Friendship: The
Love of Marriage
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
A
Life Pleasing to God
4
Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as
you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are
doing), you should do so more and more. 2 For you know what
instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the
will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; 4 that
each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, 5
not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that
no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is
an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and
solemnly warned you. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but in
holiness. 8 Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human
authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.
1 Corinthians 5:1-13
Sexual Immorality Defiles
the Church
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual
immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a
man is living with his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Should
you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been
removed from among you?
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit;
and as if present I have already pronounced judgment 4 in the name
of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled,
and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are
to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know
that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Clean out
the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For
our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore, let us
celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Sexual Immorality Must Be
Judged
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with
sexually immoral persons— 10 not at all meaning the immoral of this
world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go
out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate
with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or
greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with
such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is
it not those who are inside that you are to judge? 13 God will judge
those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-7:40
9
Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit
the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers,
male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards,
revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And
this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of
our God.
Glorify
God in Body and Spirit
12
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things
are beneficial. “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 meant not for
fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God
raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. 15 Do you not
know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the
members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Do
you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her?
For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.” 17 But anyone united
to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Shun fornication! Every
sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against
the body itself. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your
own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in
your body.
Directions
concerning Marriage
7
1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is well for
a man not to touch a woman.” 2 But because of cases of sexual
immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3
The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the
wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her
own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority
over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another
except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and
then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack
of self-control. 6 This I say by way of concession, not of command. 7
I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from
God, one having one kind and another a different kind.
8
To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is
well for them to remain unmarried as I am. 9 But if they are not
practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to
be aflame with passion.
10
To the married I give this command—not I but the
Lord—that the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she
does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband),
and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
12
To the rest I say—I and not the Lord—that if any
believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he
should not divorce her. 13 And if any woman has a husband who is an
unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14
For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the
unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children
would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the
unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or
sister is not bound. It is to peace that God has called you. 16 Wife,
for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you
might save your wife.
The
Life That the Lord Has Assigned
17
However that may be, let each of you lead the
life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. This is my rule in
all the churches. 18 Was anyone at the time of his call already
circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone
at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 Circumcision
is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God
is everything. 20 Let each of you remain in the condition in which
you were called.
21
Were you a slave when called? Do not be
concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present
condition now more than ever. 22 For whoever was called in the Lord
as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free
when called is a slave of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price;
do not become slaves of human masters. 24 In whatever condition you
were called, brothers and sisters, there remain with God.
The
Unmarried and the Widows
25
Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the
Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26
I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to
remain as you are. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be
free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you
marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who
marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that. 29
I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from
now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30 and
those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as
though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no
possessions, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had
no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
32
I want you to be free from anxieties. The
unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
33 but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world,
how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the
unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so
that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious
about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. 35 I say
this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote
good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.
36
If anyone thinks that he is not behaving
properly toward his fiancée, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be,
let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry. 37 But if
someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own
desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his
fiancée, he will do well. 38 So then, he who marries his fiancée
does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.
39
A wife is bound as long as her husband lives.
But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the
Lord. 40 But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as
she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
James 4:4
4 Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is
enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes
an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15-17
15
Do not love the world or the things in the
world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16 for
all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the
pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 And
the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God
live forever.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
The
Temple of the Living God
14
Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what
partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship
is there between light and darkness? 15 What agreement does Christ
have with Belial? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What
agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living
God; as God said,
“I will live in them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore
come out from them,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch nothing unclean;
then I will welcome you,
18 and
I will be your father,
and you shall be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.” [1]
FRIENDSHIP - file,w
FRIBERG LEXICON
(1) love, as devotion based in the emotions,
often distinguished from avgapa,w (love), which is devotion based in the
will
UBS LEXICON
love, have deep
feeling for; love, like (to do or be something)
LOUW-NIDA LEXICON
to love, have
deep feeling for; love, like (to do or be something)
LUST - evpiqume,w
FRIBERG LEXICON
(1) generally, of a strong impulse toward
something
UBS LEXICON
long for, desire;
covet; lust for
LOUWA-NIDA
LEXICON
to greatly desire
to do or have something - 'to long for, to desire very much.'