unmarried man v attend jesus undistracted

Doubtless the cares of a family in that troubled period, and the supposed nearness of Christ's advent, had their influence on his mind, and yet he is well aware that, in the lowest view of marriage, it was a protection against vice. No sympathy could he feel with the reaction against marriage in itself, which had set in more than a century before among the Romans, and, while an effect, was also a cause of the widespread demoralization of the age. Under the circumstances, it was the only proper course for him to adopt. But here as everywhere, 'let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind,' and so reverential is he in his attitude towards humanity, that in the application of expediency to marriage, he will go no further than offer advice. Paul had just argued - and marriage comes under this provision. Freedom within the bounds of law is freedom to deny the use of lawful rights and privileges - so St. Whether the unmarried shall be married or not must be determined by themselves in the light of their personal organization, and by the indications of Providence and the Spirit. He treats it, in view of existing circumstances, as a matter to be decided by expediency, each one judging what is best.

Marriage in the abstract is only in view so far as recurrence is necessary, in the conduct of the argument, to the fundamental principles inseparable from the relation. Proceeding to discuss the questions submitted to him by the Corinthians, he begins this chapter by considering marriage in that aspect which was under debate just then at Corinth. One thing, nevertheless, is certain, and that one thing is, that whenever practical men deal with social questions, they accept St. Paul, who never contradicts history, we see that even enlightened instincts cannot be trusted when withdrawn from the guidance and support of the Holy Spirit. Of late we have heard much concerning a scientific basis of morality. Paul had found it necessary to argue on the highest religious ground against the sensual evils of fornication. Incest had been tolerated in the Church, and St. Had anything escaped this billowy sweep of strife? It was even dashing against the institution of marriage, which men had agreed to honour as the most important and the most venerable of earthly interests. And we now see in this chapter, more fully than before, what conflicts of intellect and passion were in progress, what strange alienations had transpired, and how far gone many of his disciples were from the path in which he had expected their feet to tread. Paul was in the world - such pre-eminently as he had shown himself in Corinth by his opposition to the views of Greeks and Jews, and by his uncompromising zeal in behalf of the distinctive tenets of the gospel - must be suffered to do its work independently of his presence and immediate oversight. Teachers must remand pupils to themselves. For three years he had been absent, and, meantime, what collisions had set in, and, amidst the surging to and fro of opinions and prejudices and enmities, what disorders had been tolerated! Over everything and everywhere was felt the chilly mist, a twilight to some, a midnight to others, a bewildering gloom to all. At Corinth he had taught and preached and founded a Church. Paul needed and, though local disturbances often arose and at times violent commotions, yet the Roman law was his best earthly friend. There was not only external tranquillity, but the precise kind of tranquillity which St. But the quickening of thought remained, and this inured to the advantage of Christianity.

Imperialism was now in the ascendancy, and the nations were ostensibly a nation - a colossal Rome. A century before, the world had been agitated by the ideas and schemes of Julius Caesar, the foremost man of his age, and quite as great a revolutionizer of men's ways of thinking as of political institutions. This may symbolize what was going on in Corinth at this time. Now, we know what occurs when the waters of the Gulf Stream, bearing northward its immense store of heat from the Gulf of Mexico, come in contact off Newfoundland with the Polar currents, and what a vast bank of fog rises from the condensation of warm vapour in a cold atmosphere. Neither Rome, nor Athens, nor Jerusalem, afforded such a field of contention as this proud and sensual city, where worldly culture and elegance existed side by side with commercial wealth and luxury. Lipscomb We have seen what a meeting place Corinth was for the schools of philosophy and Judaism - a sort of metropolitan Coliseum, in which the gladiators of intellect were in unceasing combat.

Unmarried man v attend jesus undistracted