1 Corinthians 7 - Marriage Talk

1 Corinthians 7 is one of those chapters that can get someone in a lot of trouble if quoted recklessly and without context.  For example:

"It is good for a man not to marry"
"Those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this"
"Those who have wives should live as if they had none"
"Were you a slave when you were called?  Don't let it trouble you"
"He who marries does right, but he who does not marry does even better"

Any of these could be controversial if removed from the broader context of understanding to whom Paul is writing and why.  The church in Corinth was suffering from the sexually immoral behavior of some of its members, which Paul has already specifically addressed in earlier chapters.  Then at the end of chapter 6, we read even more about sexual immorality in more general terms.  All this paints for us the picture of a people who were constantly bombarded by sex-related issues.  Probably not too different from modern-day Western society.

Even more, we see this in verse 1 of chapter 7: "Now for the matters you wrote about".  The people in Corinth apparently had asked Paul some specific questions about marriage.  Questions like: is it OK for a Christian spouse to divorce an unbeliever?  Is it OK for a widow to remarry?  Is it even good to marry at all?  Paul answers these directly; even being careful to explain where he is applying the known Scriptures of the time, and where he is trusting his own judgment.  The funny part for us, of course, is that Paul's writing became part of Scripture. (An aside: do you ever wonder if the writers of what became the books of the Bible had any sense that they were being used to put the Word of God on paper?  I wonder about that all the time.)

Clearly, Paul has an understanding of basic biology and knows that apart from procreation, the believers in Corinth will die out after a single generation.  So is he really saying that they should do their best to stay unmarried if possible?  Is there a broader truth to apply here...namely that the heart turned toward God does well to remain as undivided as possible?  Sometimes reading and studying the Bible causes me to turn toward God and just ask Him, what does this mean?  What are you trying to tell me?