The city of Corinth was filled with sexual immorality. All sorts of things were going on in this city. Even in our own culture we are familiar with cities that are known for certain sexual behaviors. This does not mean that everyone in those cities is engaged in those behaviors; it means these behaviors are so evident as to be a temptation to those that are living there.

This chapter is important for understanding how Jesus would like us to relate to the opposite sex and deal with questions of marriage. It is the statement that Paul makes in today’s verse that I want to address today. Paul is telling Christian men to stay with their unbelieving wives if they are willing to continue to live with them. In my own life I recognize the wisdom of this instruction. I was an unbeliever when my wife and I were married. She had been a Christian from her youth.

Paul says in this verse, ‘I do not have a direct command from the Lord.’ I have had people say to me that they do not need to obey this instruction because it didn’t come directly from Jesus. It is just a suggestion by Paul and so it has no real value to us. That is an incredibly ignorant and arrogant thing to say.

Kelly endured fifteen years of being unequally yoked to an unbeliever. Five years after I was saved I became a pastor and three years later God sent us out to start a church. It is impossible to know for sure how many people have been touched through the ministry that Kelly and I have been involved with. Much of the credit for that ministry must go to Kelly for her obedience and faith during the fifteen years of my unbelief. There were times during those fifteen years that Kelly could have ‘unyoked’ herself from me and been free to find herself a Christian man. If she had done that there is no telling the effect it would have had on my life, or her life for that matter. God had a plan that she could not foresee. Paul’s advice is filled with the wisdom of God and is confirmed throughout the rest of the Bible.

Just because Paul says he didn’t get it directly from the Lord, doesn’t mean the wisdom he used to express it didn’t. When the man that penned half the books of the New Testament speaks, we should humbly pay attention. This is not to say that we take this as a commandment from God, but as wisdom from one of God’s servants. The Bible has everything we need to live this life in a way that pleases God. There are circumstances that come up in which we need wisdom to determine how to apply God’s Word to our life. Rather than giving the wisdom to you directly, God may choose to give it to someone else and have them give it to you. Be careful about disregarding the counsel of others; you just might be disregarding God in the process. Jesus, help us to listen when You speak to us through Your Word or through Your people.

Read: Nehemiah 1:1-3:14; 1 Corinthians 7:1-24; Psalm 31:19-24; Proverbs 21:4