Misrepresenting Marriage in Widowhood...

This week, we are looking at the harsh reality that while marriage is designed to depict God's desire for a covenant commitment with humanity by revealing and reflecting Jesus Christ to the world, many marriages tend to mar that picture. Even many people who claim to be followers of Jesus do not have marriages that depict Jesus to the world.

And in a letter written to group of people who claimed to be Christians, but who lived their day to day lives in a way that failed to reflect Christ or follow His teachings, a man named Paul revealed for us five different ways that Christians can act unchristian by misrepresenting marriage. Yesterday, we saw that we can misrepresent marriage when we misuse sex.

Today, we will look at a second way that Christians can misrepresent marriage, which is that we can misrepresent marriage when we are widows. We see this reality revealed in 1 Corinthians 7:8-9:

But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Paul transitions from talking to those who are married and were misusing the gift of sex that they had been given by God to those who were at one time married but were now single. A natural question that arises here is that while we know that widows are women whose husbands have died, who are the unmarried that Paul is referring to here?

It is important to understand that while women who became widows faced tremendous problems in ancient culture, this was not the case for men whose spouses died. Thus ancient languages did not have a word for widowers. And in light of this reality and where this fits in the context of this passage, Paul is most likely addressing the issue of men and women who were at one time married but were now single due to the death of their spouse. Paul then explains that for widows and widowers, it is good for them to remain as I, which was single.

Paul then continues by stating but if a widow or widower does not have self control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than burn with passion. Paul here is commanding widows and widowers that if they find themselves unable to keep a handle on their sexual desires, they needed to become involved in a marriage relationship where those sexual desires could be properly expressed and enjoyed.

Instead of simply being consumed with a desire for sex that could be expressed in a way that was outside of God’s design for sexual intimacy, which is in a covenant marriage relationship, Paul gives those who have lost their spouses due to death the freedom to remarry. We can misrepresent marriage, however, when we express our sexual desires that were designed for marriage, in an environment that is outside of God's design.

Tomorrow, we will look at the extremely personal and emotional issue of divorce and remarriage and how marriage can be misrepresented as a result of divorce and remarriage.