Sexual Temptation? The Answer is Marriage. | 1 Corinthians 7:1-2

When it comes to sexual immorality, the answer is marriage. Now, what's your question? This is partly what Paul is saying in his letter to the church at Corinth in his first letter. They posed a question to him in a letter. And Paul gave his answer to them in a letter.

"Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband."
Their question appears to be about sexual relations for single people, whether that activity is good or bad, permissible or forbidden, in their present circumstances.

Paul says that it is good for a single man to not have sexual relations with a woman, assuming he is able to contain his desires. But, if he is unable to contain those desires, he should marry. Marriage is the answer for the single man and the single woman who have sexual desires but lack an outlet for them. Because the only outlet for sexual desire in single people is marriage.

Notice the "because." There are unmarried members of the church in Corinth who are engaging in sex outside of marriage. This is why Paul says "because." He is saying, "Because there is sexual immorality among you, let each man marry." Paul tells them that being single is OK, even good, but that being single and having sex outside of marriage is not. The remedy for sexual temptation in single people is either abstinence, or marriage between one man and one woman.

If you are a married, Christian man who struggles with sexual lust, please take note of this imperative from Paul. Marriage, says the apostle, is the remedy for sexual temptation outside of marriage. And the sex that takes place within a marriage (as Paul explains in the next few lines of his letter), is to take place between the husband and the wife. No one else. The husband isn't permitted to go searching for sexual satisfaction anywhere else, whether offline or online, any more than the single man is. That rules out pornography, right?

The remedy for sexual desire in single men and women is marriage. The remedy for sexual desire in married men and women is marriage. Any questions?