1 Corinthians 7: When Everything Goes Wrong

"What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short...for this world in its present form is passing away."

"If anything can go wrong, it will." This tongue-in-cheek principle, known as Murphy's Law, is cited by economists, sports team owners and big-city mayors. Human nature somehow guarantees that nothing turns out quite the way it's supposed to. And the church at Corinth provides a darkly shining example of Murphy's Law.

To be sure, Corinthian Christians started out with the odds stacked against them. Imagine a church composed of converted idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, thieves, drunkards and swindlers. (6: 9-11). The church made up of people from such backgrounds soon encountered a thicket of problems. Paul faced a huge challenge: For one thing, he had to convince these people of the immorality of sexual activities that had been a part of everyday worship under their old religion.

First Corinthians is Paul's careful response to that rash of problems, some of which had been posed to him as questions in a letter (7:1). Many of his answers relate directly to Corinth's local situation. In that culture, as in Muslim countries today, whether or not to wear a veil was a major issue for women. (11:3-10). Eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols also disturbed some new Christians (10:18-33).

Reflection

Many problems discussed in this letter turn up in every culture: divisions in the church, lawsuits, immorality, the single life, the extent of Christian freedoms, differing views of worship and the place of tongue-speaking and other spiritual gifts. Not every breakdown in Corinth will recur in churches today, but Paul's principles apply to our own unpredictable experiences with Murphy's Law.