl married, a guy married and raising children might suffer the heartbreaking losses that can only come to those who have a family when the persecution broke out. He knew from his own life, as I said, that it was good that no wife and no children needed to weep and live with broken, fearful hearts every time he went somewhere. Hard times were coming to the church and Paul was aware of it. Change in the pagan attitude toward Christians was in the wind.

You say, well, how did he know? Well, in the first place, Jesus had predicted it. In John chapter 15, Jesus said as much when he promised the disciples that they were going to suffer persecution. If the world hate you, you know it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Now the world hates you, pretty clear. Down in 16 verse 1, he says, don't be surprised when you're offended.

They'll put you out of the synagogues. The time comes that whosoever kills you will think he does God's service. Jesus predicted it would come.

Paul could see it on the horizon. For example, let me just give you a little history. The first fearful persecution broke out under Nero. Historians tell us that the barbarities inflicted on the Christians during that first persecution were such as excited the sympathy of even the Romans themselves. Nero refined cruelly upon cruelly and continued all manner and style of persecution. He had some Christians sewn up in the skins of wild beasts and then turned over to dogs to be torn into pieces.

Others he dressed in garments that were made stiff with wax. He fixed those people to trees and then lit them like candles to light his garden. This occurred throughout the early centuries of the Roman Empire. Erastus, according to Foxe's Book of Martyrs, was one of those martyred in the first persecution and Erastus was the Chamberlain or the treasurer of the city of Corinth. What that tells us is that the persecution of Nero extended to Corinth and took the life of one of the men named in the Bible, one of the Christians of Corinth. Now Paul knew that this was coming to Corinthians.

He could see it on the horizon. And in view of this he says, my advice is if you have the gift, stay single. And people keep in mind that all of this advice is only to those who have the gift. Because to force somebody to be single who doesn't have the gift is to force them to burn with desire all their life and that isn't accomplishing anything.

But if you have the gift, he is saying, that's the basic supposition of all of this. Don't get married because of the pressure that is coming, the pressure of the system against the believer. Verse 27, are you bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed.

Are you loosed from a wife? Seek not to be bound. In other words, I'm not saying get unmarried.

I don't want any misunderstanding there. Don't divorce your wife. In fact, in verse 10 he says, let not the wife depart from her husband. Whatever the distress was, the married must endure it. But if you have a choice and you have the gift, don't seek marriage. Stay the way you are, verse 27 is saying. Keep in mind that Paul is talking about those who have the gift. We have people today who have the gift of singleness.

What does it mean to them to know the present distress, the pressure of the system? Are we facing in our world a time of distress? Are we facing in our world a time of violence like they did then? Are we facing a time of persecution?

Some say we are. According to our Lord Jesus in Matthew 24 and 25 in His teaching on the Mount of Olives regarding the end time, He said the end of the age would be characterized by war, cold and hot war, be characterized by famine, disease, earthquake, and persecution. And certainly the worst of that would come to pass in the period known as the Great Tribulation after the church is taken out of the world. But it seems apparent that some of those things are fast becoming a reality before the rapture of the church. Overpopulation, pollution, crime, immorality, false prophets, terrible sin, all kinds of things are already on the horizon and are unavoidable in our lifetime. And if Paul was right when he wrote to Timothy that evil men will get worse and worse, then it can only get worse.

And he was right. At best it is an insecure and explosive world. It's a rough world.

And being married only complicates it greatly because of the problem of caring for your wife and husband and caring for your children. So Paul says it's a pressure world. All of the end time, from the time Jesus first arrived until His return, all of that time is a pressure system set against the Christian. We are to anticipate suffering through all of that time, the hatred of the world. And so Paul says if you have the gift and you don't burn with desire physically and sexually, if the Spirit of God has given you the gift of singleness and be content because of the pressure of the system that is here and will yet come in a more fearful display of violence in the future. And I think all of us would agree that for the Christian, the nearer we get to the end, the higher the price to pay for our faith. That has to be true.

If evil men do get worse and worse, and if apostasy runs wild, and if the mystery of iniquity is already working and moving toward the evil of the tribulation, then Satan is going to battle all the more stringently and strongly toward the end and persecution will rise and many will pay high prices. And he's saying if you're single, just stay there. If you have the gift, you have less encumbrances. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. John is the Bible teacher here on Grace to You. He's also chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary.

Today he continued his study titled Guidelines for Singleness and Marriage. John, it's uncanny how the trends and concerns and internal problems that plagued that first-century church in Corinth are so similar to the issues that the church today is facing. The spiritual problems Christians deal with span not only different cultures, but even time itself. Well, we shouldn't be surprised because our Lord himself said that the Word of God is relevant. He said scripture cannot be broken. There never will be a point at which the scripture is irrelevant. He then went on to say that his word is eternal. Not one jot or tittle will in any way alter forever because this is the eternal Word of God. And then the writer of Hebrews says it is more powerful than any two-edged sword and it can do its mighty work.

Of course, it transcends all cultures and all languages and all time zones. So the answer to every spiritual question is available to every believer in the pages of God's Word. Getting to those answers, however, takes a little bit of discipline and diligence. So I want to remind you about something that we said recently. We are making the entire MacArthur New Testament commentary series available at a sale price. Now just a few words about what the MacArthur New Testament commentary series is. This is 33 volumes on the New Testament, very extensive, detailed, verse by verse, phrase by phrase explanation of what the Bible means. You may have a study Bible that gives you a brief explanation of the text. This is far more thorough. And I would love to suggest to you that a good place to start would be with 1 Corinthians. It includes a detailed analysis of the issue of singleness in marriage, the very thing we're talking about now.

Also things like speaking in tongues, the doctrine of the resurrection, Christian liberty, love, spiritual gifts, many more. Now here's the special note. The MacArthur New Testament commentary series, the whole series you can get at 25% off the regular price. So that brings it down to about $12 a volume. That's the best price you'll ever find, $12 a volume.

And shipping is free on U.S. orders. Now the sale ends Friday, February 17th, so place your order right away for the complete MacArthur New Testament commentary series. If you want only the volume on 1 Corinthians, the price is still affordable and shipping is also free if you're ordering from the U.S.

Right. Friend, commentaries aren't just for pastors. They're for anyone who wants to get the meaning of Scripture right so that God's truth can guide you and do its transforming work in your life. To take advantage of the special low price on the MacArthur New Testament commentary, available for a limited time, contact us today.

Our number here, 855-GRACE, or go to our website, gty.org. These commentaries will take you verse by verse through any New Testament passage, enriching your study and deepening your devotion to Christ and equipping you to teach biblical truth to your friends and neighbors. To purchase the MacArthur New Testament commentary series at 25% off the normal price for a limited time, call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. And when you visit gty.org, make sure to download the Study Bible app. It's a free app that gives you the full text of Scripture in the English Standard, King James, or New American Standard versions, and it also lets you link instantly from the passage you're studying to related online resources, including blog articles and sermons from John MacArthur. And for a nominal price, you can add the notes from the MacArthur Study Bible. It's a great app. To download this app again, it's simply called the Study Bible app. Visit gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to join us tomorrow when John continues his look at biblical principles that can strengthen any relationship. That's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.