Episode Synopsis:

Sex and marriage were pressing issues in Corinth. Gentiles who came to faith in Jesus Christ during Paul’s Gentile mission were learning the biblical sexual ethic for the first time. Grounded in the creation order, the Ten Commandments, and the teaching of Jesus, it did not take long for the Corinthians to understand that sex was not merely a pleasurable bodily function, but biblical sexuality has a strong moral foundation. That meant that much of the common sexual attitudes and practices of the Greco-Roman world were in direct conflict with Paul’s teaching regarding sexual ethics.

As these new Christians learned the teaching of Jesus, it was clear that Jesus limited sexual relations to marriage and taught that divorce was an illustration of fallen human nature. The Corinthians also learned that Christians understand sex as a part of something much larger–the way in which God created things, and that God assigned sexual activity to marriage which was intended to be a lifelong commitment centered around the family. It was difficult for the Corinthians to embrace Christian sexual ethics because they went against the grain of so much Corinthian culture and religion. It is also hard to both unlearn something you’ve embraced all your life (pagan sexuality) and then learn a new way to think about sex and marriage–a view which at first glance seems quite restrictive.

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