Welcome to
Heaven's Point of View.
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My name is J.D. Quinn.
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We are gonna be
talking on this series,
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love, marriage, sex and divorce
according to the New Testament.
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And it's my privilege to
be able to share this time
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with Dr. Tom Shepherd.
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And, Tom, we are getting
into some heavy stuff here.
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We are beginning to-- well,
we're gonna talk about sex.
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Yep.
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That's where, a lot I know that
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that's caught a lot
of people's attention.
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And at this time probably
before we kick this thing,
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I think it's
important that people know
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that you're not only have a,
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you're professor of New
Testament interpretation,
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but you also have a
doctorate in public health.
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Yes.
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And so in dealing
with from that particular,
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then we are gonna look
into how powerful sex is.
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Yes.
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And so if you want--
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We look at some
statistics to talk about
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sexual mores
and sexual practices
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within the United States.
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Okay. From a
number of good books.
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Yes.
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So I guess that what
we're trying to do is kind of
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see how the New Testament--
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Yeah, we are gonna look at
terms of how, what happens is,
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it's happening in
American society today
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compares to what's
happening in Corinth
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because we're gonna read
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1 Corinthians
6, 1 Corinthians 7.
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Yes. Yes.
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Let's go with it. Okay.
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So we start at the beginning
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and the first thing
that I say to people
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and I say this in my
class is that sex is dynamite.
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Sex is dynamite.
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Now if you
think of dynamite sex,
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dynamite has two very
important characteristics.
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Yeah. It's very powerful.
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Very powerful.
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It's very powerful
and if you take so,
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you know, it's not something
you just fool around with.
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You won't just say, hey,
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let's just throw that
stick of dynamite over there
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because well, you might be dead
if you do something like that.
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So dynamite is very powerful,
handle with care, right.
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The other thing about
dynamite is very interesting.
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If we were to set off a
stick of dynamite in this room,
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it would really mess
up quite a bit of things.
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Yeah.
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But if we were to go to say
one of the foundation pillars
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or corners of this building
and we were to drill a hole
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into the foundation
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and we would put
a stick of dynamite
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in there and set it off,
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it would bring down
a lot more of thing,
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of the whole place.
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So the point is that
when dynamite is confined,
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its power is enhanced.
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Enhanced.
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Because it, you
know, it's explosive
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against something that's solid.
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Yes. Now sex is just like that.
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Sex is very, very powerful.
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It's one of the
fundamental drives
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that God has placed
in every human being
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and it is so powerful,
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it drives people to
do all kinds of things,
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sometimes some
very foolish things
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when they are
not careful about it.
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And this is really the reason
why Christian teaching says
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that sex is so
powerful, so valuable actually
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that you just
confine it to marriage.
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Yes.
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Now researchers
have looked into this
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to try to determine
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who has the
most pleasure in sex.
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You know, if you only
watched Hollywood movies
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or listen to the media,
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you would think
that the people who have
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the most sex and the
most enjoyment of sex
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are people who
are running around
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with lots of sex partners
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and they are
probably not married
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and they are, if they
are, they are unfaithful
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to their spouse and they are,
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you know, they are just going
with lots of different people.
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Actually the data
from scientific studies
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indicate that's not the case.
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That is not the case.
Well, what is the case?
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Well, here's the
interesting thing.
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University of
Chicago some time ago
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did a study on some of this
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and they found that
conservative Christian women,
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think it was a group of
Protestant women actually.
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Conservative Protestant women
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reported the highest
level of sexual satisfaction
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among any of the
groups that they studied.
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Wow.
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And this really kind of
surprised the researchers,
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you know, and it was
a different paradigm.
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Usually these
conservative Christian women
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are considered purge.
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You know, they are considered,
they must not enjoy it.
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They don't even want it.
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They keep themselves
covered up all the time.
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So that's leaves
that they're stereotype.
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Yeah, stereotype. Yeah.
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So, you know, I'd like
to joke with the young men
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sometime in my class.
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I say, "Now you know
this is what they discovered
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that there were
these young conservative,
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these conservative women have
the most sexual satisfaction."
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I said, "Young men, you
came to a Christian college.
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And not only did you
come to a Christian college,
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you came to a
conservative Christian college.
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And guess what, it is
conservative Christian college,
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there are
conservative Christian women,
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you came to the right place.
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Amen. Amen.
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You see, you came
to right place so.
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Well, let's look at the good
news about the young people,
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about their sexual mores.
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Yeah, and there is
some good news out there
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that there was,
this was reported
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by the Centers
for Disease Control
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in one of their
reports in 2008 and they found
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that there were decreases
in a number of risky behaviors
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among high school
students between 1991 and 2007.
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Amen.
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They found that the
group of young people
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who had ever had
sexual intercourse
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was down 12 percent.
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They found that those who had
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had four or more sexual partners
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was down 20 percent.
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They found that the
percentage of the students
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that were
currently sexually active
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was down 7 percent.
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Right, so these are all things
going in the right direction.
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That's good news.
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Because for young
people to be doing these things
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and to before they are married
is usually is risky behavior
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and it's harmful behavior.
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And there is certain major
consequences to follow that.
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Oh, yeah.
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Now let's look at the flip
side, what is the bad side.
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Unfortunately
there is some bad news.
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Even with those decreases
that we've mentioned here,
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the following
statistics were also reported
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among US high
school students in 2007
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ever had sexual
intercourse 47.8 percent.
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That's amazing.
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Almost one in two,
almost half of them.
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Had four or more sexual partners
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in their
lifetime about 15 percent,
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14.9, one in seven.
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And this is
high school students?
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These are high school students,
US high school students.
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Currently sexually active,
35 percent, about one in three.
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So I mean, this is rampant.
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I mean, that's a lot of people.
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Half of them have had sex,
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a third of them
are currently active
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and a small group
but not that small
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15 percent are doing
terribly risky behaviors.
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You know, they have had
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four or more sexual
partners in their lifetime.
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From another study
that was published in 2011
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in the college age group.
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Now the college age
group is an older age group
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18 to 23 around that age period.
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They also looked into the
number of sexual partners,
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lifetime sexual partners that
these young people have had.
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And the shocking figure is that
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for those who had
never had a sexual partner,
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they had never had
sex was only 16 percent.
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It's amazing.
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So about 85 percent of
the students in college
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had had sex.
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Now in high school,
it was about 50 percent
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but it went up to 85
percent by the end of college.
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And they get to, you
know, how many partners,
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number of partners they had.
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The really shocking stuff
though was they had a group
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where they would
say that they had
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had five to ten sexual partners
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or and they even had a
group that was 11 plus.
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Of the five to
ten group it was about
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anywhere from 23 to 26
percent of these young people.
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The 11 plus group
was 10 to 14 percent.
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You are talking about one
third of the college students
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have had five or more sexual
partners in their lifetime.
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I mean, these are young people
that are in their early 20s.
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You know, so it's
shocking kind of statistic.
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It's amazing.
It's amazing. Yeah.
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Lots of unfortunate promiscuity.
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The same researchers
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investigated the
characteristics of those
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with five or
more sexual partners.
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So they took that last
group of five to ten and 11 plus
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and they said, now,
are there certain kinds of
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characteristics
about these young people,
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you know, that are
more common among them
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and here's what they found.
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Men who were in that group
were more likely to take risks.
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Like I said, that doesn't
come as much of a surprise.
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They were more
likely to drink regularly
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and they were more likely
to attend church irregularly.
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So they were going all
in the wrong places and--
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And they were just,
they were party people.
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Yeah.
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Women, they were more
likely to drink regularly
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and they were more
likely to have had an abortion.
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Wow.
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All of this because of
their promiscuous lifestyle.
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So these are sad
kind of statistics.
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Now these are
numbers, these are percentages
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but every single one of these
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represents an
individual whose life is hurt.
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Now in the same book on
Premarital Sex in America,
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the author is making
an intriguing claim about
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sexual relationships.
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They say this on
page 52 in their book.
00:10:06.40\00:10:08.54
"Sex is not
entirely a private matter
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between two people,
Baumeister and Vohs assert."
00:10:11.87\00:10:16.48
This is a couple of researchers.
00:10:16.51\00:10:17.95
"Instead, it becomes part of
00:10:17.98\00:10:20.68
an economic and social system
in which couples participate."
00:10:20.72\00:10:26.22
The authors go on to describe
how young people find out
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what the price
for having sex is.
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You know, how much do
you have to pay to have sex?
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I still remember
reading this book
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where they said,
the highest price
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that anybody ever has to pay
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is lifetime
commitment in a marriage
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which is the ideal
that Christian start with,
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that you say no
sex until marriage.
00:10:52.25\00:10:54.68
Yes.
00:10:54.72\00:10:56.05
But they say,
that's the highest price
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ever anyone ever has to pay.
00:10:58.72\00:11:01.22
And they say on page
58 and 59 in their book,
00:11:01.26\00:11:04.16
they say "The
real problem for women
00:11:04.19\00:11:06.49
lies in how the
negotiations of sex takes place,
00:11:06.53\00:11:10.70
that is locating the price.
00:11:10.73\00:11:14.30
Sexual negotiation of this sort
00:11:14.34\00:11:16.10
occurs within the
context of powerful
00:11:16.14\00:11:19.14
yet malleable cultural stories
00:11:19.17\00:11:22.28
about what ought to
happen in relationships
00:11:22.31\00:11:25.61
and when, that
is, what is normal
00:11:25.65\00:11:28.28
for the crowd that you're in."
00:11:28.32\00:11:31.15
Right, there I stop and say,
00:11:31.19\00:11:32.72
well, now here's a
very important thing
00:11:32.75\00:11:34.86
that we need to think
about with our young people
00:11:34.89\00:11:37.29
and that is who are
they spending time with.
00:11:37.33\00:11:40.30
Who are their friends?
00:11:40.33\00:11:42.06
Most of us are
not willing to admit
00:11:42.10\00:11:44.47
but actually the people,
00:11:44.50\00:11:46.57
the most important decision
or the most important decisions
00:11:46.60\00:11:49.07
we make are the
friends we choose.
00:11:49.10\00:11:52.07
And I guess
growing up that's something
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that every parent just
pleads with their children.
00:11:54.11\00:11:57.95
Yeah.
00:11:57.98\00:11:59.31
You know, who are your friends?
00:11:59.35\00:12:02.02
You know, stay
away from that young man
00:12:02.05\00:12:05.85
or stay away
from that young woman,
00:12:05.89\00:12:07.42
you know, because
they are not really,
00:12:07.46\00:12:09.32
you know, they don't have
the same values as you have.
00:12:09.36\00:12:12.23
Now, sometimes parents
will get the kind of concept,
00:12:12.26\00:12:15.26
well, let them choose
their friends and everything
00:12:15.30\00:12:17.50
and I don't like
argument with my young person.
00:12:17.53\00:12:20.20
I don't like saying, you know,
I don't want you going there.
00:12:20.24\00:12:23.00
I want you to be here at a
certain time and everything.
00:12:23.04\00:12:25.71
But actually, you
see that actually shows
00:12:25.74\00:12:29.94
doing the right way that shows
that you love your children.
00:12:29.98\00:12:32.88
Exactly.
00:12:32.91\00:12:34.25
The difference,
the opposite of love
00:12:34.28\00:12:36.45
is not anger or hate.
00:12:36.48\00:12:38.55
The opposite of
love is indifference.
00:12:38.59\00:12:40.99
And the person says,
well, I don't care where you go.
00:12:41.02\00:12:42.79
I don't care when you come
home and everything like that.
00:12:42.82\00:12:45.23
That's not the person
who loves their children.
00:12:45.26\00:12:47.50
We should be
saying to our children,
00:12:47.53\00:12:50.07
"What time is the
party, who will you be with?
00:12:50.10\00:12:53.07
Who is there with
you at this program?
00:12:53.10\00:12:56.17
You know, where will you?"
00:12:56.20\00:12:57.87
I remember when I
was, when I was boy,
00:12:57.91\00:13:00.04
I didn't understand this
00:13:00.08\00:13:01.41
but my father used to say
to my daughter, my sister.
00:13:01.44\00:13:04.58
My father used
to say to my sister
00:13:04.61\00:13:05.95
when she was
going out with somebody.
00:13:05.98\00:13:07.98
He said, you go straight
there and straight back.
00:13:08.02\00:13:09.78
Yeah.
00:13:09.82\00:13:11.15
Well, I can hear, I
can hear that right now.
00:13:11.19\00:13:13.86
But I want, I just
want to, I want to--
00:13:13.89\00:13:18.89
I would like for
you to repeat this.
00:13:18.93\00:13:20.93
When we are talking
about locating the price,
00:13:20.96\00:13:25.53
we are not talking
about a monitory figure here.
00:13:25.57\00:13:28.10
No. No. This is deep stuff.
00:13:28.14\00:13:31.07
Yeah.
00:13:31.11\00:13:32.44
This is the price that you may,
00:13:32.47\00:13:33.81
the consequence of
what you may be paying
00:13:33.84\00:13:35.98
the rest of your life.
00:13:36.01\00:13:37.41
I think that's
very important. Yeah.
00:13:37.45\00:13:39.38
Because whenever
I first read that,
00:13:39.41\00:13:41.12
you know, your mind
goes the monitory in
00:13:41.15\00:13:43.89
but this has
nothing to do with that.
00:13:43.92\00:13:45.79
It's not money,
it's a social price.
00:13:45.82\00:13:49.19
And they go on to say,
00:13:49.22\00:13:50.56
"Those narratives, the
narratives to the stories
00:13:50.59\00:13:52.53
that young people tell
00:13:52.56\00:13:53.90
those narratives
have changed overtime
00:13:53.93\00:13:55.63
and become
considerably more friendly
00:13:55.66\00:13:57.87
to early sexual experience
00:13:57.90\00:14:00.04
and in keeping with the theory
00:14:00.07\00:14:01.67
much more tailored
00:14:01.70\00:14:03.04
to men sexual
interest than to women's."
00:14:03.07\00:14:05.17
Yeah.
00:14:05.21\00:14:06.54
And you see, we as parents,
we as a Christian community
00:14:06.57\00:14:11.05
are those who helped
to set the narratives
00:14:11.08\00:14:14.18
for our young people.
00:14:14.22\00:14:15.55
They actually look up to us.
00:14:15.58\00:14:16.92
They won't always say
that but they look up to us
00:14:16.95\00:14:19.35
and they are watching us.
00:14:19.39\00:14:20.89
I've taught young
people for a long time
00:14:20.92\00:14:23.09
and I know that they have a
very strong hypocrisy meter.
00:14:23.12\00:14:27.26
They are looking
for a dream to live
00:14:27.30\00:14:30.10
and they say,
"Do you have a dream
00:14:30.13\00:14:31.47
that's worth my
living, giving my life for?"
00:14:31.50\00:14:34.60
When they see us as Christians
sacrificing ourselves for them,
00:14:34.64\00:14:38.51
sacrificing
ourselves for other people
00:14:38.54\00:14:41.44
and they say, "Oh,
00:14:41.48\00:14:42.94
well, he is not
just focused on himself."
00:14:42.98\00:14:44.98
That is actually very appealing.
00:14:45.01\00:14:47.88
It really draws them.
00:14:47.92\00:14:49.25
The sad fact is
00:14:49.28\00:14:50.62
that for the young people
in this 18 to 23 age group
00:14:50.65\00:14:54.29
quite often they have sex
after being in a relationship
00:14:54.32\00:14:57.46
for only a month,
only a month of time.
00:14:57.49\00:15:01.00
And the authors go on
in page 61 in this book,
00:15:01.03\00:15:04.07
Premarital Sex in America.
00:15:04.10\00:15:05.77
"If historically men
were willing to work for sex--
00:15:05.80\00:15:08.87
that is, earn the attentions
of a potential partner
00:15:08.90\00:15:11.54
by displaying
commitment, life skills,
00:15:11.57\00:15:14.28
and or a promising trajectory
00:15:14.31\00:15:16.14
the modern man
certainly doesn't have to.
00:15:16.18\00:15:19.38
It's a different world,
00:15:19.41\00:15:20.92
where in the
physical risks of sex
00:15:20.95\00:15:22.72
have been dramatically lowered
00:15:22.75\00:15:24.25
and the independent,
economic trajectories of women
00:15:24.29\00:15:26.65
dramatically raised."
00:15:26.69\00:15:28.02
So you have these two things
going in opposite direction
00:15:28.06\00:15:29.86
and we said, you know,
there are situations where
00:15:29.89\00:15:32.69
this isn't bad
00:15:32.73\00:15:34.23
that you, that you
say have good treatments
00:15:34.26\00:15:36.77
for sexual transmitted diseases
00:15:36.80\00:15:39.10
or that women have
more economic independence.
00:15:39.13\00:15:41.30
This isn't bad coin of
stuff but the consequences
00:15:41.34\00:15:45.47
without proper
Christian instruction
00:15:45.51\00:15:50.35
is that can easily
lead in the wrong direction.
00:15:50.38\00:15:54.12
They go on to say in
page 65, "The losers..."
00:15:54.15\00:15:58.22
Now this is very interesting
from a Christian perspective.
00:15:58.25\00:16:01.22
"The losers in this
discounted sexual marketplace
00:16:01.26\00:16:04.99
are clearly women
00:16:05.03\00:16:06.76
who would prefer a
high price for sex,
00:16:06.80\00:16:11.07
those who want to
remain virgins until marriage
00:16:11.10\00:16:15.30
and yet who wish to get married.
00:16:15.34\00:16:17.51
They are
increasingly put in a bind
00:16:17.54\00:16:20.18
in their pursuit of a
lifelong relationship,
00:16:20.21\00:16:22.74
constrained by how
the sexual decisions
00:16:22.78\00:16:24.75
of their peers
00:16:24.78\00:16:26.11
alter market expectations
about the price of sex."
00:16:26.15\00:16:29.95
On the same page. "The
value men have to offer
00:16:29.98\00:16:32.42
in the sexual marketplace,
stability, family, wealth
00:16:32.45\00:16:35.29
has clearly diminished
and so has the cost of sex.
00:16:35.32\00:16:38.39
What motivation exists
for men to be anything,
00:16:38.43\00:16:41.00
then, besides the stereotypic
00:16:41.03\00:16:42.60
'take what you
can get' kind of man?
00:16:42.63\00:16:44.83
Not a lot, unless
a man already wishes
00:16:44.87\00:16:47.97
to be something
different than that."
00:16:48.00\00:16:51.01
These people
that are writing this,
00:16:51.04\00:16:53.78
I know these two
guys are Christians.
00:16:53.81\00:16:55.21
This was
published by Oxford Press
00:16:55.24\00:16:57.58
and I picked it up at a society
biblical literature meetings
00:16:57.61\00:17:00.68
when I was going
through it the last day and say,
00:17:00.72\00:17:02.78
"I teach this class.
00:17:02.82\00:17:04.15
Oh, this looks to
be a good book for me.
00:17:04.19\00:17:05.52
I don't know but
it's good to have."
00:17:05.55\00:17:07.02
I started reading it, I was
just kind of shocked by things.
00:17:07.06\00:17:09.59
Here's the thing I want to say.
00:17:09.62\00:17:11.29
We in the Christian
society and the Christian church
00:17:11.33\00:17:15.10
need to affirm our young people
00:17:15.13\00:17:18.40
when they do what's
good and what's right.
00:17:18.43\00:17:20.77
I remember being at a college
00:17:20.80\00:17:22.60
where young people
were singing, I was watching
00:17:22.64\00:17:25.44
and there was this young
lady in particular that I saw,
00:17:25.47\00:17:27.68
I think she was on the front row
00:17:27.71\00:17:29.38
and she had modest dressed.
00:17:29.41\00:17:31.08
You know, she was
just dressed modestly
00:17:31.11\00:17:33.38
and I went up to her afterwards.
00:17:33.42\00:17:35.98
Now some people
00:17:36.02\00:17:37.89
might think it was
kind of crazy or something,
00:17:37.92\00:17:39.75
but I went up to her
afterwards and I said,
00:17:39.79\00:17:41.36
"You know, I noticed
that you dressed modestly."
00:17:41.39\00:17:43.96
I said, "I want to
tell you I appreciate that."
00:17:43.99\00:17:46.96
And because there is
so much in the media,
00:17:47.00\00:17:49.40
there is so much
among their peers
00:17:49.43\00:17:50.77
is going the other way.
00:17:50.80\00:17:52.13
They need affirmation
from the adults around them,
00:17:52.17\00:17:55.50
they say, no,
you are doing good.
00:17:55.54\00:17:56.87
You are doing well.
00:17:56.91\00:17:58.24
You are following the
right kind of pattern.
00:17:58.27\00:18:00.94
Oh, this is got to
be extremely difficult.
00:18:00.98\00:18:03.24
I mean, peer pressure
today is just, it's got to be--
00:18:03.28\00:18:07.15
I mean, here
00:18:07.18\00:18:09.12
these precious
women and precious men,
00:18:09.15\00:18:13.46
the objective at
least as a Christian
00:18:14.06\00:18:17.29
want to save your virginity.
00:18:17.33\00:18:19.76
Want to save it.
00:18:19.79\00:18:21.13
I mean, there is, it's just,
it's that preciousness there
00:18:21.16\00:18:24.03
and we've got a
number of married friends
00:18:24.07\00:18:29.07
that we counsel with everything
00:18:29.10\00:18:31.17
and they were
virgins when they married
00:18:31.21\00:18:32.57
and it was just, they just,
00:18:32.61\00:18:34.74
we need to get their testimonies
00:18:34.78\00:18:36.78
okay, because they override
00:18:36.81\00:18:39.01
that there is a world out there,
00:18:39.05\00:18:40.65
you know, that's claiming
the consequences with them.
00:18:40.68\00:18:43.95
We should also note
that one of the things
00:18:43.99\00:18:46.12
that lowers this price,
00:18:46.15\00:18:47.56
they've talked
about in economic terms
00:18:47.59\00:18:49.09
lowers the price,
00:18:49.12\00:18:50.46
the social price
of sex is pornography.
00:18:50.49\00:18:52.86
And sometimes people think,
00:18:52.89\00:18:54.50
"Oh, I'm just
watching this by myself.
00:18:54.53\00:18:56.63
Oh, this has no effect."
That is not true at all.
00:18:56.67\00:19:01.94
It also lowers this
price, this social price,
00:19:01.97\00:19:04.77
this concept of
story of what's involved.
00:19:04.81\00:19:07.44
And so it's really
something for us to counter.
00:19:07.48\00:19:09.71
Yeah.
00:19:09.74\00:19:11.08
Well, we better move
on and start talking.
00:19:11.11\00:19:12.45
We got just a few minutes.
We need to talk about Corinth.
00:19:12.48\00:19:15.12
Yeah.
00:19:15.15\00:19:16.48
Because I mean,
00:19:16.52\00:19:18.15
I think we are
going in the direction
00:19:18.19\00:19:20.72
of 1 Corinthians 6 and 7
00:19:20.76\00:19:23.56
what was the life of
Corinth in her net time.
00:19:23.59\00:19:26.83
Okay, so the church
was established by Paul
00:19:26.86\00:19:29.80
during an 18 month period stay
00:19:29.83\00:19:32.07
while he was on his
second missionary journey.
00:19:32.10\00:19:34.60
This probably
happened somewhere between
00:19:34.64\00:19:38.67
AD 51, AD 50, 51, 52.
00:19:38.71\00:19:41.51
It's a rather interesting
story of how we know this.
00:19:41.54\00:19:43.71
There was a pro-council
named Gallio and he was,
00:19:43.75\00:19:48.12
Paul was brought
before him during that time
00:19:48.15\00:19:50.59
and there is a very small window
00:19:50.62\00:19:52.02
where we can nail
down that Paul was there.
00:19:52.05\00:19:54.66
Well, Paul
establishes this church
00:19:54.69\00:19:56.93
and then he leaves
for other destinations
00:19:56.96\00:19:58.86
on his missionary work.
00:19:58.89\00:20:00.66
The city was a trade center.
00:20:00.70\00:20:02.13
There were many
religions present.
00:20:02.16\00:20:04.27
High on the list
was the Imperial Cult
00:20:04.30\00:20:06.33
where people would worship
00:20:06.37\00:20:08.04
the guardian
deity of the emperor.
00:20:08.07\00:20:11.04
And clues in 1
Corinthians suggest
00:20:11.07\00:20:12.77
the members of the church
did not separate themselves
00:20:12.81\00:20:15.24
from the surrounding society.
00:20:15.28\00:20:17.91
Sounds familiar.
00:20:17.95\00:20:19.51
You know, they
didn't separate themselves
00:20:19.55\00:20:21.12
from the surrounding society
00:20:21.15\00:20:23.22
unlike 1 Thessalonians
00:20:23.25\00:20:25.22
which gives evidence of conflict
00:20:25.25\00:20:27.59
with the outside world.
00:20:27.62\00:20:28.99
Corinth and Corinthians
does not seem to display
00:20:29.02\00:20:31.86
that kind of conflict
with the outside world.
00:20:31.89\00:20:35.50
So there are these three
characteristics of the city
00:20:35.53\00:20:39.13
that impacted 1
Corinthians position
00:20:39.17\00:20:45.57
that is its
relationship to Rome.
00:20:45.61\00:20:48.64
Corinth was a Roman colony.
00:20:48.68\00:20:52.31
Prosperity, the
city was prosperous
00:20:52.35\00:20:55.85
and self
sufficient and pragmatism.
00:20:55.88\00:20:59.52
So the three piece, position,
prosperity, and pragmatism.
00:20:59.55\00:21:04.03
The core tradition
and culture of the city
00:21:04.06\00:21:06.80
revolved around
trade and business
00:21:06.83\00:21:09.80
and entrepreneurial pragmatism.
00:21:09.83\00:21:12.53
Now actually--
00:21:12.57\00:21:14.74
So you could just basically
get anything that you wanted
00:21:14.77\00:21:18.54
in Corinth at that time.
00:21:18.57\00:21:19.91
Yeah, for that world.
00:21:19.94\00:21:21.28
Corinth was located
00:21:21.31\00:21:23.41
and you can go see the
ruins of Corinth today.
00:21:23.45\00:21:25.01
It's very
interesting to go visit
00:21:25.05\00:21:27.88
and the-- it was
located on an isthmus
00:21:27.92\00:21:31.49
which was like a narrow piece
of land in between two seas.
00:21:31.52\00:21:36.66
And what would happen
is if you could go and get
00:21:36.69\00:21:41.60
a ship across that isthmus,
00:21:41.63\00:21:43.26
you didn't have to
go all the way around.
00:21:43.30\00:21:45.67
Kind of like, you know,
00:21:45.70\00:21:47.04
the Panama
Canal kind of a thing.
00:21:47.07\00:21:48.97
Well, they have these
ideas of digging a canal there
00:21:49.00\00:21:52.87
for a long time
00:21:52.91\00:21:54.44
but it never happened
until like the 19th century.
00:21:54.48\00:21:57.18
But what they used to do
00:21:57.21\00:21:58.68
was they used to
take boats that were,
00:21:58.71\00:22:00.92
that had small draft, you know,
00:22:00.95\00:22:02.75
and they would wheel them across
00:22:02.78\00:22:05.65
this isthmus on like put
rollers, put them on wheels
00:22:05.69\00:22:09.79
and they pull them across there.
00:22:09.82\00:22:11.16
So Corinth was
right in that area
00:22:11.19\00:22:13.23
and it's fascinating
to visit this city today,
00:22:13.26\00:22:16.77
the ruins of the city.
00:22:16.80\00:22:18.23
One of the interesting things
about Corinth is that there
00:22:18.27\00:22:21.54
if you go out on a
field that's across the way,
00:22:21.57\00:22:23.71
it's parched upon
the ruins of the city.
00:22:23.74\00:22:25.87
There is this big huge
plaque lined out in the open.
00:22:25.91\00:22:29.98
I don't know why they
have putted in a museum
00:22:30.01\00:22:32.21
but its big plaque that
has the name Erastus on it.
00:22:32.25\00:22:36.79
Now if you read
in the New Testament,
00:22:36.82\00:22:38.45
the Book of Romans, you
will find this guy's name.
00:22:38.49\00:22:42.99
Erastus was the
treasurer of the city
00:22:43.02\00:22:46.59
and he was a Christian.
00:22:46.63\00:22:48.76
He became a Christian.
00:22:48.80\00:22:50.13
And so he is mentioned
as one of Paul's companions.
00:22:50.17\00:22:53.27
He probably, you know,
was a wealthy enough man.
00:22:53.30\00:22:56.60
Actually he makes
this plaque that says,
00:22:56.64\00:22:58.64
that he put up this plaque
00:22:58.67\00:23:00.01
and he didn't use any
money from the city to do it.
00:23:00.04\00:23:02.84
Was in honor of him and
his son something like that.
00:23:02.88\00:23:05.31
So it's really fascinating that
we have evidence of the Bible
00:23:05.35\00:23:08.98
and linking up
with the archeology
00:23:09.02\00:23:10.39
right there in Corinth.
00:23:10.42\00:23:11.75
But that was kind
of the personality
00:23:11.79\00:23:13.46
of that time too honoring self.
00:23:13.49\00:23:16.49
Yeah, well, and I mean,
00:23:16.52\00:23:17.86
he was an important
official in the land
00:23:17.89\00:23:20.30
so, you know, it was
this typical kind of stuff.
00:23:20.33\00:23:23.67
So the problems at Corinth,
the Corinthian believers
00:23:23.70\00:23:26.90
took other believers to
pagan court in disputes.
00:23:26.94\00:23:30.04
They were
factions within the church.
00:23:30.07\00:23:32.57
One of the believers
was involved in incest.
00:23:32.61\00:23:35.78
There were divisions
between rich and poor.
00:23:35.81\00:23:38.41
It seems like they were people
who were visiting prostitutes
00:23:38.45\00:23:43.25
or having sex with their slaves.
00:23:43.28\00:23:45.39
I mean, if you
put on top of that
00:23:45.42\00:23:47.92
there were key
doctrines of the Christian faith
00:23:47.96\00:23:50.16
that they were all
mixed up about ecclesiology
00:23:50.19\00:23:53.80
and eschatology
and sexual ethics,
00:23:53.83\00:23:57.50
divorce,
remarriage, spiritual gifts,
00:23:57.53\00:24:00.40
relationships to outsiders.
00:24:00.44\00:24:02.14
I mean, just over and over,
00:24:02.17\00:24:05.41
just problem after
problem with these people.
00:24:05.44\00:24:08.01
This church was
not an easy church
00:24:08.04\00:24:09.41
to get along with
00:24:09.44\00:24:10.91
and Paul kind of has
to wind his way in between
00:24:10.95\00:24:15.62
a number of groups
in trying to help them.
00:24:15.65\00:24:18.19
They had people
who were libertine
00:24:18.22\00:24:19.55
and just sex was everything.
00:24:19.59\00:24:21.22
They had people
who were ascetics
00:24:21.26\00:24:22.92
and who were like,
00:24:22.96\00:24:24.29
"Oh, no, you shouldn't
have sex even if you married.
00:24:24.33\00:24:26.90
Can you imagine
having two groups
00:24:26.93\00:24:28.26
like that in a same church?
00:24:28.30\00:24:29.96
I mean, it would be
like the ultraconservatives
00:24:30.00\00:24:31.70
and the ultraliberals.
00:24:31.73\00:24:33.07
And they were
like challenging. Yeah.
00:24:33.10\00:24:35.47
They would just be
fighting over time.
00:24:35.50\00:24:36.84
Mating, matings all the time.
00:24:36.87\00:24:38.21
And you are the
pastor trying to help solve,
00:24:38.24\00:24:42.34
you know, their problems
00:24:42.38\00:24:43.81
and try to help
straighten them out.
00:24:43.85\00:24:45.18
So as we're gonna look
at 1 Corinthians 6 and 7,
00:24:45.21\00:24:48.68
we are gonna see
00:24:48.72\00:24:50.05
that Paul very
carefully but why does he bring
00:24:50.09\00:24:53.82
the important
and the big theology
00:24:53.86\00:24:55.66
to bear on the issues
that these people were facing.
00:24:55.69\00:24:59.86
It's really my favorite passage
00:24:59.89\00:25:01.66
to explain in the
class that I teach and love,
00:25:01.70\00:25:04.70
marriage, sex and divorce.
00:25:04.73\00:25:06.94
My favorite passage to explain
is the one we look at next
00:25:06.97\00:25:10.14
which is 1 Corinthians 6.
00:25:10.17\00:25:12.37
But kind of looking here
00:25:12.41\00:25:15.41
at what the
church of the problem,
00:25:15.44\00:25:18.98
the problem of the church
in Corinth is David Garland
00:25:19.01\00:25:22.25
the commentator on this
said in his commentary on page,
00:25:22.28\00:25:27.82
well, it's
referenced in Gordon Fee's book
00:25:27.86\00:25:29.99
but David
Garland said-- I'm sorry.
00:25:30.03\00:25:33.50
It's David Garland
referencing Gordon Fee.
00:25:33.53\00:25:35.73
Gordon Fee, he said,
00:25:35.76\00:25:37.10
"The problem was not
that the church was in Corinth
00:25:37.13\00:25:40.64
but that too much of
Corinth was in the church."
00:25:40.67\00:25:44.01
So these very,
all these problems
00:25:44.04\00:25:46.11
that the culture
random was producing
00:25:46.14\00:25:48.94
was what was
coming into the church
00:25:48.98\00:25:50.78
and the parallel
to our society today
00:25:50.81\00:25:54.48
is striking
00:25:54.52\00:25:57.42
with sexual mores going down,
with people within the church.
00:25:57.45\00:26:02.02
I mean, we
don't like to admit it
00:26:02.06\00:26:04.63
but the culture around us
00:26:04.66\00:26:07.16
actually
impacts us a great deal.
00:26:07.20\00:26:09.80
And what's in the
media and what we see
00:26:09.83\00:26:11.80
and what our friends
around us see and everything.
00:26:11.83\00:26:14.37
So the experience of Corinth,
they were having problems
00:26:14.40\00:26:17.77
of Corinth
coming into the church.
00:26:17.81\00:26:19.94
We are having problems
of our society around us
00:26:19.97\00:26:24.61
impacting us and kind
of like what I would say
00:26:24.65\00:26:28.88
is like fish and water.
00:26:28.92\00:26:30.39
You know, fish
don't know what water is
00:26:30.42\00:26:32.62
until you take it out of it
and our world is a world of sin
00:26:32.65\00:26:37.23
and so we don't
tend to know what sin is.
00:26:37.26\00:26:41.26
We tend to underestimate it.
00:26:41.30\00:26:42.86
We tend to downplay it
00:26:42.90\00:26:45.00
and the more we
see it in the media,
00:26:45.03\00:26:46.84
the more we see in around us,
00:26:46.87\00:26:49.10
the more it
desensitizes us to that.
00:26:49.14\00:26:52.14
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:52.17\00:26:53.51
So there's that great
parallel between the two,
00:26:53.54\00:26:56.61
between Corinth
and our modern world.
00:26:56.64\00:26:58.78
So it's gonna be
fascinating for us to look at
00:26:58.81\00:27:01.82
to delve into 1
Corinthian 6 where Paul faces up
00:27:01.85\00:27:06.59
to the problem of
sexual promiscuity
00:27:06.62\00:27:09.32
and where he
addresses the very problems
00:27:09.36\00:27:12.56
that the Corinthians were facing
00:27:12.59\00:27:14.53
and brings them
back to the gospel,
00:27:14.56\00:27:17.47
brings them back to
Christ and to the gospel.
00:27:17.50\00:27:21.20
You go from here. Yeah.
00:27:21.24\00:27:22.57
Well, it's absolutely,
it' absolutely to me amazing
00:27:22.60\00:27:26.41
and say the last 50
years or whatever the,
00:27:26.44\00:27:30.18
how the sexual
mores have declined.
00:27:30.21\00:27:33.15
They have.
00:27:33.18\00:27:34.52
And looking back, you know,
00:27:34.55\00:27:36.92
kind of running a
parallel with the way it was
00:27:36.95\00:27:40.09
before we made
some major changes.
00:27:40.12\00:27:43.43
And we have
people that are happy,
00:27:43.46\00:27:45.76
we have people
that are complaining
00:27:45.79\00:27:47.13
about where we are.
00:27:47.16\00:27:48.66
So anyway, here once again
00:27:48.70\00:27:51.17
it's just amazing to be
able to sit at professor's feet
00:27:51.20\00:27:55.10
and listen and understand
the history a little bit more
00:27:55.14\00:27:58.77
and I just know personally,
00:27:58.81\00:28:01.18
I have certainly
continued to learn.
00:28:01.21\00:28:03.71
Bless each and every one of you.
00:28:03.75\00:28:05.25
We love you all. God bless.
00:28:05.28\00:28:07.15