1 Corinthians 7 - Introduction

FOURTH TOPIC MARRIAGE.

Hitherto the burden of this Epistle has been reproof, founded on information received from others. Henceforward, to near the end, all appears to have been drawn forth by written inquiries of the Corinthians themselves, as to how, as Christians, they were to act and to judge in certain cases. Perhaps this first subject Marriage was introduced here as a natural sequel to the topic last handled. The directions are of extreme delicacy; but let it be carefully remembered that they were not volunteered by the apostle himself, but demanded by his correspondents. Some of these, by a natural revulsion from former excesses, seem to have run to the opposite extreme, and by their ascetic severity to have troubled their brethren. The proper line of demarcation, therefore, needed to be drawn with a precision more explicit than otherwise it might have been desirable to particularise.

Marriage and its Duties 1-11.