Those who have wives should live as if they do not - Father Ola on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

First broadcast on http://thesundayeucharist.com on Sunday, January 21, 2024

Brothers and sisters, the time is short. From now on, those who have wives should live as if they do not, those who mourn, as if they did not, those who are happy, as if they were not, those who buy something, as if they were not theirs to keep, and those who use the things of the world as if not engrossed in them, for this world in its present form is passing away.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Paul is in this chapter - he's trying to teach the first generation of Christians how to conduct themselves in relation to marriage, and he's giving us a very good tip - a very good advice. I would like to start just focusing on this sentence here that I think it's a funny one - "Those who have wives should live as if they did not."

I like that one and it's a tricky one, but we'll see what we can make of it. He also writes, just prior to what I wrote, he writes what I read, sorry. "But those who marry will face many troubles in this life. And I want to spare you this. "

Yes, Paul was not a huge fan of marriage, even though he said it's a good thing if you have to. As for me personally, I think it's a great idea because life is fairly tough, and the older you get, the more you need someone in your corner, so to say. You need someone to help you, and marriage is a great way of signing a contract, basically, that you're going to try as hard as you can to live together.

And we all know it's not easy, it's hard labor. Let's put it that way. But I think it's a great institution when it's doing what it should do, and one important tip here is what Paul is saying. I believe that this is what he's actually saying. Those who have wives should live as if they did not.

And the whole passage, it speaks about the Christian freedom, the spiritual freedom of living in the world, but not being dependent on it. And that thing, that freedom of not being dependent on the world and to not be enslaved by the world. I think that there's a great freedom in that to not be enslaved by your ambitions, your dreams, your work, not anything, not even people that you love.

I think that's it. To not be enslaved, not even by the one you love. And in marriages and in relationships. I think if you are too dependent on each other, it's not a good thing. You should aim to live together, help each other, and help each other live your own life, so to speak. And if you're too dependent, it's just a bad recipe and it's not going to be healthy in the long run.

So I think that's what he's saying - that only God should be the necessity, and it does make sense.

I would like to just finish off saying that if the meaning, if the goal of the marriage is the marriage itself, all sorts of bad things can happen in that feedback.

I think that the goal must with the marriage must be to live together, walk together through this world and help each other and the moment you need each other more than you love each other, that's where it starts to derail, I think, or could possibly do. I think that's a little wisdom we can extract from this difficult passage.

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