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1 Corinthians 7

O

OhMyStars

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Specifically verse 2...
And if this has been discussed elsewhere, please point me to where, as I couldn’t find anything.
But this verse, Paul is speaking, says each man his own wife and each wife her own husband, and it’s regarding immortality at that time. I’m one where the Bible was meant for all times not just ‘Bible times’, so due to a discussion in a Facebook group I’m part of, I’d like to know how everyone is interpreting this passage, and if my opinion of Jesus came not to abolish the laws but to fulfill them stands true with this scripture also, or how this all ties in. Obviously I completely believe plural marriage is biblical and acceptable, but I want to make sure before I go getting myself mired in something that I have my facts and evidence of proof correct. That’s and how I interpret that verse might be different then someone else interprets it....especially with my understanding of the letter to the Corinthians...
 
OhMyStars said:
Specifically verse 2...
And if this has been discussed elsewhere, please point me to where, as I couldn’t find anything.
But this verse, Paul is speaking, says each man his own wife and each wife her own husband, and it’s regarding immortality at that time. I’m one where the Bible was meant for all times not just ‘Bible times’, so due to a discussion in a Facebook group I’m part of, I’d like to know how everyone is interpreting this passage, and if my opinion of Jesus came not to abolish the laws but to fulfill them stands true with this scripture also, or how this all ties in. Obviously I completely believe plural marriage is biblical and acceptable, but I want to make sure before I go getting myself mired in something that I have my facts and evidence of proof correct. That’s and how I interpret that verse might be different then someone else interprets it....especially with my understanding of the letter to the Corinthians...
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The Bible is for all times, but It does not necessarily apply 1-for-1 in every instance in our lives. Otherwise, we'd all be dead, because we would have been stoned before now for one of the infractions of The Law, given that execution was acceptable back then for various serious misbehaviors.

Context is also important. I Corinthians was written specifically to a group of people from Corinth, which was a decidedly Greek outpost that remained entirely loyal to the Greek culture, which is the one that initiated monogamy-only in the 6th Century B.C. Polygamy was forbidden to them. This is why Paul defines, for them, the responsibility of due benevolence (required to provide sexual satisfaction) as a two-way street between one husband and one wife. The biblical standard was different. (I highly recommend reading anything by William Luck, but the one that has the most meat, to me, is Divorce and Remarriage, even on sexual matters unrelated to divorce or remarriage.) Only the husbands were required to provide their wives due benevolence according to The Law; the wives' responsibilities ended after the production of an heir. And why was that?: because the husbands could seek whatever sexual satisfaction they wanted by taking on additional wives and concubines, whereas the wives couldn't legitimately have additional husbands or male concubines.

It is, by the way, impossible to apply every verse of Scripture to one's self personally. To comprehend the fallacy of that, all one has to do is read any number of verses in the Prophets proclaiming to their readers that the Messiah hasn't yet come. If one takes such a verse literally and directed toward oneself, it becomes logically impossible to acknowledge Christ as the Messiah, because He hasn't come yet!

Some of Scripture is for everyone (Psalms, Proverbs, the history passages in Genesis and elsewhere, etc., come to mind), but a great deal of Scripture is audience-specific. That is part of why it's essential to differentiate to whom the Apostles were speaking when writing their Epistles. Christ, also, almost exclusively preached only to the Jews. The Gentiles were not His concern at that time, and when they become so He stopped Saul/Paul on the Road to Damascus in order to initiate Paul's Gospel to the Gentiles.

I hope this was helpful.
 
It has been discussed somewhere, but I wouldn’t know where.
The fun thing is that this verse proves polygyny in the New Testament. The Greek words that were used for “own” are completely different.
His own wife, the own was as in his own piece of bread. Belongs to him alone.
Her own husband, the own was a form that was shared as in his or her own country. The country belongs to them, but they don’t own it by themselves. Neither does a woman own her husband by herself if she has sister wives.

Totally cool verse!
 
The Greek word for “his own” is heautou and the Greek word for “her own” is idios. Heautou indicates exclusive ownership and idios indicates shared ownership. 1 Corinthians 7:2 is the best and worst verse for the anti polygynists. It seems so clear in English that polygyny is forbidden, but in Greek it shows clearly that the biblical principles of husbands’ and wives’ rolls specifically include polygyny.
 
steve said:
It has been discussed somewhere, but I wouldn’t know where.
The fun thing is that this verse proves polygyny in the New Testament. The Greek words that were used for “own” are completely different.
His own wife, the own was as in his own piece of bread. Belongs to him alone.
Her own husband, the own was a form that was shared as in his or her own country. The country belongs to them, but they don’t own it by themselves. Neither does a woman own her husband by herself if she has sister wives.

Totally cool verse!
Click to expand...
Asforme&myhouse said:
The Greek word for “his own” is heautou and the Greek word for “her own” is idios. Heautou indicates exclusive ownership and idios indicates shared ownership. 1 Corinthians 7:2 is the best and worst verse for the anti polygynists. It seems so clear in English that polygyny is forbidden, but in Greek it shows clearly that the biblical principles of husbands’ and wives’ rolls specifically include polygyny.
Click to expand...

Yes, and yes!
 
Asforme&myhouse said:
The Greek word for “his own” is heautou and the Greek word for “her own” is idios. Heautou indicates exclusive ownership and idios indicates shared ownership. 1 Corinthians 7:2 is the best and worst verse for the anti polygynists. It seems so clear in English that polygyny is forbidden, but in Greek it shows clearly that the biblical principles of husbands’ and wives’ rolls specifically include polygyny.
Click to expand...
It’s always nice to have the scholarly around. :)


When they agree with you, of course. ;)
 
Asforme&myhouse said:
Sorry Steve, I wasn’t trying to one up you, you were dead on. I just figured it might be helpful for her in her discussion elsewhere, to have a few of the specifics on that verse. :)
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Not at all!
You backed up my drive-by narrative with the depth needed.
 
Thanks, y’all!!! This is huge. I might be back for more ‘meat’ so to speak. I have a sneaking suspicion this could get nitty gritty with this group. o_OSome of these people really get nasty...they will accept same sex marriages, but anything other then that is ‘selfish of the man, it’s all about the sex, he’s manipulating/brainwashing the wife, etc’. Ok, now to formulate my response. :D
 
OhMyStars said:
o_OSome of these people really get nasty...they will accept same sex marriages, but anything other then that is ‘selfish of the man, it’s all about the sex, he’s manipulating/brainwashing the wife, etc’.
Click to expand...

I hear you. The assertion that men are oversexed is almost ubiquitous enough to be labeled the water we swim in. What I want to know is why isn't it just as frequently labeled equally as selfish on the part of the woman to refrain from providing her man with the level of sexual interaction he desires? Why don't we just as often identify women as being stingy as we identify men as being overbearing about sex?

Polygyny is plain and simply our Father's Design for correcting many inequities, not the least of which is the typically differing sex drives between men and women.
 
That verse is covered in two of the key articles on the main site, articles which you'll no doubt find useful as they may answer other questions you confront in your discussion. The common objections one is something written in the early days of the ministry, which I found invaluable when I first found this site many years ago. The marriage from the bible alone article is a brief but relatively comprehensive overview of the whole area of marriage, presenting it as a whole rather than discrete questions.

https://biblicalfamilies.org/resources/biblical/common-objections

https://biblicalfamilies.org/resources/further-reading/articles/marriage-bible-alone
 
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