Daily Reading Week 7
Sunday
1 Corinthians 7:1-9
DISCOVER
In First Corinthians, Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian church in response to a letter they sent him. Today’s passage makes that clear. Paul starts by addressing a matter that the church wrote to him about. In doing so, he gives us some important practical advice for living a good Christian life.
Paul says he’ll respond to an argument that goes like this: “It’s good for a man not to have sex with a woman” (v. 1). Some people think this means Paul actually believed that everyone should be celibate for the rest of their lives. But that’s not what Paul says in the whole of 1 Corinthians 7. He does say that being unmarried and celibate can have some benefits, but he doesn’t think that’s the best way for everyone to live.
Paul is responding to an argument that many of the Corinthian believers had. He’s quoting them, just like he did in 6:12–13.
Many of the Corinthian church members had come to believe that the body and soul are completely separate. So, some of them became promiscuous, thinking that what they did with their bodies wouldn’t affect their souls. These Corinthians visited prostitutes without any shame.
In 7:1, we see that the same attitude towards the body took another group of Corinthians in a different direction. This group had become too strict, believing that married people shouldn’t have sex and should stay celibate. In fact, it seems from the rest of chapter 7 that they were even encouraging people not to get married and were telling married people to get divorced.
Paul mentions in today’s passage that these more strict Christians were wrong. He says that each spouse should hold on to the other not only spiritually but also physically. This connects his advice to his earlier discussion of prostitutes in 6:12–20. Apparently, some of the married Corinthians had tried to be celibate even within marriage, and they were looking for a way to satisfy their sexual desires outside of the marriage bed.
Paul says that marriage is the right way to deal with those who are tempted to sexual immorality, but he’s not saying that marriage is just for that purpose. He’s talking about a real problem, so he points out one benefit of marriage that helps with that issue.
God created a special partner for man in marriage. But since the fall, marriage has also been a way for God to help people resist the temptation to sin sexually. If we want to show the world that we follow God, we should get married and live a godly life together.
RESPOND
1. How does understanding sex as a gift from God change your perspective on relationships?
2. In what ways can you honor God in your current relationship status, whether single or married?
3. What steps can you take to align your views on sex and marriage with biblical teachings?
Monday
Genesis 2 focus on verses 18-24
DISCOVER
Many people believe that marriage is just an idea we made up, but that’s not true. God created marriage for our benefit and to honor Him. Let’s look at the first marriage in the Bible, in Genesis 2. God made Adam first and gave him the job of taking care of the Garden of Eden. But God wasn’t done yet. He looked down on Adam and saw that he was lonely and needed a helper. So, God made Eve from Adam’s rib and brought her to him. Eve was the perfect match for Adam. In verse 24, God says that man and woman should be together as one flesh. This means that they should be committed to each other and live as a team. Just like God made a covenant with His people, He made a covenant with Adam and Eve. And just like God’s covenant with His people is based on His commands, God’s covenant with Adam and Eve is based on His commands. So, if you’re married, remember that God is the Lord of marriage, whether you’re married or not. Take some time to think about this verse and ask God to help you live a faithful marriage.
RESPOND:
1. How does the concept of "one flesh" influence your understanding of marriage?
2. What qualities do you think are essential in a marriage partner based on this passage?
3. How can you prepare yourself for a future marriage or strengthen your current one?
Tuesday
Ephesians 5:21-33
DISCOVER
The idea that wives should obey their husbands might seem odd to us today because we often misunderstand authority and submission. We tend to think authority means being superior and submission means being inferior. But that's not how God designed it. In fact, the Bible doesn't suggest that people with authority are inherently better than those who submit.
Consider the Trinity. The Son willingly submits to the Father's authority (John 5:19; 12:49). This doesn't make the Son less than the Father. They are both God and share the same essence (John 1:1). So, at their core, they are equal. Think of it like a team where the coach and the players have different roles but are equally important to the team's success.
The same goes for husbands and wives. They are equal in dignity and humanity but have different roles in the home. For example, in some families, the husband might take on the role of managing finances while the wife might focus on organizing family events. Both roles are crucial and complement each other.
Wives often struggle with submission because some husbands don't treat their wives well. We've all seen husbands who demand obedience without question and treat their wives poorly. This behavior is wrong and doesn't foster true submission. Imagine a boss who constantly criticizes and belittles their employees. It's hard to respect and follow someone who doesn't show respect in return.
Paul doesn't tell husbands to command their wives to submit. Instead, he encourages wives to follow their husband's lead. He also tells husbands to love their wives as they love themselves. Think of a dance where one partner leads and the other follows. Both roles are essential for the dance to be graceful and enjoyable.
From this, we can draw two important lessons. First, husbands who treat their wives like slaves misunderstand Scripture's teaching on authority. They are serving themselves, not their families. For instance, a husband who makes all decisions without consulting his wife is not leading but dominating. Second, if husbands treat their wives well, there's no need to ask for submission. What godly woman wouldn't willingly follow a husband who loves her as Christ loves the church?
Dr. John MacArthur says, “A Christian husband should care for his wife with the same devotion he naturally shows himself (v. 29) — even more so, since his selfless love makes him put her first” (The MacArthur Bible Commentary, p. 1,702). Christian husbands shouldn't worry about why their wives might hesitate to submit until they love their wives in this way.
RESPOND
1. What does mutual submission look like in a healthy marriage?
2. How can you practice sacrificial love in your relationships?
3. In what ways can you serve your partner or future partner better?
Wednesday
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
DISCOVER
Paul’s advice to the Corinthians about marriage is different from what he said to Christians who were already married. For those who were married, getting married or staying married was a clear choice between right and wrong. There was no freedom to do anything else, depending on the situation. But for those who weren’t married yet, things were different. Paul didn’t think getting married was a matter of right or wrong. He thought it was a decision based on what was best for the Corinthian church. He personally wanted them to stay unmarried, but as we see in today’s passage, that wasn’t a rule for everyone.
At the heart of all this was Paul’s desire for believers to be “free from anxieties” (v. 32). The word “anxieties” here means questions about whether to get married. Paul meant that there was no reason for believers to worry about their personal choice to stay single or get married. That’s because neither choice was sinful, as long as they followed God’s rules about singleness or married life (v. 36). Believers are free in Christ to do what’s best for them—to stay single if they have the gift of celibacy (vv. 6–7) or to get married if they don’t have that gift (vv. 8–9).
Paul is a realist about marriage. Sure, it’s a great gift from God, as the Bible says, and the Apostle was a big Bible student. But married life comes with its own set of worries and responsibilities that singles don’t have. Both singles and married people want to please God, but married people also have to take care of and please their spouses. As one person said, married people are torn between serving God and serving their spouses. These two things aren’t always at odds, though. It’s definitely possible to serve God and, in a smaller way, serve your spouse. Otherwise, Paul wouldn’t tell married people to stay married or give advice on how to treat their spouses in a godly way (like in Ephesians). But married life does give you fewer options for serving the Lord because Christian husbands and wives have to think about their families in ways that singles don’t.
It’s not a bad thing to be married and have fewer choices when it comes to specific ways to serve the Lord. For example, a married person can’t just decide to be a missionary without their spouse’s agreement. But while this narrowing of options isn’t bad, it’s a reality. Single people should think about that when deciding whether to get married.
RESPOND
1. How can you embrace singleness as a gift rather than a burden?
2. What opportunities do you have to serve God more fully in your current season of life?
3. How can you support and encourage single friends in their walk with God?
Thursday
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
DISCOVER
We all want to know what God wants for us, but it can be tough to figure out how to find out. Sometimes, there are no clear advantages or disadvantages to any option, and we can get stuck in a loop of indecision. We might even start to wonder if God is really watching over us and guiding us.
God can and does intervene in our lives in extraordinary ways. He might send us a friend from out of the blue to give us advice. Or he might do something miraculous to help us make a decision. But these are not the normal ways that God guides us.
So, what should we do when we’re faced with a hard choice? The first thing we should do is turn to the wisdom of God in Scripture. God has given us plenty of guidance in his Word, and he wants us to follow his will.
As our passage today points out clearly, God’s will for us is to grow in holiness. This means that we should try to live our lives in a way that honors and respects God. Any option that goes against this will is off the table.
So, the next time you have a decision to make, ask yourself this question: Which of the available options will force me to break God’s law? The answer to that question is what you shouldn’t do.
RESPOND
1. What steps can you take to maintain sexual purity in your life?
2. How does understanding your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit influence your choices?
3. In what ways can you support others in their pursuit of purity?
Friday
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
DISCOVER
The New Testament is full of lists of the fruits that the Holy Spirit produces in the lives of true Christians. These fruits show that once we have saving faith, and we start to show it more as we mature.
Before we talk about some of these fruits, let’s remember that Paul isn’t giving us a strict list of things we need to do to be mature. He’s not saying, “If you have all these fruits, you’re mature.” In fact, the different fruits of the Spirit are like friends that all share some things in common. If we understand one fruit, we can see how it’s similar to another fruit.
This is especially true of the fruit of love. In Galatians 5:22, Paul lists love, patience, and goodness as if they were all different things. But in 1 Corinthians 13:4, Paul says that both patience and kindness are part of true love—the kind that never goes away.
There are lots of ways to see that love includes patience and kindness. First, we can see that God’s kindness is a part of His love. Titus 3:4–5 says that God’s kindness to His people is a “loving kindness.”
God is powerful and rules everything, but He also rules His people with kindness. For example, when He teaches us about sin, He might punish us, but He never lets His anger destroy us if we’re His children. Instead, He gently brings us back to Him, so we’ll never leave His kingdom.
The Bible says love is patient, like in 2 Peter 3:9. God doesn’t always punish us right away for our mistakes. He often gently encourages us to change before he gives us tougher punishments. And our relationships show us that true love is patient. When we love someone, we usually don’t mind their flaws as much as we should. If we can do that, how much more patient and loving is our God who loves us perfectly?
Are you patient and kind? Does your love for others make you willing to overlook their mistakes and help them grow? Or do you think you’re doing things in love that are actually hurting them? Take a look at your life and see if there’s someone you haven’t been patient or kind to. Go make things right, asking God to give you more patience and kindness.
RESPOND
1. How can you apply the principles of love in your relationships?
2. Which characteristics of love do you find most challenging, and how can you work on them?
3. How does understanding biblical love change your approach to dating and marriage?
Saturday
Colossians 3:17-24
DISCOVER
Throughout history, the concept of spiritual elitism has taken various forms within religious contexts. Early Christian heretics, for instance, used texts not accepted by the mainstream church to promote a radical split between the physical and spiritual bodies and to deny the authority of the Old Testament. Roman Catholicism has long acknowledged the existence of unwritten apostolic traditions that are binding on the church today. In recent times, individuals have claimed that with the right training, one can decipher a hidden code within the biblical text that accurately predicts current events. Regardless of its manifestation, spiritual elitism consistently maintains that ordinary people lack access to the profound depth of God’s Word.
Interestingly, if anyone had a valid reason to advocate for elitism, it would be the apostle Paul, who had several visions of Jesus himself. However, when we examine his letters, Paul emerges as the most vocal critic of the notion that only a select few can comprehend the revelation of the Lord. He strongly advocates for the clarity of the gospel message in contemporary times, encouraging all Christians to allow the “word of Christ” to dwell deeply within them and to teach and admonish each other “in all wisdom” (Col. 3:16). The “word of Christ” refers to the apostolic gospel, and Paul’s encouragement for all believers to instruct one another makes perfect sense only if all believers are capable of understanding what the Messiah accomplished.
Not everyone will become a teacher, but everyone can contribute to teaching by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We shouldn’t see these musical references as separate things. Paul probably used a lot of words to emphasize his point. He wants us to know that even people who aren’t ordained teachers can still teach in public gatherings by singing God’s Word. This could be the exact words of Scripture or words that explain the teachings in it. Music has always been a big part of how people worship the Lord, as the Psalms show. And when we sing, we actually teach each other. All the songs we sing in worship will be a way to teach, whether it’s good or bad. So, we need to choose our songs carefully.
Paul says that we all have the ability and responsibility to learn God’s revealed Word (v. 17). This shows the new humanity that the Father is building in Christ. And we should always be thankful to God for everything (v. 17). Those who don’t understand the gospel don’t get this.
Paul ends Colossians 3:17 by reminding us to do everything in the name of Jesus. This means not just saying something out loud and saying, “In Jesus name,” but it also means doing things in the way that the apostle described in verses 12–17. As we live grateful lives for the love God has shown us, we’ll be humble, kind, patient, meek, and forgiving. And that’s how we can act in Christ’s holy name.
RESPOND
1. How can you ensure that your relationships reflect your commitment to Christ?
2. What changes can you make to prioritize serving God in your daily life?
3. How can you encourage others to live for Christ in their relationships and circumstances?