The passage
that I am expounding is 1 Corinthians 7:29–31 (ESV),
29 This is what I mean,
brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who
have wives live 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 goods, 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.
This is the
third installment in this series. The
first Blog
identified the issue. The second Blog
was intended to paint a picture of the context. So based upon the days we live in; and based
upon the fact that we have an accurate assessment of those days and how they
will end, Paul calls married couples (and singles, by the way) to live a
certain way. He starts with this bridge:
"from now on."
. . . From now on . .
.
With that
precondition in place then Paul establishes a principle of living that one
might argue did not previously exist, but certainly does now. It is here he writes five problematic
statements.
let those who have
wives live 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 goods, 31 and
those who deal with
the world as though they had no dealings with it.
Aside from
the obvious and seemingly contradictory recommendations regarding marriage in
the opening stanza, it is important to consider all these five statements as a
whole. They are clearly unique and
identifiable in structure. “The verses are replete with rhetorical devices. In
the Greek of vv. 29b–30a, each clause begins and ends with the same word (the
rhetorician’s symplectic—“having,” “mourning,” “rejoicing”). From v. 29b
onward, each clause contains an antithesis (“having” and “not having,”
“mourning” and “not mourning” etc.). There is a heaping up of the conjunction (“and
… and … and,” etc.); use of paranomasis (deal and no dealings in v. 31 belong
to the same word-stem, but are assigned separate meanings), and rhythm (e.g.,
dactylic tetrameter in vv. 29b and 30a). [1]
Fee is
correct when he observes: “Taken literally, the five “as if not” clauses become
absurdities, not to mention contradictory to what Paul clearly said earlier
about marriage (vv. 2–6) and what he will elsewhere say about sorrowing and rejoicing
(Rom. 12:15). But they are not to be taken literally; this is rhetoric,
pure and simple.”[2]
R.L. Pratt agrees. He writes of
Paul: “his poetry followed the patterns of parallelism found in Old Testament
poetry. Because this material is poetic, it is not surprising to find that the
apostle spoke in hyperbole.”[3]
Observing
the poetic message using two opposite ways of thinking we need to consider what
Paul is teaching through this medium. In
my paraphrase it appears as if Paul is saying, now that you know that we are in the beginning of the end and we know
that these days are difficult, married couples should now live differently.
·
We live in the world but not of the
world.
·
We live attached to the world but
detached.
·
We live in bondage to this fleshly
existence, yet live free.
·
We live connected to temporal
things, but not in bondage to them.
“Those who
buy are to do so “as if not” in terms of possessing anything. The
eschatological person “has nothing, yet possesses all things” (2 Cor. 6:10; cf. 1 Cor.
3:22).”[4] The theology of the New
Testament is that we live as residents of this earth, but citizens of heaven
(Philippians 3:20). We live as people
who “. . . seek
the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
(Colossians 3:1,
ESV). Because of our union with Christ
in His death, burial and resurrection, we “Set your minds on things that are above, not on
things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2, ESV). We
live as God’s people: already, but not
yet; or to put it in the order of Paul’s poetic impression: Those that are here on earth, live as if
they aren’t. Or as Fee states so
well: “those who follow (as
disciples of) the risen Christ are marked by eternity; therefore, they are not
under the dominating power of the circumstances or conditions that dictate the
existence of others.”[5]
The Biblical mindset describes the dialectic between love
for Christ and love for even spouses and family that it only can be described
as “the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts.” (Isaiah
55:9, ESV). This immeasurable
distance between human affection and the call to “. . . love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’”
(Mark 12:30, ESV),
described by our Lord in love/hate language.
Jesus said, ““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and
wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he
cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26, ESV). One
would surmise that Paul, following the hyperbolic example of his Master is
saying a similar thing.
Hypothetically, our devotion to Christ ought to be so
intense and pure that our spouses question whether or not we indeed love them
at all! Practically speaking though
this would never occur. The truth is
that if we indeed love Christ as we ought, our love for our spouses and family
will increase and intensify in direct proportion. “Therefore
do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or
‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew
6:31–33, ESV)
In the final Blog in
this series, I want to try to apply this.
[1] Harrisville, R. A. (1987). I Corinthians (p. 123). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.
[2] Fee, G. D. (2014). The
First Epistle to the Corinthians. (N. B. Stonehouse, F. F. Bruce, G. D.
Fee, & J. B. Green, Eds.) (Revised Edition., p. 375). Grand Rapids, MI;
Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
[3] Pratt, R. L., Jr. (2000). I & II Corinthians (Vol. 7, p. 121). Nashville, TN: Broadman
& Holman Publishers.
[4] Fee, G. D. (2014). The
First Epistle to the Corinthians. (N. B. Stonehouse, F. F. Bruce, G. D.
Fee, & J. B. Green, Eds.) (Revised Edition., pp. 376–377). Grand Rapids,
MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
[5] Fee, G. D. (2014). The
First Epistle to the Corinthians. (N. B. Stonehouse, F. F. Bruce, G. D.
Fee, & J. B. Green, Eds.) (Revised Edition., pp. 375–376). Grand Rapids,
MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
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