1 Corinthians 7:29-31

As I write this in October 2023, Palestine and Israel are at war. No doubt, you have people in your community, as in mine, who are deeply bothered by this. We long that those who are perpetrating acts of aggressive violence would be brought to justice and we mourn that there appears to be no way out of this conflict that does not end in stalemate and mutual loss, likely simmering into a new set of generational wounds that will fuel future terrorism, racism, and hatred.

You also have likely seen the speculation about eschatological realities bubbling to the surface during this period. “With everything that is happening in the world, I’m just thankful that my grandkids are not going to have to go through this much longer. I’ll be surprised if I actually need to plan a funeral!” I assume we have all heard these kinds of comments. I assume that we have done funerals for those people who spoke this way (I also assume that we were self-controlled enough not to mention this as we preached their funerals).

And there is another form of this approach to the world which is always reforming and renewing, loving the world by burning it down, perpetually impatient with the slow pace of change. This is the activist who does not participate in a church community, but only takes part in order to witness its transformation into the kind of church that accords with their notions of justice which may or may not be drawn from the Scriptures or the witness of the church. This person, too, would claim that the present form of this world is passing away and if the church has any hope of relevance, she will listen to the vanguard of the culture and give up on outdated approaches to today’s problems.

But extremes aside, the present form of this world is passing away. This is a core conviction of the Christian approach to this world. Paul says σχῆμα, a fashion or form, habitus or shape. Monastics of the Eastern Church call their highest rank the Great Schema, which they only receive when their abbot feels they have reached “a high level of spiritual excellence.” The schema also refers to the garment these monks now wear which covers the front and back and is covered with symbols of the crucifixion.[1]

I mention the costume of the Eastern monastics, not only to signal my immense erudition and ability to use Google, but to make Paul’s point, which is that we are surrounded by approaches to our concerns which seem to lift us above the problems of the world. But in truth, most of us are skimming the pain of this world by placing our hope in its destruction or refusing to receive the world as it is by insisting that it change before we accept it. The monks and Paul seem to understand that the form of this world is passing away, but there is another form which we have been given. It is a form and a shape which we know, but do not desire to take for ourselves because it is the shape of the cross.

This is the thrust of Paul’s whole message in 1 Corinthians 7 as well as this week’s Gospel. There is a message–Christ’s message–which calls to repentance and transformation, to dropping nets and leaving fathers. It leads us ultimately to Christ’s cross and calls each one of us to bear our own cross to his cross. For some, that will be our marriage or our singleness, born easily or with difficulty. It may be our weeping or rejoicing, our possessions or our poverty. While Paul’s call in these three verses is unavoidably in the direction of simplicity, poverty, singleness, and renunciation, the overall thrust of the passage is to refrain from adding complexity to your life unless you have been called to do so. Verses 32-35 are so clear that it is a shame they are left out of the reading. Verse 35 sums it up, saying, “[a]nd this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.”

Get what matters in place, and the rest will become clear.

So often, we have become convinced that our calling is to enact a certain form of church. This form is not shaped by the habits and practices of the apostles, but is measured according to a metric, whether it be evangelism, cultural impact, or justice. All of these are good, but out of place, they corrupt.

Not unlike marriage.

Reflecting on verses 32-35, both John Chrysostom and Basil of Caesarea note the key point that it is not sexual activity or bondedness of a family that is the concern here, but the anxiety which comes along with family life–maybe especially in our late stage capitalism. Basil calls the anxieties of the world “mutually exclusive” from anxiety for God. John Chrysostom says, “it is not sexual relations that are wrong but being kept from a contemplative life.” John Wesley agrees, saying “It plainly follows, that even they who have wives be as serious, zealous, active, dead to the world, as devoted to God, as holy in all manner of conversation, as if they had none….”[2]

Let us be clear that this is not marriage advice, especially not from brother Wesley. Thankfully, I think the Christian world has progressed to a point where spouses are understood not be a hindrance to one’s spiritual growth, but a unique form of friendship which ought to contribute to it. I think this is what Bruce Fisk means when he refers to “adjusting for the long haul.”[3] The early Christian vision of the near end of the world as we know it has caused many of us to significantly adjust our approach to these kinds of issues. Unless we are of the Hal Lindsey or Tim LaHaye sort, anxiously watching for news out of the Middle East, most of us have settled into a different kind of rhythm.

The bulk of the Christian tradition, including Wesley, would have us pay careful attention to where our anxiety directs us. If our anxiety binds us to this present world, we will pass away with it. If our anxiety causes us to serve the eternal God in this present world, placing all our hope in the resurrection which we have already encountered in Christ, then we will have both Creator and the good creation.[4]

One final word. In this day where we are wrestling with what it means to be marriage and the broad experience of human sexuality like never before, this passage may be of immense help to pastors. Many of us have guidance from our denominations on the goal of how we should proceed, but little to no direction on the how. And our tradition seems to have forgotten that it is possible, and even commendable, to live a single life that honors God. I know this is a deeply complex matter, but if we are to call people to drop their sexual and familial nets, we must also ask, “Drop them for what?” It is necessary that we seek to provide a thick network of familial relations within the church that can hold up and support, even as we benefit from, single Christians serving God in their singleness. We must be building that kind of community for the well-being of Christians who are simply seeking to follow a Pauline call to discipleship. This is one of the crosses of our age. Will we bear it to Golgotha and offer it to Christ?

[1] “Monastic Ranks - OrthodoxWiki.” n.d. Orthodoxwiki.org. Accessed October 25, 2023. https://orthodoxwiki.org/Monastic_Ranks#Great_Schema.

[2] “1 Corinthians 7:29 (ASV) - John Wesley’s Notes.” n.d. Www.bibletools.org. Accessed October 25, 2023. https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/28517/eVerseID/28517/

RTD/jwn/version/asv.

[3] Fisk, Bruce N. 2000. First Corinthians. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 40.

[4] I think it is clear that Paul includes sexual activity as a part of the good of creation, per  Witherington, Ben. 1995. Conflict and Community in Corinth : A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans ; Carlisle, p. 174.