1 Corinthians 7:1-5
1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.[a] 2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
Expediency is the word of the day.
I read through this, and you know what modern-day idea pops into my head? “Kids shouldn’t have sex until they’re married, but since there is so much immorality, they should use condoms.”
Is that similar to what Paul is saying here? He’s basically saying, “I know that you are going to be tempted and want to give in to your urges, so at least get married first so that your sexual relations will be under the blessed umbrella of matrimony.” But if that’s the reason that people are getting married, what’s the point? Seriously. What if our kids were encouraged to get married at 15 and 16 just so they would be “legally married” when they wanted to fool around? I can think of almost no worse reasons to get married besides “We wanted to have sex, so we got married.” C’mon.