Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 19
Man’s fleshly good works, are all sinful!
Surely, someone will accuse me of this:
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
I know at first, it sounds like that is exactly what I am doing.
But, I hope you’re starting to see, that in truth, it’s the complete opposite!!!
THEY are calling fleshly good works, which are ALL evil to God, they are calling them good.
Thus, they call evil good.
And then they accuse those that believe fully in grace, Real Christians, of wanting a license to sin, and of being evil doers.
1 Peter 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Spiritually, I am perfect, and I cannot sin.
But they say if I live a sinful life, then I’m not saved.
Thus, they call good evil.
They say we are teaching men that sin is acceptable. But that is the OPPOSITE of what we teach!
We teach mean to be truly good: to be PERFECT.
But they call the preaching of this doctrine of perfection, which is TRUE good to God… they call it evil –
So, they call good evil.
Judging men after the flesh, is calling GOOD EVIL, and EVIL GOOD.
Proverbs 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
Notice: you don’t have to do “BOTH”. You just have to do one of the two!
Even if you say, “I don’t call Christians unsaved just because they do evil works. We all sin sometimes.” Okay, but if you also say, “Works are fruit, and so, if you’re really saved, then you WILL do good, or you will at least TRY to love others and live a good life.”, Well, then you’re an abomination to God, because you’re calling evil doers… GOOD!
1 Peter 2:12 … they speak against you as evildoers…
But… they aren’t just speaking against Christians…. calling saved people evil, and lost people good… but because they attribute their improved lifestyle, their fleshly good works, to the Holy Spirit working in them (they say, “I’m not the one doing my good works, the Holy Spirit is in me doing them”), they are accusing the Holy Spirit, of doing their fleshly works! Which works are sin!
So… They are speaking against the Holy Spirit, as an evildoer! And THAT is a BIG problem!
Matthew 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
In truth, it is THEM who are blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Calling evil good, and good evil.
Man’s fleshly good works are NOT from the Holy Ghost, and they are not GOOD: they are evil!
So that is what I believe the Bible teaches: every work of men’s hands, every work that comes out of sinful flesh, is sin. Our good works are sin.
=
Now, I want to be transparent, that there is one passage particularly that, at least when I first considered it, I thought, it might be a pretty big problem for my belief.
I’m less concerned about it now, but unfortunately, I still don’t really have an ideal answer for it.
1 Corinthians 7:26– I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. 27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. 28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you. 29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; … 36 But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
Now, admittedly, this does kind of sound like it hurts my case.
But… I’ve shown you A LOT of support for my belief. And this is really only 1 potential counter-witness. While the Bible says that 2 or 3 witnesses are required to establish a doctrine.
2 Corinthians 13:1 … In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
Additionally, the context of this passage is a very, VERY difficult subject: Marriage, divorce, and remarriage.
There are some things to consider when looking at 1 Cor 7.
- There is much about marriage that we just don’t understand. We are called “one flesh”, yet there is definitely somewhat of a spiritual aspect of marriage too.
- While men are on earth, under the law, some (lesser) sins are not called sin, but are called “good”, and God winks at them, for a time. As this passage is pertaining to FLESHLY things, in THIS LIFE – I think Paul is dealing with marriage, similarly.
- Paul is talking about what God allows (v36, v39) vs what is good and/or best for each individual Christian, IN THIS LIFE. And unfortunately, the answer isn’t binary among men, IN THIS LIFE.
- I think what Paul is really teaching is that marriage is not a sin of spiritual wickedness (like in Acts 15:20) that causes a curse and gets people in serious trouble with God.
Maybe I don’t have that all perfectly described. But I can guarantee you that this passage, and this topic specifically, is MUCH more complex than boiling it down to, “to get married is not a sin, but it’s really a good work to God”.
Observe this intricate mess that Paul is wading through in 1 Corinthians 7:
Paul says, “it is good for a man so to be [unmarried]” (v26). Yet in the beginning, God said “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen 2:18).
So which one is it? Is it good to remain unmarried, or is it not good (sin)?
–
Jesus agreed with the disciples that “it is not good to marry” (Matt 19:10). But Paul says “he that giveth her in marriage doeth well” (v38).
So is getting married good, or not good (sin)?
The Bible says, “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing” (Pro 18:22). But Paul says “seek not a wife” (v9).
So should I seek a wife or no?
If I find a wife, did I do good, or did I NOT do good?
Paul says, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman” (v1), but he also says “defraud ye not one the other” (v5).
So is it good for me to touch my wife, or is it good for me to NOT touch my wife?
Paul says “let every man have his own wife” (v2), but then he says, “he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better” (v38).
So should we LET people marry, or should we NOT LET them marry?
Should we GIVE people in marriage, or should we NOT GIVE them in marriage?
The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Shall we give, or shall we not give”? (Similarly, we must divide flesh from Spirit. This passage is dealing with FLESHLY stuff.)
Paul taught that church leaders should be (must be?) married.
1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, …
1 Timothy 3:12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, …
But then he says, “to the unmarried… It is good for them if they abide even as I [unmarried]” (v8).
So which one is the good thing to do?
Now here’s the real pickle! The Bible says: “to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)
So if you know that it is good to NOT GET married, but you DO get married, it’s sin!
And, if you know that it is good to GET married, but you DON’T get married, it’s sin!
So… no matter which one you choose, you will be sinning, having not done the other thing, which was “good” to do.
So how can Paul say, “if thou marry, thou hast not sinned”.
That’s quite a pickle!
Now, why did I go through all that? I wanted to make 2 points:
The 1st point is that no matter what we do in the flesh, we sin.
Our bodies, and our lives in this world, are UNCLEAN, and FULL of evil.
If God didn’t temporarily allow sin, then He wouldn’t allow men to live at all.
Thus, while we are in this world, God has to temporarily ALLOW men to sin the sin of getting married.
1 Corinthians 7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
While we are in this world, there is no true good. There are only things that God TEMPORARILY calls “good”, and there are things that God TEMPORARILY does NOT call “sin”… because He is currently ALLOWING those sins.
But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t technically, truthfully, spiritually, still sin to Him, in His true BINARY judgment.
Mark 10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
They were planning to “gotcha” Jesus. Whether Jesus said Yes or No, they had a response planned to condemn Him.
If He had said Yes, they’d probably respond with, “How can it be lawful if God hates it?”
Malachi 2:16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: …
Matthew 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication [Fornication! Not adultery!! Only if she was “not a maid” when they were married. Refer to Deu 22:13–], causeth her to commit adultery…
Matthew 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: …
Divorce is wrong. Divorce always results in sin. (Likely even when due to fornication!)
You might say, “well I can put her away and not get remarried”. Yeah… good luck not sinning/lusting!
Even so, you’ve caused HER to sin.
Either way, there is sin there.
The Pharisees took that as a No, so then, they went with their other prepared response: they asked Jesus, “well if its sin, then why did God command it? (HA HA!)”
Matthew 19:7-8 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
So Jesus’ answer was basically, Yes AND No.
Divorce is never what God wants. It is against what He designed. It is SIN! Plain and simple.
Yet… under the law, God ALLOWED that sin, and even COMMANDED that sin.
You say, “Why?” Well, what choice did He have? They couldn’t do ANY GOOD, they could ONLY sin. Men don’t have a way to NOT sin. They only have a way to sin less.
Some sins are worse than others. Some sins are lesser sins than others. Some sins, covered up other sins.
Either way, you are going to sin. So, God COMMANDS divorce, because He PREFERS the SIN of you divorcing your wife, OVER the sin of you hating your wife.
And it is the same with GETTING married in the first place!
Look… get married, or don’t get married… no matter which one you choose, you will be sinning. And God is permitting you to!
1 Corinthians 7:6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
God is PERMITTING you to choose what sin you are going to sin. “Pick your poison!”
What SHOULD you choose? You should choose whatever is the lesser sin, based on YOUR own ability!
—
1 Corinthians 7:1-2 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, …
That is how Paul starts out a chapter of 40 verses, all about marriage!
Paul is like, “The truth is, it’s sin to even TOUCH the other sex! However, in order not to sin worse, …”
1 Cor 7 is not quite so CLEAR, is it?
As ridiculous as it may sound… Early Christians weren’t sure if they were ALLOWED to get married.
Paul wrote this passage in 1 Cor 7, because there were questions in the church about whether Christians had God’s PERMISSION to get married. (1 Tim 4:1-3)
The early Christians probably knew Jesus had essentially spoken against marriage:
Matthew 19:10-12 His disciples say unto him, … it is not good to marry. 11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. … He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
I couldn’t receive that. I needed to get myself a wife, so that I wouldn’t sin even worse!
1 Corinthians 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
In 1 Cor 7, Paul explains that, IN THIS LIFE… IF in trying to remain unmarried… you are going to end up doing a greater sin (e.g., committing lust or fornication), then you should choose to sin a small sin (i.e., get married), and you are not in BONDAGE to try to do the even smaller sin (i.e. to abide alone).
Whatever you do, it’s sin. But as concerning “the present distress”, in the flesh… depending on your own ability, one sin (whether to marry, or not to marry) is the “good” and “right” option for you.
Though you’ve sinned by getting married, that sin will not be COUNTED sin, between you and God, just like the sin of divorce, was not counted sin, under the law.
If you’re still a bit confused?? Well, good…
Because my 2nd point, in presenting all this complexity is… it isn’t as simple as, “getting married is NOT a sin”.
It isn’t as simple as, “getting married is a good work, and so that proves that men can do true good works in the flesh/world.”
There is more going on here in 1 Cor 7. The Biblical concept of marriage, is a very complex concept. Marriage has both a fleshly side and a spiritual side/aspect.
Paul is teaching that Christians are FREE to get married (to other Christians), and if they do, it will not cause a spiritual uncleanness between a man and God.
1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
Paul isn’t talking about whether a person is saved or unsaved. He is talking about whether marrying results in a spiritual uncleanness between a person and God. Whether He sees a person as accursed – cut off in rebellion and unbelief.
(I didn’t take this from somewhere else to try to prove my point… This is right in our passage!)
If you chose to get married…
- You won’t lose your ministry.
- God won’t kill you, or cut you off from serving Him.
- God won’t curse your wife or your children or grandchildren, from getting saved.
1 Cor 7 is teaching that while we are here in the flesh, the sin of marriage is allowed, and it doesn’t make you or your family spiritually unclean to God.
So 2 things I want you to get out of that:
- I’m not going to discard my belief, as if 1 Cor 7, by itself, overrules all the other evidence we’ve seen. I don’t think that this one passage proves that there are works of men’s hands that are truly good, and are NOT ultimately sin to God.
- Though God sees spiritual things in BINARY, flesh is messy, and sort of, non-binary! Because men can’t NOT sin in this present evil world, God allows men to sin, in this present world, and doesn’t call it sin, or judge it as sin, FOR NOW.
The point there, was not to help you understand marriage, but to help you understand that, although God may temporarily deal with men on the earth in non-binary… in truth, in the spirit, God’s judgment is in binary.
So… I believe that every work of men’s hands, every work that comes out of sinful flesh, is sin.
And to think that they are GOOD… is to be deceived by your sin.
But, even if you still disagree with my belief… even if you refuse to believe that reading the Bible is a sin, and going to church is a sin, and giving to charity is a sin… Scripturally, you must at least agree, that those “good works” are NOT TRUE good works, to God. They can only, AT BEST, be “nothing”.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
If you sin, at all, then you are “without Him” (1Jn 3:5), and you do NOTHING.
Isaiah 41:29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: …
Psalms 39:5-6 … verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: …
The very best state of flesh, doing the best fleshly works, is VANITY: NOTHING.
“If you’re really a Christian, the fruits of the Spirit will flow out of you!”
Even at its best state, flesh does not PRODUCE Spirit.
You may fool mankind into thinking you have the fruits of the Spirit. But in truth, to God, your good fleshly works, and all your best fruits, are a vain SHOW.
Apr 14 2025
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 19
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 19
Man’s fleshly good works, are all sinful!
Surely, someone will accuse me of this:
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
I know at first, it sounds like that is exactly what I am doing.
But, I hope you’re starting to see, that in truth, it’s the complete opposite!!!
THEY are calling fleshly good works, which are ALL evil to God, they are calling them good.
Thus, they call evil good.
And then they accuse those that believe fully in grace, Real Christians, of wanting a license to sin, and of being evil doers.
1 Peter 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Spiritually, I am perfect, and I cannot sin.
But they say if I live a sinful life, then I’m not saved.
Thus, they call good evil.
They say we are teaching men that sin is acceptable. But that is the OPPOSITE of what we teach!
We teach mean to be truly good: to be PERFECT.
But they call the preaching of this doctrine of perfection, which is TRUE good to God… they call it evil –
So, they call good evil.
Judging men after the flesh, is calling GOOD EVIL, and EVIL GOOD.
Proverbs 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
Notice: you don’t have to do “BOTH”. You just have to do one of the two!
Even if you say, “I don’t call Christians unsaved just because they do evil works. We all sin sometimes.” Okay, but if you also say, “Works are fruit, and so, if you’re really saved, then you WILL do good, or you will at least TRY to love others and live a good life.”, Well, then you’re an abomination to God, because you’re calling evil doers… GOOD!
1 Peter 2:12 … they speak against you as evildoers…
But… they aren’t just speaking against Christians…. calling saved people evil, and lost people good… but because they attribute their improved lifestyle, their fleshly good works, to the Holy Spirit working in them (they say, “I’m not the one doing my good works, the Holy Spirit is in me doing them”), they are accusing the Holy Spirit, of doing their fleshly works! Which works are sin!
So… They are speaking against the Holy Spirit, as an evildoer! And THAT is a BIG problem!
Matthew 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
In truth, it is THEM who are blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Calling evil good, and good evil.
Man’s fleshly good works are NOT from the Holy Ghost, and they are not GOOD: they are evil!
So that is what I believe the Bible teaches: every work of men’s hands, every work that comes out of sinful flesh, is sin. Our good works are sin.
=
Now, I want to be transparent, that there is one passage particularly that, at least when I first considered it, I thought, it might be a pretty big problem for my belief.
I’m less concerned about it now, but unfortunately, I still don’t really have an ideal answer for it.
1 Corinthians 7:26– I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. 27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. 28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you. 29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; … 36 But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
Now, admittedly, this does kind of sound like it hurts my case.
But… I’ve shown you A LOT of support for my belief. And this is really only 1 potential counter-witness. While the Bible says that 2 or 3 witnesses are required to establish a doctrine.
2 Corinthians 13:1 … In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
Additionally, the context of this passage is a very, VERY difficult subject: Marriage, divorce, and remarriage.
There are some things to consider when looking at 1 Cor 7.
Maybe I don’t have that all perfectly described. But I can guarantee you that this passage, and this topic specifically, is MUCH more complex than boiling it down to, “to get married is not a sin, but it’s really a good work to God”.
Observe this intricate mess that Paul is wading through in 1 Corinthians 7:
Paul says, “it is good for a man so to be [unmarried]” (v26). Yet in the beginning, God said “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen 2:18).
So which one is it? Is it good to remain unmarried, or is it not good (sin)?
–
Jesus agreed with the disciples that “it is not good to marry” (Matt 19:10). But Paul says “he that giveth her in marriage doeth well” (v38).
So is getting married good, or not good (sin)?
The Bible says, “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing” (Pro 18:22). But Paul says “seek not a wife” (v9).
So should I seek a wife or no?
If I find a wife, did I do good, or did I NOT do good?
Paul says, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman” (v1), but he also says “defraud ye not one the other” (v5).
So is it good for me to touch my wife, or is it good for me to NOT touch my wife?
Paul says “let every man have his own wife” (v2), but then he says, “he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better” (v38).
So should we LET people marry, or should we NOT LET them marry?
Should we GIVE people in marriage, or should we NOT GIVE them in marriage?
The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Shall we give, or shall we not give”? (Similarly, we must divide flesh from Spirit. This passage is dealing with FLESHLY stuff.)
Paul taught that church leaders should be (must be?) married.
1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, …
1 Timothy 3:12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, …
But then he says, “to the unmarried… It is good for them if they abide even as I [unmarried]” (v8).
So which one is the good thing to do?
Now here’s the real pickle! The Bible says: “to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)
So if you know that it is good to NOT GET married, but you DO get married, it’s sin!
And, if you know that it is good to GET married, but you DON’T get married, it’s sin!
So… no matter which one you choose, you will be sinning, having not done the other thing, which was “good” to do.
So how can Paul say, “if thou marry, thou hast not sinned”.
That’s quite a pickle!
Now, why did I go through all that? I wanted to make 2 points:
The 1st point is that no matter what we do in the flesh, we sin.
Our bodies, and our lives in this world, are UNCLEAN, and FULL of evil.
If God didn’t temporarily allow sin, then He wouldn’t allow men to live at all.
Thus, while we are in this world, God has to temporarily ALLOW men to sin the sin of getting married.
1 Corinthians 7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
While we are in this world, there is no true good. There are only things that God TEMPORARILY calls “good”, and there are things that God TEMPORARILY does NOT call “sin”… because He is currently ALLOWING those sins.
But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t technically, truthfully, spiritually, still sin to Him, in His true BINARY judgment.
Mark 10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
They were planning to “gotcha” Jesus. Whether Jesus said Yes or No, they had a response planned to condemn Him.
If He had said Yes, they’d probably respond with, “How can it be lawful if God hates it?”
Malachi 2:16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: …
Matthew 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication [Fornication! Not adultery!! Only if she was “not a maid” when they were married. Refer to Deu 22:13–], causeth her to commit adultery…
Matthew 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: …
Divorce is wrong. Divorce always results in sin. (Likely even when due to fornication!)
You might say, “well I can put her away and not get remarried”. Yeah… good luck not sinning/lusting!
Even so, you’ve caused HER to sin.
Either way, there is sin there.
The Pharisees took that as a No, so then, they went with their other prepared response: they asked Jesus, “well if its sin, then why did God command it? (HA HA!)”
Matthew 19:7-8 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
So Jesus’ answer was basically, Yes AND No.
Divorce is never what God wants. It is against what He designed. It is SIN! Plain and simple.
Yet… under the law, God ALLOWED that sin, and even COMMANDED that sin.
You say, “Why?” Well, what choice did He have? They couldn’t do ANY GOOD, they could ONLY sin. Men don’t have a way to NOT sin. They only have a way to sin less.
Some sins are worse than others. Some sins are lesser sins than others. Some sins, covered up other sins.
Either way, you are going to sin. So, God COMMANDS divorce, because He PREFERS the SIN of you divorcing your wife, OVER the sin of you hating your wife.
And it is the same with GETTING married in the first place!
Look… get married, or don’t get married… no matter which one you choose, you will be sinning. And God is permitting you to!
1 Corinthians 7:6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
God is PERMITTING you to choose what sin you are going to sin. “Pick your poison!”
What SHOULD you choose? You should choose whatever is the lesser sin, based on YOUR own ability!
—
1 Corinthians 7:1-2 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, …
That is how Paul starts out a chapter of 40 verses, all about marriage!
Paul is like, “The truth is, it’s sin to even TOUCH the other sex! However, in order not to sin worse, …”
1 Cor 7 is not quite so CLEAR, is it?
As ridiculous as it may sound… Early Christians weren’t sure if they were ALLOWED to get married.
Paul wrote this passage in 1 Cor 7, because there were questions in the church about whether Christians had God’s PERMISSION to get married. (1 Tim 4:1-3)
The early Christians probably knew Jesus had essentially spoken against marriage:
Matthew 19:10-12 His disciples say unto him, … it is not good to marry. 11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. … He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
I couldn’t receive that. I needed to get myself a wife, so that I wouldn’t sin even worse!
1 Corinthians 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
In 1 Cor 7, Paul explains that, IN THIS LIFE… IF in trying to remain unmarried… you are going to end up doing a greater sin (e.g., committing lust or fornication), then you should choose to sin a small sin (i.e., get married), and you are not in BONDAGE to try to do the even smaller sin (i.e. to abide alone).
Whatever you do, it’s sin. But as concerning “the present distress”, in the flesh… depending on your own ability, one sin (whether to marry, or not to marry) is the “good” and “right” option for you.
Though you’ve sinned by getting married, that sin will not be COUNTED sin, between you and God, just like the sin of divorce, was not counted sin, under the law.
If you’re still a bit confused?? Well, good…
Because my 2nd point, in presenting all this complexity is… it isn’t as simple as, “getting married is NOT a sin”.
It isn’t as simple as, “getting married is a good work, and so that proves that men can do true good works in the flesh/world.”
There is more going on here in 1 Cor 7. The Biblical concept of marriage, is a very complex concept. Marriage has both a fleshly side and a spiritual side/aspect.
Paul is teaching that Christians are FREE to get married (to other Christians), and if they do, it will not cause a spiritual uncleanness between a man and God.
1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
Paul isn’t talking about whether a person is saved or unsaved. He is talking about whether marrying results in a spiritual uncleanness between a person and God. Whether He sees a person as accursed – cut off in rebellion and unbelief.
(I didn’t take this from somewhere else to try to prove my point… This is right in our passage!)
If you chose to get married…
1 Cor 7 is teaching that while we are here in the flesh, the sin of marriage is allowed, and it doesn’t make you or your family spiritually unclean to God.
So 2 things I want you to get out of that:
The point there, was not to help you understand marriage, but to help you understand that, although God may temporarily deal with men on the earth in non-binary… in truth, in the spirit, God’s judgment is in binary.
So… I believe that every work of men’s hands, every work that comes out of sinful flesh, is sin.
And to think that they are GOOD… is to be deceived by your sin.
But, even if you still disagree with my belief… even if you refuse to believe that reading the Bible is a sin, and going to church is a sin, and giving to charity is a sin… Scripturally, you must at least agree, that those “good works” are NOT TRUE good works, to God. They can only, AT BEST, be “nothing”.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
If you sin, at all, then you are “without Him” (1Jn 3:5), and you do NOTHING.
Isaiah 41:29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: …
Psalms 39:5-6 … verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: …
The very best state of flesh, doing the best fleshly works, is VANITY: NOTHING.
“If you’re really a Christian, the fruits of the Spirit will flow out of you!”
Even at its best state, flesh does not PRODUCE Spirit.
You may fool mankind into thinking you have the fruits of the Spirit. But in truth, to God, your good fleshly works, and all your best fruits, are a vain SHOW.
By Pastor • Christian Doctrine, Christian Life, False Prophets/Doctrine, Family Living, Good Works, Identifying False Christians, Problem Texts • 0