Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!sun-barr!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: I Cor. 7:1 Message-ID: Date: 13 Oct 89 07:00:44 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: WINCO Computer Engineering, INEL, Idaho Lines: 45 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu I'm posting in reference to the `controversy' over I Corinthians 7:1. Specifically, the question concerns how it should be translated. I'm still trying to understand Dave Miekle's objection to the NIV translation "it is good for a man not to marry." He seems to believe that this translation is watering down God's truth and will leave us worse off at fighting our physical temptations. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Dave.) I'll preface my comments by saying that I'm not a Greek scholar, so I don't really have the ability to comment on whether the NIV's translation is `correct.' This issue seems to me to go beyond `which translation is right.' I don't consider any translation to be definitive. I do not claim that the NIV is even necessarily correct in its translation of this verse. It's definitely in the minority. I'm just trying to understand Dave's objection to this translation. In article bnr-fos!bmers58!davem@watmath.waterloo.edu (Dave Mielke) writes: > >We are all equally subject to the >drawing power of not only all the sinful temptations which we are >surrounded by in this world but also by our own sinful, fleshly >desires. Watering down of the full force of the teachings that are >contained in the Scriptures due to our tendancy to want to justify what >we are doing need not be a conscious effort; I really don't understand what you're getting at. Do you mean that if I accept the NIV's translation of I Cor 7:1, that I am somehow more likely to fall into adultery? This really makes no sense. If I look elsewhere in the Bible, I see that Jesus says that I'm sinning if I even look lustfully and a woman who's not my wife (Matt. 5:28). This is *much* more restrictive than your interpretation of the traditional translation of I Cor. 7:1. God is most concerned with my attitude. Whether I touch or not is not as important as my attitude. (Of course, if I'm off doing things with other women that I should only do with my wife, my attitude is certainly in need of adjustment.) I could never touch another woman for the rest of my life and still be an adulterer. Basically, I don't see the point in arguing over I Cor. 7:1, when we have Matt 5:28, which is both more straightforward and more restrictive. -- Geoff Allen \ Since we live by the Spirit, {uunet,bigtex}!pmafire!geoff \ let us keep in step with the Spirit. ucdavis!egg-id!pmafire!geoff \ -- Gal. 5:25 (NIV)