 Okay, welcome back. And we'll continue. There were no other questions, right, from anybody regarding what we've covered so far. Okay, feel free to post your questions in the chat or even on Google Classroom. I think it's really good to be able to have some place where you are all interacting with one another. So if you have questions, whether it's about something we've done in class or even any comments, anything you're learning, anything like that, feel free to post it on the classroom. And then other students can also learn, other students can respond. So feel free to do that if you're not able to do it in class while we're on the call. So we'll go on from verse 17 to 24, if someone can read that for us. Verse 17 to 24, but as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all this. Is there a reading or sorry, I was not able to hear. This is really, can you hear now? Okay, yeah, I'm not able to hear. Is everyone else able to hear? Okay, I think my headphones usually decide to stop working somewhere in the middle of class. Okay, you can go ahead and read. I'll just try and fix my, my headset, but you can go ahead and read. Thank you. 17 to 24 versus 17 to 24. But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches, was anyone called while circumcised, let him not become uncircumcised? Was anyone called while uncircumcised, let him not be circumcised? Circumcision is not, is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. Let each one remain in the same calling in which, in which he was called. Where you call while, while asleep, do not be concerned about it. But if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while asleep is the Lord's free man. Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price, do not become slaves of man. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called. Thank you. So I think that last verse kind of summarizes everything that Paul wants to communicate in this fourth section. So he's saying, let each one remain with God in the state in which he was called. So even in the previous part, he's talking about the marriage being married. If you're already married to an unbeliever, then stay in that marriage. So he continues that same thought line from saying stay in your marriage. He goes into other kinds of situations that you might have been, that these believers might have been in when they heard the gospel and when they responded. And so he's saying, whatever situation you were in when you became a believer, don't feel the need to change everything and suddenly lead a completely different life. He's saying, stay wherever you were and continue to live out a life in Christ in the context in which you are. So that's an important thing for us as well in different ways. So we look at all of the examples that he's mentioned and then we can also discuss things that we might experience as when we hear the gospel or when people around us are hearing the gospel. What are some things we feel pressurized to change? Because we feel that what we're doing currently may not be the right way to live as a believer. So verse 17 also very important. God is distributed to each one and the Lord has called each one. So let him work. So each person has calling and each person has a specific purpose that God has given them. And so we should live out those purposes and live out those callings in the context that God has put us in. We don't have to try and make our lives in our calling or our walk look like another believer's walk. So if we see another friend who is called into full-time ministry, we don't have to feel, oh, I also should go in full-time ministry because I'm a believer now. Or if we see that somebody else has made some kind of change to their lives, whatever it may be. Even if they didn't go to full-time ministry, they went into a different kind of work. They changed their work thinking, okay, this is something that God is calling me to. That may not be for everyone. It's for them because God has a purpose and a calling for them. So for each of us to honor the calling and the gifts that God has given us and to live out our faith in that context is very important. So now Paul goes on to explain certain ways in which maybe they were called or they received the gospel when they went one state and then he's saying, okay, don't try to change and become something else. Verse 18 he says, was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. So just because when you came to faith, you were a Jew and you were circumcised. So that's something that has already been done. Don't try to change any way you can't change your circumcision, right? It's done. It's already done. You can't do anything about it. So don't try to become uncircumcised. On the other hand, if you are uncircumcised, if you were not a Jew, don't try to now come and follow the law and be circumcised. So that is very clear in the New Testament where the Gentiles did not need to be circumcised. And he goes on to explain in verse 19, circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping the commandments of God is what matters. So that is the important thing. So let's not look at outward things. Let's not look at the flesh and what external things are that people are doing. Instead, let's look at the heart and let's follow obediently what God is asking us to do. So those are the things that we should be concerned about. We should not be concerned about things that are not to do with obedience or not to do with the state of our heart. Circumcision is just a physical thing. So that's the difference that he's making between circumcision and following the commandments. Verse 20, let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? So it's a very beautiful thing that Paul is saying here. So nobody would look at being a slave as being something that you're called to. You never think of ourselves as called to be a slave. Likewise, sometimes we don't look at our work as something we are called to. If we're called to a corporate job or we're called to teaching in a school, we don't always look at those things as something that God has called us to. We very easily can do that with ministry, but with jobs outside of the church or outside of this kind of full-time ministry, we sometimes forget that God calls us to those things. So were you called while... So remain in the same calling in which you were called. So there was a calling and you were called to Christ in that context in which you were. So were you called while a slave? Then don't be concerned about it. But if you can be free, then try and be free. So you think, okay, for someone who is a slave, you are under someone else's authority. If there is opportunity for you to be free, then use that opportunity. But don't think that you need to be free just because you become a believer. That's not the reason. If you want to be free for other reasons, yeah, but don't let that become something that's bothering you as you are following Christ. You can continue to follow Christ and be a slave. So verse 22, he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freed man. Likewise, he is called while free is Christ's slave. So he's differentiating between the physical state of the person and the spiritual state of the person. So even if you are a slave in the physical realm, you're spiritually free in Christ. And likewise, if you are free in the physical realm, you're spiritually a slave to Christ in that you are fully submitted and given over to Christ. So the same thing that he was talking about circumcision and uncircumcision and the commandments of God, the spiritual versus the physical. So don't be concerned about the physical things. Be concerned about how do you live out your spiritual reality in your everyday work. Verse 23, you were bought at a price do not become slaves of men. So this seems a little bit disconnected from the rest of what he's talking about because he's talking about something else and then he said and he goes back to this. But if we look previously, he said the same thing, right, you were bought at a price. So honor God with your bodies. So he's using that terminology of slavery where people were bought, money was given and the person was bought to become a slave. So in the same way we have been bought with the blood of Christ. So the blood of Christ was used to pay for us so that we can become Christ servants. And so we should be fully loyal to Christ. That should be where our allegiance is. So be fully loyal to Christ. Do not serve other people. Do not become slaves of men. You only have a master, Christ is your master. Do not be enslaved by anyone else. So Paul continues to talk about from here, he's continuing to talk about sex and marriage and all of that. So verses 25 to 35. Somebody can read that for us. Verse 25 to 35. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord yet I give judgment as one. For the Lord in His mercy has made trust worthy. I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is. Or you bound to a wife. Do you do not seek to be loosed? Or you lose from a wife. Do not seek a wife. But even if you do marry, you have not sinned. And the virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless, such will have trouble in the flesh. But I would spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time is short. So that from now on, even those who have wives should be as though they had none. Those who weep as though they did not weep. Those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice. Those who buy as though they do not possess. Those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away. But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he is married, cares about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. There is a difference between wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord that she may be holy both in the body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a lease on you, but what is proper and that you may serve the Lord without destruction. So again, he talks about speaking from his own wisdom or own understanding of God's will. He says, I have no commandment from the Lord. I'm giving judgment as one who God himself has made trustworthy. So in God's mercy, he has given me this work of teaching you, of exerting you, of helping you walk in obedience to God's Word. And so in that responsibility that God has given me, this is what I'm teaching you. And he starts to talk specifically about those who are unmarried, virgin. So people who were still unmarried who were single. So he's addressing every part of the church. So for this, he talks about the people who were not yet married, but then he talks about the married. Now he's talking about the virgins. So people who might have been younger and starting to think about getting married. So he's talking to all of these different people and very fully addressing this topic of marriage from everyone's perspective. Even as we go on to read, he'll talk even from the parent's perspective. So everyone's questions are being answered kind of from the church with regard to marriage. So in verse 26, I suppose therefore that is good because of the present distress. So it isn't clear what the present distress is. But as we continue to read, he talks about the form of his world is passing away. And in verse 29, he says, the time is short. So it seems like his focus is on, okay, we are at, which is very true throughout the New Testament, that the focus was on Jesus's return. Everyone was thinking about Christ coming back. So let's not get involved in the affairs of this world. Let's focus on Christ's return. So that is one aspect of it. The other aspect is that there was persecution that the church was experiencing. So he might also be referencing some of that persecution and saying, you are having this kind of trouble. So don't add to it by getting married. And then you also have to take care of a family. You also have to face persecution. Like all of these things will just be a lot of responsibility on you. So that persecution was what the church was experiencing at that time. And what also they expected as the end of time as they were preparing for Christ's return, expecting that persecution would increase. And so in that context he's saying, don't worry about marriage instead focus on Christ. Now we can see even the Old Testament that is similar teaching. If anyone would be willing to read from the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 16 to Jeremiah 16. You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place. You can actually continue. Yeah, let's just read till maybe verse four to give us some context. So Jeremiah 16 2 to 4. For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about this woman who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers. They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will be like down, like on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals. Okay, so there is going to be a time of suffering for these people who live in that, in that place. And so God is saying, do not, do not get married, do not have children because there is going to be this suffering. And all of the, so it's saying specifically about, yeah, the children, the parents, everyone is going to experience a suffering. So don't get married, don't have children in this place. But we can also go into Jeremiah 29 and maybe read from verse five, five and six. Houses and settle down, plan gardens, eat what they produce, marry and have sons and daughters, find wives for your sons and keep your daughters in marriage. So that they too may have sons and daughters increase in number there, do not decrease. Thank you. So here we can see even in Jeremiah that there is a time to refrain from marriage, to refrain from building a family and there is a time to do it. Right, so like he's just talks about there's a time for a time in season for everything. So Paul is saying in this season, based on what you're experiencing right now, it's better not to get married. Okay, and then he gives again, he continues to explain based on your situation, what can you do. So if you're already married, then don't seek to be unmarried, verse 27. If you're unmarried, then don't seek to be married. So whatever situation you're in, be happy, be content with where you are, don't try to change your situation. Verse 29, so he explains again, the time is short. So even if you are married, live as if you are not married and all of these things. So if you're weeping, if you are a person who is weeping for some reason, live as if you're not weeping, if you're rejoicing, live as if you're not rejoicing. If you're someone who possesses a lot, live as if you don't possess anything. So basically saying, don't be concerned about the things of this world, don't be concerned about these physical things. Instead, be fully focused on the spiritual, not to say we forget our physical needs, we need not to say that we forget that all of these things are real. But he's saying the time is short, this world is passing away. So don't live as if this world is our eternity. That's his main point. So verse 31 is where he says, is the form of this world is passing away. And I want you to be without care. Okay, so then he also explains what does it mean to be somebody who is living with the concerns of this world. So someone who is unmarried is able to fully focus on the Lord, because they don't have to think about the like a spouse or children, they don't have those responsibilities. But someone who is married has additional responsibilities that they are taking on. And they will have to start to think about those things. So it will be in a way taking them away from focusing on the Lord. Okay, now some, the ideal would be if we could get married and we're able to focus even more on the Lord, which is a great thing. But the reality of marriage and having children is that it does require a lot of our energy. It requires a lot of our time, focus. And so he's saying, it's better not to take all of those things on instead, just focus on the Lord. Again verse 34, there's a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about things of the Lord. And she cares about being holy in body and in spirit. But the married woman cares about the world. But the world, how he explains that is that she cares about her husband. She thinks about how to please her husband. So differentiating between the present world and the eternal reality with Christ. And then verse 35, I say this for your own prophet not to control you. So I'm not trying to control what you do, whether you get married, whether you don't get married. I'm just giving you some advice to help you serve God without having any kind of distraction. Okay, so his main goal is saying, okay, do whatever will help you be fully committed to God, fully dedicated to God. And if there are things that may come and distract you from that, then it's better to avoid it. But he's already faced this with, if this is a gift from God. Okay, and he's also saying, okay, don't be, I don't have a mindset of I need to change my current situation. Be content wherever you are. So if you're unmarried, be content with being unmarried. If you're married, be content with being married. Don't try to, yeah, don't constantly be looking at changing and doing something else from what you have at the present. Okay, so we also want to be clear that Paul is not forbidding marriage, right? So if we read in one committee four, one, three, Paul talks about forbidding marriage as a doctrine of demon. So it's very clear that first one, he's not commanding them to do anything. Like he said, this is just something that I am saying we are good for this reason. So for us to understand that, that it's not a command to stay single. We'll go on to verse 36 to 40. Someone could read that please. Verse Karanian chapter seven versus 36 to 40. But if a man thinks he's behaving improperly toward his religion, if she's passed the flower of youth, thus it must be let him do what he wishes. He does not sin, let them marry. Nevertheless, he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so determined in his heart that he will keep his virgin dust well. So then he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better. The wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives. But if her husband dies, she's at liberty to be married to whom she wishes. So only in the law, but she is happier if she remains as she is according to my judgment. And I think I also have the spirit of God. Thank you. So here there is some confusion between what Paul is talking about. So even translators will give us two options. So there are some translations that translated as a young man who is engaged to a young lady to be married. So it's saying like, if you are engaged to someone to be married, and you feel that you need to marry them, that you are not doing the right thing by staying unmarried, then you get married to them. So that is one way in which it's translated. Another way in which it's translated is a father who has a young daughter who is getting older in age. And so he's thinking about getting her married, right? Because in that, in the Jewish custom, it was still the parents who were very involved in getting their children married. So some translations will choose one way. Some translations go the other way. And there are some translations that keep both those options. So they say they choose one translation, but like the NIV will give you one translation, but also give you the footnotes saying, this is the other way of interpreting or translating this text. So let's just read that NIV translation. I can read it for us. So in the text, it says, if anyone is worried that he might not be acting on deeply toward the virgin he is engaged to. And if his passions are too strong, and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He's not sinning, they should get married. But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin, this man also does the right thing. So then he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better. So in this case, it's where there are two people who are engaged, right? And the man has a lot of his desires. So he has a sexual desire within him. And he's not able to control it. And he feels that he's not, yeah, he's not able to control it. So he's not acting on deeply towards that, the woman that he is engaged to. So in that case, don't act out on your sexual desires outside of marriage, instead get married. So you're already engaged to be married. So get married, instead of having all of these desires and acting in a way that is not right by God's will. And so he says he's not sinning, they should get married. But on the other hand, if in his own mind, he feels that he's able to control his those desires, and there is no requirement between him and the girl that they should get married, then don't get married in that case. So in that case, you can just both of you remain unmarried. On the other hand, there is the other translation of the father with the daughter. So we'll read that translation. It says, if anyone thinks he is not treating his daughter properly, and if she is getting along in years, or if her passions are too strong, and he feels she ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning, he should let her get married. But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind to keep the virgin unmarried, this man also does the right thing. So then he who gives his virgin and marriage does right, but he who does not give her unmarriage does better. So this is where a father has a daughter who's getting older, and he feels that she should get married, and that she herself has these passions that need to be fulfilled, then he can give her unmarriage. So in both cases, he's saying it's not a sin for them to get married. But if we don't get married, it's a better thing because like he's talked about before, you can focus on serving the Lord. So let's go on to the last two verses. So marriage is limited to our lives here on earth. If one of the spouse dies, then the other one is free to get married to someone else if they want. But his advice is that they don't get married, it's better if they remain single. And then he ends saying, I also think I have the Spirit of God. So this is, I feel whatever I'm sharing with you is coming from the Spirit's leading or the wisdom that the Holy Spirit has given me. Okay. There is a note here. You get 1st Timothy 5, if someone can hear 1st Timothy 5. So 1st is 5 and verse 14, if someone can read it. The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help and 14. Yes. So thank you. You read verse 5, right? Can you also read verse 14 please? Yes. So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. Thank you. So here we see again, Paul is talking about this thing of being widowed. In one case, he's saying it's better to remain unmarried. That is for widows who is older because then if they're already old, they can instead spend their time in prayer and fasting. On the other hand, if they're a younger woman and it's more likely that you're going to have more opportunities, like more of a desire to engage in sex. So you have that kind of passion within you. Then it's better for you to have children and to focus on managing the home. So he's also talking about the context of the young women who are unmarried are getting involved in gossip and basically they don't have anything useful that they're doing with their free time. So instead it's better to spend your time taking care of a family and doing that, spending it on more constructive things. So with that, we come to the end of this whole section on sexual morality. So it started with that sin in the church and how sin, sexual immorality within the church had to be dealt with. Now we understand the Corinthian context. It was a city known for sexual sin because of the temple prostitutes that were present there because it was a very cosmopolitan place of so many people coming in and going out. There was so much trade, there was so much commercial activity that was going on there. Sex became something that was very common and it was corrupted in that context in that city. Sex was very far away from what God wanted it to be and so this teaching is very important for this church that finds itself in that context. So starting with that sexual sin in the church, Paul then talks about what is the right place for sex. So he talks about marriage and then he explains what marriages should look like and then he also affirms that singleness is something from God. In fact, he encourages singleness if someone has such a gift of self-control that is given by the Holy Spirit. If they have that gift and that ability to remain unmarried, then he encourages that. So it's a very complete teaching on sex and what is God's purpose and God's desire for sex. With that, we finish that section and we start the next section which is chapter 8. Again, from here Paul moves into another issue that was prevalent in the culture which was ideal worship and because they had ideal worship in their culture, they also had to deal with the foods that were offered to idols. What would they do when food was offered to idols? How should they respond when somebody gave them food that was offered to idols? So we can start from verses 1 to 3 of chapter 8. Before we do that, was there any questions or should we can we move into chapter 8? Any questions, thoughts, insights? Okay, let's move on to chapter 8. This is 1 to 3 if somebody would be willing to read that. Now considering things of photo idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. Thank you. So when Paul talks about idols, there are two kinds of ideas that scripture talks about. One is the physical objects that people were worshiping. They consider those objects to be God and they were worshiping them. On the other hand, there were idols that were in the heart. So idols of whatever it was, anything that was taking them away from God. So when even in the Old Testament so many times where God talks to people of Israel and says, you have committed adultery, you have gone away from me, there were many times when they were going to worship idols but they were also just turning away from God's law. They were not being obedient to what God had asked them to do. They were going and doing whatever the culture around them was doing. So that is another form of idol worship which is not the physical object but it's just a turning away from God and following other things. So in this context very clearly is that physical object that is being worshiped and which is very common in Corinth. So there was food that was offered to idols in that culture and that food that was offered whatever was left over from the sacrifice was either eaten in the temple itself or it was sold in the marketplace. So there are these two scenarios that Paul will address. One is if you are offered meat in or near the temple. So there's meat that has been sacrificed and someone is sharing that meat with you. The other hand if there's meat that has been sold in the market which has come from the temple sacrifices what should we do in that case? Will you know whether it's offered to idols and what do you do? Should you buy that meat or not? So his first statement, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up but love a difference. So this is a very important thing for us today I think because knowledge is a bounding right? Anything we want to know is just at our fingertips. You just have to google it and you have the you have answers to the questions you want to have and even in scripture where it talks about the end times it says that knowledge will increase but there will be a lack of love. So this is what Paul is talking about is something for us as a church to be very very careful about because we are living in an age where knowledge is increasing and it's so easy for us to become proud about the knowledge that we have but knowledge is not what we are after. What is the first commandment and the greatest commandment is to love right? It's not to know. It's to love God and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So for us to keep that at the center of our pursuits even whether we are here getting a degree whatever it is we are seeking knowledge of course but what is the end goal? It's the goal to love God more and to love our neighbors more to love them better or is it just to have more understanding more knowledge. So to recognize that knowledge in itself is is not what God desires. He wants us to love. So knowledge puffs up but love edifies. So whereas one thing which is knowledge makes you proud love builds others up instead of instead of raising yourself up you are raising others up around you and that's the difference between knowledge and love. Verse two if anyone thinks that he knows anything he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. So someone who thinks they have a lot of knowledge is actually deceived because there's always more to know right? That is something else that we see around us is this is one side of there's so much knowledge but on the other hand it's a lot of like we don't know like even if you're looking at a lot of research the final conclusion is like it could be this or it could be that there's no firm answers to anything. So even when we are seeking knowledge to come to it with humility of this is what we know but we don't know everything there's still more to be known and then verse three if anyone loves God this one is known by him and I love this verse because it's a big contrast between the first verse and verse three verse one is where we are seeking knowledge and we are pursuing it. Verse three is we are just simply loving God and God knows us rather than us knowing things God knows us and that is a much better place to be at. So we have another minute but this these three verses sets the context for what Paul is going to share going from here. So he's going to talk about idol worship and there's one group of people who are really proud about their knowledge that idols are not true gods right? So they feel very confident that they can eat food offered to idols because it's nothing idols are nothing but on the other hand there's another group of people who maybe lack that kind of knowledge who still view idols as as something where even if they don't view it as God they see some power in those idols and so they don't want to eat food offered to idols or they think eating food offered to idols is participating in that power that is not that is not of Christ and so this is the big debate of which group is right and how do we as a church so both these groups exist in the church so how do we deal with this issue of eating food offered to idols? So we continue from then next week. I think I've received most assignments if you have not yet submitted your assignment you can still submit it there is there was the deadline given so I will score based on people meeting the deadline but for those who have not yet submitted it you can still submit it and I'll score you based on whenever you've submitted it. Yeah thank you have a good week and see you next Monday.